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Permitting Once gold ore is located and determined to be economically feasible to recover, permits from various governmental agencies must be obtained.
Mining is highly regulated - it is one of the most regulated industries in the United States. Extensive planning must be conducted prior to submitting permit applications and substantial baseline data must be collected to describe the environment. All of the plans and information submitted are available for public review. All plans and data must be generated, submitted and approved before any construction or mining occurs, and there is no guarantee that a permit will be issued. Zoning requirements and land use restrictions govern mining on the County level. Air quality, water quality and quantity, blasting, and noise limitations are among the specifications that must be met at a State level. Wastes as well as recycled materials must be managed in accordance with State and Federal requirements. Historic resources inventoried and documented where possible, structures are located away from the mining areas. Wildlife protection is guided principally by the State. Storage and use of all chemicals as well as the rock excavated and crushed is regulated at a State level. Reclamation is required and is guaranteed by posting adequate financial warranty, payable upon demand to the State should the operator not perform as required by permits. Currently the financial warranty is approximately $97 million.
Among the permits necessary to begin and continue mining operations are:
-State of Colorado Mined Land Reclamation mining operations and reclamation plan, reclamation bond adequate for the cost of complete reclamation of the site. Current bond posted is about $97 million.
-State of Colorado Air Quality Control Permits regulates air emissions pursuant to Federal Clean Air Act mandates.
-State of Colorado Water Quality Control Permits regulates water discharges pursuant to Federal and State requirements.
-Teller County Land Use Approval compliance with standards for any off-site impacts, such as roads, noise standards, and lighting standards.
-Teller County Environmental Health septic systems and vaults for the structures used by employees on the site.
-Temporary water supply (augmentation) plan for the replacement of water into streams that would otherwise receive runoff from the precipitation that falls on the zero discharge Valley Leach Facility.
State of Colorado Waste Management Division approval to ship wastes.
-State of Colorado Division of Wildlife Impacts to threatened and endangered species from operations.
Mining After all the permits have been approved and are in place, facilities are constructed and mining can begin.
The Cresson Mines operations incorporate typical modern surface mining methods. Mine engineers define the mine methods and operations based upon the site to be mined. To begin mining, any vegetation and the topsoil is removed. The topsoil is stockpiled in an area away from the mine to be used in reclamation of the mined area. When the site preparation is complete, the rock is drilled. The drill holes provide cuttings to be tested for ore content. The tests completed on the drill holes identify rock that contains gold in amounts that can be economically recovered, ore, and rock that is not mineralized, called overburden.
The drill holes are then loaded for blasting to break up the rock into size that can be moved. At the Cresson Mine, common ammonium nitrate and fuel mixture is used for blasting because the mixture is not explosive until detonated with a booster.
Rock is hauled at the Cresson Mine using
245- and 300-ton
capacity haul trucks. The trucks are loaded with hydraulic shovels. The
bucket of the largest shovel has a 40 cubic yard capacity. Overburden
is hauled to storage areas, ore is hauled to a two-stage crusher that
produces coarse gravel measuring less than three-quarters of an inch at a
rate of 3,000 tons per hour. Approximately 50,000,000 tons of material is
moved annually.
Overburden is placed in areas where no mining, or no more mining, is planned. The overburden storage areas are constructed considering geotechnical stability analyses, hydrologic designs for storm runoff, water quality assessments for infiltrating water, and the specific plans for grading and reclamation-revegetation. CC&V reclaims areas as soon as the activity has been completed. Some of the overburden storage areas have been the first areas to be reclaimed to achieve the post-mining land uses of livestock and wildlife grazing and habitat.
PO Box 191, Victor, CO 80860 719-689-4022 info@ccvgoldmining.com