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Prince Albert Mine Plan of Operations Site Description <br />3.0 SITE BACKGROUND <br />3.1 Historical Mining Activity <br />The Prince Albert Mine site (PA) is located on Club Mesa in southwestern Colorado. This area is a <br />part of the Uravan Mineral Belt and has an extensive history of uranium and vanadium ore mining <br />activity that extends from the late 1800s to the present day. The inactive Buckshot and Better Be <br />mines are located in the immediate vicinity of the Prince Albert Mine site with the Buckshot Mine <br />last active in the 1980s. The Buckshot Mine is typical of the uranium mines in the Uravan Mineral <br />Belt and consists of both a shallow decline and horizontal drift into the ore zone with extensive <br />underground workings excavated in a random room and pillar methodology that follows the ore <br />deposit. The underground workings are ventilated by forced air, which is either incast or exhausted <br />through tunnel openings or 12 to 84 inch diameter holes bored from the surface to the ore zone. <br />Surface disturbance for this type of mine typically consists of constructing or upgrading new and <br />existing roadways for site access and access to ventilation boreholes; topsoil and vegetation removal <br />in waste rock and ore stockpile areas; the construction of surface run -off diversions and <br />impoundments for erosion control and the containment of potential surface water contaminants; site <br />grading in administrative and maintenance areas. <br />Both the Buckshot and Better Be inclines and portal areas have been reclaimed under the State of <br />Colorado and USBLM abandoned mines program. This reclamation has primarily consisted of the <br />closure of openings with a bat gate or by backfilling. There is no evidence of ground water seepage <br />from either of these mines. Small standing pools of water can be found inside the mine workings, but <br />their origin can be readily traced to direct infiltration through openings that connect to the surface <br />(open boreholes or drill holes, large fractures). There is no evidence of subsidence or significant <br />instability that would affect the surface in either of these nearby inactive mines, both of which have <br />underground excavations dating back 50 years or more. <br />The decommissioned Uravan uranium - milling facility is also in the vicinity, lying approximately 2 <br />miles east of the Prince Albert mine site. The area impacted by this historical uranium ore processing <br />facility includes sites along the banks of the San Miguel River and locations on the tops of both Club <br />and Spring Creek Mesas along the sides of the San Miguel River canyon. The cleanup and <br />reclamation of this historical uranium ore processing facility is considered essentially complete and <br />the site is under review for release from the Superfund program by the US Environmental Protection <br />Agency (EPA) and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). The extensive <br />environmental studies conducted for the Uravan Mill site provide significant current and historical <br />data relevant to the Club Mesa and the local San Miguel / Dolores River segments. <br />Rimrock Exploration and Development Page 3 of 27 <br />