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September 11, 2012 C- 1981- 025/North Thompson Creek Mine JRS <br />Inspection Topic Summary <br />NOTE: Y= Inspected N =Not Inspected R= Comments Noted V= Violation Issued NA =Not Applicable <br />N - Air Resource Protection R - Roads <br />R - Availability of Records R - Reclamation Success <br />N - Backfill & Grading N - Revegetation <br />N - Excess Spoil and Dev. Waste N - Subsidence <br />N - Explosives N - Slides and Other Damage <br />N - Fish & Wildlife N - Support Facilities On -site <br />R - Hydrologic Balance R - Signs and Markers <br />R - Gen. Compliance With Mine Plan N - Support Facilities Not On -site <br />N - Other N - Special Categories Of Mining <br />N - Processing Waste N - Topsoil <br />COMMENTS <br />This was a complete inspection of the North Thompson Creek Mine conducted by Jim Stark of the Colorado <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. This inspection was also a OSM complete oversight inspection. <br />Zach Trujillo of the Division and Christine Belka of the Office of Surface Mining accompanied me on the <br />inspection. There was no representative from MINREC present during the inspection. The North Thompson <br />Creek Mine is a reclaimed Mine that has undergone a full Phase III Bond Release on all but 4.10 disturbed acres <br />and 411.10 permitted and affected acres. The remaining disturbed area is a developed water resource and there is <br />no remaining reclamation. The weather was cloudy and intermittently raining and the ground was wet from the <br />rain. <br />AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS — Rule 5.02.4(1): <br />All of the necessary records were available at the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs, CO. Please <br />see the DRMS Availability of Records for at the end of this inspection for more detailed information. <br />HYDROLOGIC BALANCE - Rule 4.0 Drainage Control 4.05.1, 4.05.2, 4.05.3; Siltation Structures 4.05.5, <br />4.05.6; Discharge Structures 4.05.7, 4.05.10, Diversions 4.05.4; Effluent Limits 4.05.2; Ground Water Monitoring <br />4.05.13, Surface Water Monitoring 4.05.13; Drainage — Acid and Toxic Materials 4.05.8; Impoundments 4.05.6, <br />4.05.9; Stream Buffer Zones 4.05.18: <br />- Both the Mine 41 and Mine 43 portals were discharging into the Long Pond. Each pipe was discharging at <br />approximately 5 GPM. <br />- The Long Pond was flowing from the portal discharges and flowing into Treatment Pond TI. The pond was well <br />vegetated and stable and no erosional problems were noted. There is a lot of precipitated iron at the beginning of <br />the pond (where the portal discharge enters the pond) and within the first approximately fifty feet of the pond. <br />MINREC should consider cleaning this pond and removing as much of the precipitated iron as possible (and <br />transporting it off -site to an appropriate waste disposal facility). <br />- Treatment Ponds T -1 and T -2 were both well vegetated and stable at the time of the inspection. Water was <br />flowing from the Long Pond into T1 then into T2. Pond T2 was discharging through an open channel into <br />permanent pond P9. There was no discharge into the refuse pile pond at the time of the inspection. There was no <br />iron staining in either of the two treatment ponds. <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 0 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 2 <br />Page 2 of 10 <br />