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