Update from the Coal, Hardrock and Uranium Committees – August 2018

CMA’s Coal, Hardrock and Uranium Committees meet monthly in a combined committee meeting. During those meetings we receive updates from the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety covering both the coal and hardrock mining programs. At the July meeting, the Division updated members about recent revisions being considered to Reclamation Cost Estimates and electronic permitting.

Steven Lange of Knight Piesold presented a summary of reclamation activities near Silverton conducted by Sunnyside Gold Corporation. Sunnyside Gold Corporation engaged in more than 30 years of reclamation and remediation in the Silverton Caldera. Actions included removal of mine waste from owned and area mines, treatment of water discharged from mine portals, seasonal treatment of the flow in Cement Creek, installation of bulkheads in mine workings and stabilization of tailings deposits. Learn more.

Committee meetings also allow member companies to inform other CMA members of activities at their mines, and we had an excellent update from Kathy Welt of Mountain Coal Company who updated the committee about the tour the company conducted as a part of a petition filed by Wild Earth Guardians challenging aspects of the mine’s reclamation efforts.

Jennifer Opila of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment updated CMA members about the Department’s stakeholder process convened for the purpose of gathering input into promulgation of rules and regulations pertaining to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM). Senate Bill 245, passed in the last legislative session, provides authority to the Department to adopt rules covering TENORM. The stakeholder process can be followed here. CMA will be participating in the stakeholder process with the intent of limiting the types of mining related activities covered by the rules. Dianna Orf provided CMA members a complete summary of this issue in her Governmental Affairs Report.