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/q- l q77- 3oD <br />Hohne Roberts & Owen LLP <br />Attorneys at Law <br />DENVER June 21, 2010 <br />Via Hand Delivery, Email, and U.S. Mail <br />BOULDER Cheryl Linden, Esq. <br />VD Office of the Attorney General <br />Natural Resources Section <br />1525 Sherman Street, 70i Floor <br />COLORADO SPRINGS Denver, CO 80203 <br />Re: "Schwartzwalder Mine; DRMS Permit No. M-1977-300; Notice of a <br />Reason to Believe a Violation Exists at the Schwartzwalder Mine" <br />DUBLIN Dear Ms. Linden: <br />On behalf of Cotter Corporation, this letter is written in response to the above- <br />entitled letter, dated May 21, 2010, from Loretta Pineda, Division Director, <br />LONDON Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety ("DRMS"), to Randy <br />Whicker of Cotter Corporation ("Cotter") regarding the Schwartzwalder Mine <br />(the "Reason to Believe Letter"). You requested that communications <br />regarding this matter be directed to you, and therefore Cotter's response to the <br />LOS ANGELES allegations in the letter is being sent to you. This letter is also being submitted <br />in response to the statement in the Reason to Believe Letter that "[i]f you have <br />evidence indicating that the possible violations ... do not exist or have been <br />corrected, please provide it to us as soon as possible or bring it to the hearing." <br />MUNICH We are also hand-delivering 15 copies of this letter to your office pursuant to <br />your statement that, in order to be provided in the packets to be sent to the <br />Mined Land Reclamation Board, 15 copies should be provided to you at least <br />PHOENIX 10 days before the Enforcement Hearing. <br />In the Reason to Believe Letter, Ms. Pineda states that the DRMS has "reason to <br />believe that a violation exists to DRMS File Number M-1977-300 and to the <br />Law," and that the alleged violation is based on "[e]levated levels of uranium ... <br />SALT LAKE CITY in the mine pool, the alluvial area adjacent to Ralston Creek, and in Ralston <br />Creek." Further, in the Inspection Report attached to the Reason to Believe <br />Letter, DRMS identifies four corrective actions to be addressed in a "Technical <br />Revision" to Permit No. M-1977-300. <br />SAN FRANCISCO <br />As explained below, Cotter respectfully disagrees that the issues at Ralston <br />Creek or the Schwartzwalder Mine fit within the statutory and regulatory <br /> <br />#1478373 v3 den