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DESIGNATED MINING OPERATION ENVIRONMENTAL <br />PROTECTION PLAN EXHIBIT T <br />1. General Plan <br />An Environmental Protection Plan is being submitted because the project is classified as a <br />Designated Mining Operation. This classification results from the current DRMS definition of <br />Designated Mining Operations that includes a "mining operation at which toxic or acid - forming <br />materials will be exposed or disturbed as a result of mining operations." The Revenue Mine Project <br />falls into this category because of the following potentials: 1) mine water emanating from the mine <br />since the 1880s may have high levels of certain metal ions that may exceed the CDPHE limits <br />without any special actions taken and 2) certain chemicals used in the milling process are <br />potentially hazardous and must be addressed in the storage, handling and use of these chemicals. <br />The mill tailings produced will be rendered inert by the mill process. <br />In preparing this environmental protection plan, the proposed mine plan was evaluated to determine <br />what portions of the project could potentially generate "toxic" materials that would require <br />implementation of additional environmental controls. The following three aspects of the mine plan <br />were identified as having the greatest potential to impact the surrounding environment, especially <br />ground and surface water. <br />1.1 Mine Water Discharge and Sneffels Creek <br />The current mine water discharge at the Revenue Mine has been running between 100 gpm and <br />1000 gpm for as long as the mine tunnel has been open. This water accumulates from various <br />locations in the mine and discharges at the Revenue portal. This water has been subject to CDPHE <br />discharge permits in the recent past and some of this data is available. It is included in Appendix 3. <br />Although a complete suite of ions was not tested, the main ion of concern was zinc, which may be <br />above the desired concentrations during certain times of the year. The actual limit concentration in <br />the CDPHE discharge permit has not yet been determined. The mine water has been carrying <br />dissolved zinc from underground sources over the entire time of the discharge since the 1880s. The <br />mine water that leaves the Revenue Mine eventually reaches Sneffels Creek, where it then mixes <br />Revenue Mine August 2012 T - <br />