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Holme Roberts & Owen LLP <br />Attorneys at Law <br />Chair <br />March 31, 2011 <br />Page 6 <br />option was not exercised, but its existence, and the real estate developer's <br />interest in the property, is credible evidence that the post mining land use has <br />been achieved. <br />4. Gravel Operation has Substantially Commenced Industrial or <br />Commercial Land Use. The Reclamation Plan, which was changed in 1995 to <br />authorize the alternative post mining land use of industrial, commercial, <br />recreational, or residential uses, makes no distinction between these uses. The <br />Reclamation Plan applies to the entire permit area, even though only 45.31 <br />acres of the permitted area have been disturbed. <br />In 1992, Durango Construction Company of Durango, Colorado <br />permitted an aggregate extraction operation (CDRMS permit M1992116) <br />within and adjacent to the Carbon Junction Mine coal permit area. Aggregate <br />operations and coal mine operations shared portions of the sediment control <br />system, South Pit, and Equipment Storage areas on Ewing Mesa. These areas <br />were within the coal mine permit area and/or the aggregate mine permit area. <br />Between 1992 and 2004, the aggregate operation operated and assisted in <br />reclamation operations at the Carbon Junction Mine. The aggregate operation <br />was closed and reclamation begun in 2004. The differing responsibilities for <br />reclamation under the construction mineral and the Reclamation Act, in <br />addition to a severing of the business relationship between Oakridge Energy <br />and Four Corners Materials (the then aggregate operation permittee), required a <br />demarcation of reclamation obligation boundaries. This subsequently was <br />appropriately required and approved by the Division in Technical Revisions 11, <br />12, and 13 to the Carbon Junction Mine permit. Subsequently, in 2005, the <br />Division approved a complete bond release and transfer of the lands subject to <br />the sand and gravel operations from the coal permit into a new industrial <br />minerals permit area under the jurisdiction of the Colorado Land Reclamation <br />Act for the Extraction of Construction Materials. This new sand and gravel <br />permit contains 64.51 acres and abuts the coal permitted lands. This 64.51 <br />acres includes lands formally disturbed for coal mining operations. <br />#1524340 0 den