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<br />APR 0 3 2008 <br />Division ofa d Safety n, <br />Mining <br />JOHN W.SUTHERS <br />Attorney General <br />CYNTHIA H. COFFMAN <br />Chief Deputy Attorney General <br />DANIEL D. DOMENICO <br />Solicitor General <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br />DEPARTMENT OF LAW <br />OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL <br />STATE SERVICES BUILDING <br />1525 Sherman Street - 7th Floor <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone (303) 866-4500 <br />March 28, 2008 <br />Mr. John C. McClure <br />1401 17th Street, Suite 660 <br />Denver, Colorado 80202 <br />0 <br />RE: Battle Mountain Resources, Inc. San Luis Project, Permit No. M-1988-112 <br />Request to Continue`7une 11-12, 2008 Board Hearing <br />Dear Mr. McClure, <br />I am writing to formally respond to your request for a continuance of the June 11-12, <br />2008 Mined Land Reclamation Board Hearing. In addition, I wanted to confirm our <br />conversations from earlier this week regarding the Rules and Regulations that establish the <br />timeframes and deadlines that control the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />(DBMS) amendment application review process. As we discussed, DBMS and the Mined <br />Land Reclam~ltion Board are bound by statutory and regulatory deadlines in all reclamation <br />permit and amendment applications, and the failure to review and either approve or deny an <br />application prior to the deadline results in an automatic approval of the application. <br />Pursu~~nt to Rule 1.4.9(3), the Board must consider and make a final determination on <br />the amendment application within 120 days of the filing date, unless the Division finds the <br />application "complex" (Rule 1.4.1(7)), or the Applicant requests an extension (Rule <br />1.4.1(9)), or there exists an error in public notice (Rule 1.4.1(13)), or the Applicant revises or <br />amends the application (Rule 1.8), or for reasons listed in Section 34-32-.115(2) CRS. <br />Pursuant to Rule 1.1(10) and 1.4.1(7), the Division determined AM-03 to be a complex <br />application acid extended the hearing deadline 60 days, which extended the Board's final <br />determination deadline to 180 days. In this matter, the 180th day is June 30, 2008, therefore <br />the June 11-12 Board hearing is the last available Board hearing prior to the 180 day <br />deadline. Under Rule 1.4.13, if the Board fails to make a determination on the application by <br />June 30, 200f3 the application would be automatically approved. <br />The I/-ivision has extended the application review process as far as the Rules and <br />Regulations ~~llow. DBMS cannot grant your request for a continuance, however, I want it to <br />be clear that DBMS is not denying the request either. DBMS simply does not have the <br />authority under the Rules to extend any application beyond 180 days. At this point, the only <br />way to have 'the matter continued is if Battle Mountain was to agree to waive the decision <br />deadlines anc~ requests an extension. It is possible that Battle Mountain may request an <br />