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SEP - 2 2011 <br />Dear Mr. Chiles, <br />United States epartlnent of the Interior <br />13LTREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT <br />Uncompahgre Field Office <br />2465 S. Townsend Avenue <br />Montrose, Colorado 81401 <br />www. blm.gov <br />In Reply Refer To: <br />3809.301 (CO -S050) COC- 68758, COC -75092 <br />Alan Chiles <br />Rimrock Exploration & Development <br />PO Box 430 <br />Nucla, CO 81424 <br />REc ovE RECEIVED <br />SEP 'Z 62t111 SEP 0 7. 2011 <br />GRAND JUNGI toiv rILLU OFFICE <br />DIVISION OF <br />RECLAMATION MINING & SAFETY <br />Division of reclamation, <br />Mining and Safety <br />CERTIFIED MAIL — Return Receipt Requested — 7010 2780 0000 3930 5045 <br />A 1— d, 0 01/c) <br />er=int <br />TAKE PRIDE' <br />INAMERICA <br />On August 11, 2011, this office received Rimrock's Prince Albert mining plan of operations <br />(P00).which has been assigned BLM casefile number COC- 75092. Rimrock currently has an <br />existing Prince Albert mining notice (BLM casefile COC- 68758) which includes a decline, <br />underground bulk sampling and minor exploration drilling in a limited area. The proposed POO <br />includes expanded waste rock dumps, and adds topsoil stockpiles and containment ponds within <br />the mining area Once a P00 is authorized, the mining notice is closed as the POO will <br />incorporate all aspects of facilities and operations. We have reviewed your POO submittal and <br />have discovered an omission that needs to be addressed before this office can move forward with <br />processing the mine plan. <br />Your mine plan as submitted addresses only the expansion of the mining operations and does not <br />adequately include the exploration drilling activity. In your POO, you describe exploration <br />drilling plans, but do not include this action in your POO boundary description or on any project <br />area maps. Instead the POO refers to drilling in terms of the CDRMS Notice of Intent permits <br />and as a part of your Prince Albert mining notice. The regulations at 43 CFR 3809.21(b) state . <br />you must not segment a project area by filing a series of notices for the purpose of avoiding <br />filing a POO. Therefore, your future exploration drilling plans on the PA, Peak, Club Mesa, or <br />any other claim blocks in the project area must be included in your Prince Albert P00. <br />At this time, we have determined that an environmental assessment (EA) will need to be <br />completed in order to process your POO to comply with the. National Environmental Policy Act, <br />as amended (NEPA). However, if unforeseen significant issues come up, it will be necessary to <br />prepare an environmental impact statement instead. The EA needs to analyze all reasonably <br />foreseeable surface disturbing activities involved with your operations in the Prince Albert <br />project area Exploration drilling activity must be included with the mine expansion plan to have . <br />a complete and thorough EA. Please submit a revised POO to this office to include not only <br />your mine expansion plans but also a reasonable exploration drilling area Once a POO is <br />authorized, any modifications, whether within or outside of the project area boundary, may <br />require additional NEPA analysis depending upon what is submitted, and if the modification <br />