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MINE ID # OR PROSPECTING ID #: M-1977-479 <br />INSPECTION DATE: June 9n1 n INSPECTORS INITIALS: II F- <br />OBSERVATIONS <br />This was a monitoring inspection of the Walsh Pit No. 2, DRMS File No. M-1977-479, operated by Baca County. <br />This site is located about 2 miles north and .5 miles west of Walsh, Colorado off County Road FF. I, Jared Ebert <br />of the Colorado Division of Reclamation conducted the inspection. Mr. Jason Freiberger of Baca County <br />accompanied me on the inspection. <br />This is an 80 acre 112c mining operation. The site is bisected by Bear Creek and the current mining area is <br />located south of the creek near the south central portion of the permit area. There is a small 2 acre pit <br />excavation surrounded by a haul road. The pit appears to be advancing to the east. The pit slopes are set at <br />about a 3:1 horizontal to vertical ratio. From this location, as one moves to the west, there is an area where <br />previous mining occurred and the location were the creek washed into the site many years ago. The county <br />placed a large irregular shaped berm adjacent to the creek banks to keep the creek from washing into the pit. <br />A large waste rock pile separates the current mining area to the old mining/wash area. The old mining area <br />has various slopes and small pit excavations in place. The majority of the slopes appear to be set at a 2:1 to <br />1:1 ratio for the excavations. Native vegetation has established throughout the old mining area but is sparse. <br />Mr. Freiberger was unsure if the county intends on mining in this portion of the permit area in the future. The <br />land east of the current mining area has not been affected by the mining operation. <br />The majority of the permit area north of Bear Creek has been affected by previous mining activity except for <br />portions of the eastern end of the area. The northwest area contains a shallow excavation with gentle slopes. <br />The majority of the affected area has been inundated with yellow sweet clover. Several Stockpiles of material <br />are stored in random locations, but they appear to be stable. The main entrance road into the northern <br />portion of the permit area is located at the northwest corner of the site. The northwestern portion of the <br />permit area was the location of the initial mining activities. This pit area has been graded to a 3:1 slope or less <br />except for a berm constructed adjacent to Bear Creek. This berm ranges in height from 10-20 feet. The <br />County has created two stockpiles of material used for archery backstops for the local school's 4-H program. <br />Throughout the entire area, random stockpiles of material are in-place. The majority of the stockpiles have <br />been in-place for a long time and appear to be stable with vegetative cover. After conducting the site <br />inspection and investigating a 2009 aerial photograph, it is estimated a total of 37.6 acres of land has been <br />affected by the mining operation. The current approved mining plan indicates the Operator is only permitted <br />to affect 20 acres at a time. This issue is cited as a Problem at the end of this report and will require <br />corrective action to be taken by the Operator. Mr. Freiberger indicated the County was unsure as to the <br />future mining operations at this site. However, he indicated it was likely many of these areas would be mined <br />again. The Operator will need to submit a Technical Revision to the current mining plan to increase the <br />amount of disturbed land permitted at any one time to cover all of the 37.6 acres if not more. The Technical <br />Revision must contain a written request to update the mining plan. The fee for a Technical Revision is <br />$216.00. <br />Large portions of this site appear to have been mined out but have not been reclaimed completely; such as <br />the northeast corner of the permit area. The majority of the affected land north of Bear Creek has been <br />inundated with yellow sweet clover. The current approved reclamation plan calls for seeding the site with a <br />native grass seed mixture containing Sand Bluestem, Blue Grama, Sideoats Grama and Western wheatgrass. <br />The Division would not be able to release areas that have not been graded, topsoiled and re-vegetated in