2008-11-21_REVISION - M1978222UG (21)

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INTRODUCTION Nuvemco, LLC (Nuvemco) proposes to mine a surface outcrop of uranium and vanadium ore located in the Monogram Mines area and specifically at the site formerly known as the "Monogram Pit". Nuvemco is the operator of the Monogram Mines 110(2) Permit Number M- 1978-222-UG on patented ground and is herein seeking to modify that permit to a 112d-1 Designated Mining Operation. Nuvemco acquired the property from a Mr. Burnett and Ms. Brown, who have long held mines in the area with the intention of reestablishing uranium production. The Monogram Mine is located approximately 11 miles west of Naturita, Colorado in Montrose County. The permit area includes patented claims comprising approximately 48.38 acres in Sections 17 and 18 of Township 46 North, Range 17 West, in the New Mexico Principal Meridian (NMPM). The mineral rights are controlled by Nuvemco through long-term lease agreements with the claim owners. Nuvemco also controls the patented and unpatented claims surrounding the proposed permit area. Historically, miners in the area would locate outcropping uranium bearing deposits with Geiger counters and then mine the ore by driving adits from the sides of canyon walls in the nearly horizontal sandstone beds. Mining was largely restricted to following the ore underground by conventional drill/blast/muck techniques. Exploration was aided by drilling vertical holes from the surface, or top of the mesa, mapping the radioactive ore bodies by drilling close spaced boreholes and directing the underground mining to the higher grade deposits. Many open adits and drill holes still exist throughout the area. The close spaced drilling is evidenced by the extensive development of roads and trails used by drillers and as haul roads for ore trucks and buggies from the numerous surface and underground mining operations. These roads or trails are readily seen in aerial photographs and will be utilized for continued exploration drilling of the Monogram Mine permit area. At least eight existing historic portals are present in the permit area in addition to several reclaimed portals. As in much of the Uravan Mineral Belt, this area was mined as early as 1910 for pitchblende for its radium content. Mining continued intermittently during the 1940's through the early 2000's. About 990,000 tons of ore was removed from the Monogram Group of claims prior to 1978. Ore production is from several separate benches of fluvial sands within the Salt Wash member of the Morrison Formation. Initial operations on the Monogram Mine will be surface mining of the exposed knobs of ore adjacent to the Monogram Pit at the southeast end of the patented Monogram Claim. The area to be mined covers about 1.2 acres, although active operations will be limited to less than 10 percent of the area at a time. Ore remaining in the pit will be excavated and loaded directly on ore trucks for shipping to a mill or moved to the concrete ore bins located about 1,300 feet to the west. As the ore is removed from the pit, waste rock capping the adjacent knob will be placed in the pit as part of the concurrent reclamation. An excess overburden stockpile will be established south of the ore area on an exposed bedrock surface covering about 0.2 acres. The top of the knob is waste rock and will be moved by an excavator and placed in the pit or stored in the overburden stockpile. The ore body will be broken up in place by the excavator and loaded Monogram Mine - November 2008 Introduction - I