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EXHIBIT B - Site Description <br />a) Vegetation description and Soil characteristics: already provided within EXHIBIT D of the <br />'Walker Mining and Milling Inc., 1979: the Original 'Limited Impact (110) Permit Application <br />Form (received September 24, 1979: File No. 79-1811UG/HR. <br />b) Permanent man-made structures within 200 ft of the affected area= Not Applicable. <br />c) Description of water resources: (streams, aquifers, monitoring data, flow, water quality) = Some <br />information provided within EXHIBIT D of the 'Walker Mining and Milling Inc., 1979 permit <br />application, however in the interest of completeness given the need to understand the <br />hydrologic balance implications associated with this amendment, this amendment provides a <br />more thorough baseline characterization of the area's water resources. The following describes <br />the groundwater and surface water setting within and adjacent to the Ruby Trust permit area. <br />Groundwater Resources: <br />The groundwater resources within the Ruby Trust mine site have been broadly <br />characterized by the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS) (Topper, et al., 2003) and others. <br />There are no 'aquifers' as defined by the Colorado Division of Water Resources (CDWR) <br />within the basin where the Ruby Trust Mine occurs since there is no viable, potable <br />groundwater resource of aquifer quantity (CDWR CDSS Query 4/22/2010 Attachment 1 <br />to this Exhibit). <br />The groundwater occurs within the 'tertiary volcanic and intrusive rock' setting, within <br />the San Juan Formation (type Tsv) defined as 'being near-vent units of medium to thick <br />dark massive flows, flow breccias, tuffs and fluidal-banded flows of mainly rhydactic <br />composition' (Burbank and Luedke, 1966). This formation is defined by the Colorado <br />Geologic Formation as being within the volcanic rock hydrogeologic unit. Volcanic <br />materials include tuffs, breccias and surface flows. In volcanic rocks, water is located in <br />and moves through open voids. Hydraulic properties vary considerably due largely to <br />the variation in rock type and the way the rock was ejected and deposited. Porosity, <br />hydraulic conductivity and transmissivity are extremely variable due to the localization <br />of voids. The Ruby Trust is located near the headwaters of the Sneffels Creek basin <br />therefore its setting is valley confined with groundwater flows showing an immediate <br />relationship to spring melt cycles. The groundwater quality is a reflection of the host <br />rock which contains a basic character with buffering capacity characteristics. <br />The groundwater within the Ruby Trust setting has not been identified as being capable <br />of aquifer characteristics (Attachment 1: CDWR, 2010). Regardless, the quality of the <br />resource can be evaluated with the use of the Colorado Department of Public Health <br />and Environment, Water Quality Control Commission (CDPHE WQCC) groundwater <br />criteria summarized in Table B.1 (CDPHE WQCC, 2009). There were no locatable