2011-04-04_INSPECTION - M1977560

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PERMIT #: M-1977-560 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: JLE INSPECTION DATE: March 21, 2011 OBSERVATIONS This was a normal monitoring inspection of the Rocky Ford East Pit; DRMS File No. M-1977-056 operated by Valco, Inc. This site is located two miles east of Rocky Ford, Colorado in Otero County. I, Jared Ebert of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety conducted the inspection. Mr. Tom Brubaker of Valco, Inc. accompanied me on the inspection. This is a 189.2 acre 112c mining operation. The site is split into two different mining areas. The west mining area is located west of County Road 22 and the east mining area is located east of this road. The west mining area is the location of the original mining operation. Valco added the east mining area through an amendment (AM01) along with additional land encompassing the batch plant and stockpile area west of the west pit excavation. According to Mr. Brubaker, mining is complete at the site and they are preparing to commence final reclamation of the affected land. A map highlighting the Division's findings is enclosed with this report. The west mining area includes a large pond excavation, several large overburden stockpiles, a small "slurry pond", batch plant and stockpile area. The pond excavation is approximately 30 acres in size based on a 2009 aerial photograph. The side slopes of the pond appear to be set at a 3:1 horizontal to vertical ratio or flatter. The slopes are vegetated with grass and various types of trees and shrubs have volunteered along the shore. Several large overburden piles are located north of the west lake. The site west of the pit excavation contains the former stockpiling and processing area. Several large stockpiles of overburden or waste material stockpiles are located along the northern boundary. An old concrete batch plant building is still in place at the site. Mr. Brubaker stated this building will be demolished. The stockpile area is leveled and primarily devoid of vegetation. The slurry pond is located along the southern boundary of this area. The southern side slopes are fairly steep approximately set at a 2:1 ratio. The northern shore of the slurry pond has a layer of concrete at the surface. It appears the operator poured unhardened concrete at this location of the pond. According to the permit file, during the amendment process, the Operator committed to top soiling and revegetating the pond slopes. The concrete will likely need to be cracked in order to remove a root restrictive layer in order for vegetation to establish along the northern shores of the pond. Several old concrete mixing truck containers are being stored near the pond. These containers will need to be removed from the site. The east mining area was divided into several mining stages (Stage I, II, III-A, III-B, IV, and V). Two open water pit excavations (designated here as East Pond 1 and 2) are located in the eastern portions of Stage II, III-A and III-B, and possibly in a small portion of Stage IV. Large stockpiles of overburden surround the two pit excavations. The southern and eastern end of the Stage I area along with the western end of the Stage II, III-A and III-B area are being utilized as a stockpile staging area. A scale and scale house are in place near the entrance of the site. The remaining mined material is being trucked off-site. A small pit excavation is located near the northwest end of the site. It is a shallow excavation the company used as re-charge/settling pond at some point during the operation. According to Mr. Brubaker, the final site configuration is going to change in order to account for exposed ground water at the site. As stated above, there is a large amount of overburden material stockpiled adjacent to the pits in the west and east mining areas. Mr. Brubaker is in the process of obtaining an engineering evaluation to determine how much exposed groundwater will remain on the site if all the remaining overburden is backfilled into the pit excavations. It is the Operators desire to significantly reduce the amount Page 2 of 7