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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />Water has been managed at the West Pit of the San Luis Mine since 2000 as <br />described in Technical Revision 26 (TR-26). As predicted in TR-26, the backfilled <br />West Pit materials have been rinsed such that the current West Pit ground water <br />quality is now the same as existed pre-mining (See Telesto Solutions, Inc. Technical <br />Memorandum at Appendix A, and the Colorado Division of Mining, Reclamation and <br />Safety (DRMS) concurrence, at Appendix B. Given that the West Pit groundwater <br />system has responded as described in TR 26, BMRI is planning to put the West Pit <br />ground water to direct beneficial use by transferring the water to the adjacent Salazar <br />Ranch, owned by Newmont Realty, where it will be used for crop irrigation. In <br />support of this permit amendment, BMRI has evaluated the potential effects of the <br />irrigation plan and has demonstrated that there are no expected adverse impacts to <br />soils, wildlife or water resources from implementing this plan. <br />The San Luis Project Permit, File No. M-88-112, was issued by DRMS on March 22, <br />1988, and was followed by a November 1989 permit amendment (AM-01). <br />Additionally, in 1994, BMRI submitted a technical revision (TR-18) that modified the <br />reclamation plan to include backfilling of the West Pit (SRK, 1994). Currently, the <br />San Luis Mine permit consists of the original permit, two permit amendments (AM- <br />01 and AM-02 [withdrawn]) and thirty-two technical revisions. Hereafter, reference <br />to "the permit" subsumes the original permit, AM-01, AM-02, and all technical <br />revisions. <br />Active mining and milling operations at the San Luis Mine ended in late 1996, and <br />the site activities since that date have focused on final reclamation and closure. In <br />July 1998, routine ground water monitoring down gradient of the West Pit showed <br />results for total dissolved solids (TDS) greater than the Permit Condition Value <br />(PCV) at the M-IIR compliance well. BMRI responded according to procedures <br />outlined in Technical Revision 15 (TR-15), and followed through with an extensive <br />hydrologic and geochemical characterization that resulted in development of TR-26. <br />A detailed water management program was described in TR-26 that addressed ground <br />Battle Mountain Resources, Inc. 1 <br />P:\Pmjmts\212-Nexmont(S=Lws)\SenLuis\Pa t Amendment - West Pit M=gement\V5 Report & PDFs\Tem\PamitAmendment v5c.doc December 2007