2010-09-01_INSPECTION - C1992080

• Permit No: C1992080
• IBM Index Class Name: INSPECTION
• Doc Date: 9/1/2010
• Doc Name: Response to Observations in 7/2/2010 Inspection Report
• From: Savage and Savage
• To: DRMS
• Inspection Date: 7/2/2010
• Email Name: TAK
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Savage and Savage Environmental
practical solutions for environmental issues
4610 Haystack Drive 970 674 8080 telephone
Windsor, Colorado 80550 970 674 8088 facsimile
[e-mail]
August 27, 2010
Ms. Marcia Talvitie, Environmental Protection Specialist
Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety
1313 Sherman Street, Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
RECEIVED
SEP 012010
Divisio
Oft n of Reclamation,
and Sam
Re: Response to Observations in the July 2, 2010 Inspection Report for the Carbon Junction
Mine (CDRMS file C-1992-080)
Dear Marcia:
On behalf of Oakridge Energy, Inc., owner and permittee of the reclaimed Carbon
Junction Mine, I am providing this rebuttal to observations and conclusions contained in
the July 2, 2010 inspection report for the Carbon Junction Mine based on your June 30,
2010 inspection of the mine site.
In Section III, Comments-Compliance, under the heading, Slides and Damage you state,
"In the northeastern half of the North Pit, a tension crack has formed just downslope and
parallel to the line of excelsior logs that marks the slope break. The crack is
approximately 40' in length, and appears to be 18 inches in depth (Photo 2) ".
On July 31, 2010, Edith Savage and I conducted an investigation of the area described in
the above comment. While we found the feature you described, we came to significantly
different conclusion regarding the origin, size, and significance of this feature.
The feature was not a tension crack as you described. There was no continuous crack
(defined as a separation of the ground surface from underlying strata). Rather, our
observations were of several discontinuous holes in the ground surface, some of which
appeared to be animal burrows. The inference from your statement would suggest an
area of instability (as the comment appears under the Slides and Damage heading). There
was no indication of slope movement, as evidenced by a lack of slope bulging below the
feature, displacement of vegetation, or significant separation of a defined layer from
underlying strata. There was no evidence of any recent movement, and vegetation was
growing within and adjacent to the feature. The scope of the feature revealed vertical
displacement of approximately two inches in the topsoil layer (Figure 1).
Carbon Junction Mine Page 1
CDRM5 July 2, 2010 Inspection Rebuttal