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`? - u-) <br />LJ <br />Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company <br />A Joint Venture • ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI (COLORADO) CORP., Manager <br />Operations Office <br />P.O. Box 191 • 100 North 3rd Street <br />Victor, Colorado 80860 200 <br />(7191 689-2977 - Fax (7191689-3254 48 <br />Division of Reclamation, <br />17 February 2009 Mining and Safety <br />Jo Ann Harris w <br />P.O. box 75 <br />Cripple Creek, CO 80813 <br />Dear Mrs. Harris: <br />We received a copy of your letter at the recent Teller County Planning Commission meeting and <br />I want to respond to a few of the points that you made in the letter. <br />First let me say that we respect your concerns about the impacts of surface mining on the <br />landscapes around Cripple Creek. The extraction of low grade ore from the surface is quite <br />impactive, and our job as a company is to mitigate these impacts as much as possible and to <br />leave a post-mining landscape that is stable and productive. Our company strives to meet or <br />exceed all environmental requirements and to leave a productive landscape that will support <br />wildlife and grazing uses. The heap leach pad view from the bridge that you refer to in your <br />letter is a temporary production feature, once we complete gold removal those slopes will be <br />regraded, topsoil!, places and they will be revegetated. I think that you will see more and more <br />examples of productive reclamation over the next few years as we start completing some of the <br />surface mine areas. We welcome your input into this process and we look forward to hearing <br />from you in the future as our reclamation plan unfolds. <br />Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining Company (CC&V) is a local company, with local <br />employees. The!vast majority of the wealth that comes from the-gold mined in this district stays <br />in this state and this country. Yes, we are a subsidiary of large international company, <br />AnglogoldAshanti, which is responsible for allocating the large amounts of capital that are <br />needed to support this mine, and yes, if we make a profit a portion of that profit does go back to <br />the parent company and ultimately the shareholders. However, this normal business organization <br />is a far cry from the picture that some would paint of a foreign corporation taking wealth and <br />leaving "destruction". We do not operate like that, we are members of the local communities <br />and we feel a sincere obligation to the area and the communities to mine responsibly and to leave <br />a sustainable legacy after we are finished mining. <br />One factual correction to your letter, AnglogoldAshanti recently completed the sale (not <br />purchase) of a minority interest in a large Australian gold mine. Part of the monies received