Grand Island Resources, which owns the Cross and Caribou mines above Nederland, will attend the October meeting of the Mined Land Reclamation Board on October 19 to 20, 2022. According to Chris Arend with the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Grand Island Resources is scheduled to come before the Board at the October hearing for two separate issues.

The first hearing is for an appeal of the Division's determination that the Cross Gold Mine is a designated mining operation, and the second hearing is to consider lifting the cease-and-desist order.

"The Division has received three citizen complaints concerning the Cross Gold Mine since August 2022, Arend said. Two of the citizen complaints expressed concerns over illegal dumping activities at the mine, which may impact Barker Reservoir.”

The complainants asserted that illegal dumping activities are occurring at the Cross Gold Mine that are putting drinking water at risk and that mining waste is being dumped into drinking water above Barker Reservoir, according to the website.

“The complainants did not present any evidence to demonstrate the Cross Gold Mine was illegally dumping waste or adversely impacting water quality,” according to Arend. “The Division inspected the Cross Gold Mine on September 26, 2022, to follow up on the complaints.”

The Division found the Operator was abiding by the terms of the cease-and-desist order and did not find any evidence to suggest that illegal dumping was occurring.

“The most recent citizen complaint was in regards to increased truck traffic in the vicinity of the mine. Traffic is outside of the Division's jurisdiction; however, the Operator has confirmed there has been no recent truck traffic related to activities at the mine. The complaints have been resolved to the Division's satisfaction and no further investigation is planned at this time."

The Mined Land Reclamation Board conducted an enforcement hearing for Grand Island Resources in Nederland on Thursday, December 16, 2021, and issued a cease-and-desist order for mining at the Cross and Caribou mines above Nederland.

The Board considered that gold, copper, silver, zinc and lead in mining discharge is a possible violation requiring a cease-and-desist order, corrective actions and civil penalties for failure to minimize disturbances to the prevailing hydrologic balance of the affected land and of the surrounding area and to the quantity or quality of water in surface and groundwater systems both during and after the mining operation and during reclamation.

At the January 19 Board meeting, Staff recommended fees imposed and said the Operator has complied with the cease-and-desist order.

A back filtration system was installed in November. Since December, the full system has been in place and they are meeting standards for metals other than lead. The filtration system is now running 24/7.

For more information about the mining board, go to https://drms.colorado.gov/ boards/mined-land-reclamation-board To watch the meetings live they will be on DRMS' MLRB YouTube channel: https:// www.youtube.com/ channel/ UCDrrAO8bIPFlOwce-yH1fWA.