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delivered to a mill for processing. Actual production of ore has not been reported to the state in <br />Cotter's annual reports to the Division. In fact, according to geochemical testing results reported <br />to the Division in July 2005 related to a review over the mine's status as a Designated Mining <br />Operation, Cotter reported that there was no ore available from the JD -6 to be tested, indicating <br />further that genuine, active mining production as defined by the Act has not occurred. <br />Cotter Corporation, after a lengthy exchange with the Division over the mine's non - operating <br />status and non - compliance with the Mined Land Reclamation Act, filed a Notice of Temporary <br />Cessation with the Division on Dec. 15, 2012. Unfortunately, allowing Cotter Corporation to <br />enter a period of temporary cessation at the JD -6 allows the company, once again, to maintain the <br />status quo and avoid a full reclamation of a mine that has effectively been closed for the better <br />part of the past three decades and for the great majority of its permitted history. Therefore, we <br />object to the current Notice of Temporary Cessation for the following reasons: <br />1) The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act speaks unambiguously of the production of ore <br />as a requirement for retaining a reclamation permit at C.R.S. § 34- 32- 103(6)(a)(I) by specifically <br />requiring that an operator "engage in the extraction of minerals" in order for a reclamation <br />permit to remain in effect. The only exceptions to this requirement are for a mine to either be in <br />full reclamation or to be in an approved period of temporary cessation, limited to two five -year <br />periods. Neither exception applies to this mine. <br />2) The JD -6 has already benefitted from two consecutive periods of temporary cessation, a <br />status retained until Jan. 31, 1994, when the Division approved a technical revision to change the <br />mine to intermittent status, even though it did not meet the legal requirements of that status by <br />continuing to operate and produce ore on an annual basis. The permit retained that unlawful <br />status for the next 19 years. <br />3) The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act states unequivocally that a mine must be <br />reclaimed after a decade of inactivity. The law says: "In no case shall temporary cessation of <br />production be continued for more than ten years without terminating the operation and fully <br />complying with the reclamation requirements of this article." [Please see C.R.S. § 34- 32- 103(6) <br />(a)(III).] Because the JD -6 has not "produced" as required by the Act, Cotter is ineligible for an <br />additional five -year period of temporary cessation. <br />4) Denial of the Notice of Temporary Cessation status is consistent with Colorado law and will <br />help bring this mine into prompt compliance once the attached injunction applicable to the <br />Department of Energy lease tracts is lifted. The pending federal court injunction was issued on <br />Oct. 18, 2011, and modified on Feb. 27, 2012 and cannot serve to excuse decades of inactivity <br />and deferred reclamation at this or other uranium mines <br />The injunction and the attached letter from Department of Justice attorney Marissa Pirapato <br />confirm that Cotter is carrying out maintenance and other activities at these and other federally <br />leased mines. As Judge Martinez recognized, the precise extent of allowable activities at these <br />