2006-03-09_REVISION - M1987028 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.; ~'1- 198 D2 8 es C C M c~/~/ United States Forest Pike and San Isabel Salida Ran¢er District Department of Service National Forests 325 W. Rainbow Blvd. USDA Agriculture Cimarron and Comanche Salida, CO 81201 ~ National Grasslands (719) 539-3591 Fax (719) 539-3593 www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc ~~C~~VED File Code: 2800/2810 Date: March 6, 2006 d1J MAR 0 ~ 2006 Colorado Marble Inc ATTN: Bill Addison, President Divinion of Minerals entl Geology 229 Industrial Park Rd. N.E. Cartersville, GA 30121 Dear Mr. Addison: This letter concerns your proposed mining exploration and production activities on unpatented mining claims located on National Forest System (NFS) land near Taylor Mountain, Chaffee County, Colorado. Chris Welker, the Salida Ranger District's Minerals Administrator, recently met with the Forest's primary minerals staff from the Forest Supervisor's Office in Pueblo, Colorado concerning the proposed Plan of Operations (POO) for the Lily Mines unpatented claims, which you submitted on January 24, 2006. Hopefully, you received a copy of my letter dated February 3rd, 2006 which was sent to the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (CDMG). This letter was sent to the CDMG in order to submit written comments pertaining to your Mining Permit Conversion Application within the stated 20 day comment period. In that letter, I point out that there are a number of environmental and legal requirements that need to be followed, as well as discrepancies within Colorado Marble's proposed POO that need to be addressed before the Forest Service can adequately assess the full nature of your mining activities on public lands. In my 02/03/2006 letter to the CDMG, I point out that the unpatented claims that Colorado Marble has filed on NFS land near the Lily Mines are for locatable minerals only; unpatented mining claims do not apply to mineral materials. Within the proposed POO, Colorado Marble states that the end-use of the calcium carbonate to be mined from NFS lands will be for; "use in construction materials such as cultured marble products, finely ground plaster products, pavestone products, and decorative stone products." (01/24/2006 Colorado Marble Plan of Operations, paragraph "C" Project Description, pg. 3). Such minerals, and the intended end-use as you describe in the proposed POO, are normally considered to be classified as mineral material pursuant to 36CFR228.41(c)(2),(4) & (5). Based on this classification, it appears that the calcium carbonate that Colorado Marble hopes to mine near Taylor Mountain is a mineral material, subject to the disposal regulations found at 36 CFR 228C, not those for locatable minerals found at 36 CFR 228A. For additional information pertaining to disposal of mineral materials on NFS lands, please see FSM2850 "Mineral Materials". Until this issue is clarified, further review of your proposed POO will not be made. In addition to the review of the proposed POO for the unpatented mining claims located on NFS land, the Forest Service has some concerns regarding Forest System Road (FSR} ZZ8 which you erroneously refer to as County Road 228 in your proposal. This system road has been used for commercial haul purposes, as well as for ingress/egress to the Lily Mines for quite some time. It is also apparent to me, through inspections of the road conducted by members of my staff, that unauthorized maintenance and in some cases reconstruction (road widening) activities are, and have been preformed on this facility without an approved written authorization (36 CFR 251.10(a)). This is a violation pursuant to 36 CFR 261.10 (a) and (k) subject to a mandatory appearance before a Federal Magistrate as well as a maximum $5,000 fine per occurrence. "~' Caring for the Land and Serving People Prin~etl on Retytletl Paper ~~