2011-09-14_INSPECTION - P2011009

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OBSERVATIONS PERMIT #: PF.Id INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: RCO INSPECTION DATE: August 26, 2011 This was a routine inspection performed by the Division as part of its monitoring of Hard Rock /Metal prospecting projects (under a Notice of Intent to Conduct Prospecting, or NOI). This NOI was recently approved and this is the first inspection of the site since the approval. The site was active at the time of the inspection, with the operator's representatives named on page present. Also present onsite was Marshall O'Connor. No underground activity was occurring during the inspection, and all features inspected were above ground. The site contains several pre- existing features, including portal to the underground workings, a pad and staging area, a portal discharge pipe and a pond where the discharge reports to. The portal entry consists of arched steel sets approximately 12 -15 feet wide x 8 feet high, with hinged doors and hooded locks. The operator is replacing the steel grate on the portal doors by welding on one - quarter inch steel plate, pursuant to ATF requirements (due to underground explosives storage. A small welding unit was onsite near the portal. Another modification to the existing entry is the addition of a 24 -inch diameter steel culvert for ventilation, branching out from the arched steel entry sets. The vent fan is mounted outside the entry, with brattice cloth installed back to the working area. An office trailer and covered supplies storage area were on the concrete pad near the portal. Very little muck has been brought to the surface to -date; it has all been deposited along the toe of the hill slope on the old road, in conformance with the approved plan. Runoff from the ephemeral stream that formerly would flow across the muck storage area and the old road has been diverted by a new (post -2007) drainage channel that has been dug along the roadbed toward the north, where flows are allowed to join the Sneffels Creek without contacting the mine dump or the settling pond. The piped discharge from the underground workings enters the settling pond without contacting the dump material. The settling pond appears to be functioning as designed, and is stable. The final filtering involves the water percolating through the fill under the new roadway, where it then enters Sneffels Creek. There is no staining in the pond or its banks, and no staining on the roadway fill or in the creek. Water quality sampling has been carried out at this location regularly, and the Division has received the analyses. The operator will continue the sampling program. The operator has limited his disturbance to conform to the approved plan, and the estimated bond appears to be adequate at this time. For questions regarding this report, please contact this inspector at the Division's Durango Field Office: DRMS — Durango Field Office 691 CR 233, Room A -2 Durango, CO 81301 Telephone: 970 - 247 -5193 Inspection Contact Address Larry O'Connor, Stan Foster St. Sophia Holding Ltd. 10220 Hawkeye Circle Reno, NV 89523 Page 2 of 4