2012-02-28_REVISION - M1980244 (104)

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4.6.3 Summary Due to the volcanic diatreme in the District and the historic drainage tunnels, the area is unsaturated and does not contain significant quantities of ground water. Present mining activity by CC &V has not encountered ground water other than local perched water tables that tend to contain a limited amount of water. Deep drill holes within the volcanic diatreme tend to be dry or have low yields. There has been nominal ground water intercepted in Grassy Valley. Surface water flows in the major drainages of the District are generally low and dominated by seasonal runoff from snowmelt and precipitation. The low surface flows in the District are due to the normal water balance processes (e.g., evapotranspiration) and the vertical drainage within the Diatreme created by the drainage tunnels installed in the early half of the 20 century. Surface flows in Arequa Gulch also have declined in the last decade due to the phased implementation of the AGVLF, which has captured nearly all the precipitation in the upper reaches of the drainage. Water quality conditions of the surface waters in the District have remained relatively stable over the monitoring record for most of the monitor locations. The presence of historic mine features in many of the drainages appears to have some influence on the current surface water quality. Ground water levels have remained relatively constant in the district since 2008. Seasonal water level fluctuations due to the infiltration of snowmelt and precipitation are observed in the shallower monitor wells, piezometers, and boreholes. A dominant control on the ground water resources is the strong vertical gradient and drainage of the Diatreme in the District. This drainage has created widespread dry conditions in at least the upper 750 feet of the diatreme and the adjacent granites in portions of Grassy Valley. The drainage also is widespread in Poverty Gulch, Squaw Gulch, and Vindicator Valley due to the occurrence of diatreme in these drainages. Water quality conditions have remained generally stable across the District for the monitoring record, except for the monitor locations noted in Arequa Gulch and Bateman Creek. The presence of historic mine features appears to have some influence on the current ground water quality. 4.7 Wildlife CC &V contracted with Arcadis to perform soil and biological resource assessments of the Cresson Project for MLE2. Arcadis performed a detailed compilation of existing resource information largely based on information contained in MLE for the Cresson Project which included previous wildlife inventories performed by Colorado Division of Wildlife ( "CDOW "), JBR Consultants, Greystone, and Arcadis. Further, Arcadis completed a site visit to verify the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company Cresson Project Mine Life Extension 2 4 -19