Grand Island Resources, with mining property near Nederland, received a Notice of Violation and a Cease and Desist Order on Friday, November 5, 2021. The notice is for violations of the water quality control act and discharge permit associated with the Cross and Caribou Mines, according to Kelly Morgan with the Colorado Water Quality Control Division of the Department of Public Health and Environment.

A letter to Grand Island Resources LLC in care of Richard Mittasch, Caribou Road in Nederland on November 9, 2021, from Amy Eschberger, environmental protection specialist, reported that on October 1, 2021, the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety mailed a Reason to Believe a Violation Exists and Notice of Board Hearing letter regarding the Cross Gold Mine. This matter was scheduled to appear before the Mined Land Reclamation Board during its November 17 -18, 2021, meeting, but the Formal Public Hearing will now be held during the December 15 -16, 2021, Board meeting by a virtual ZOOM hearing.

The Mountain-Ear included an article on these violations and the upcoming hearing in the November 25, 2021, edition. On November 19, The Mountain-Ear received an email from Edward R. Byrne, counsel for Grand Island Resources, issuing the following statement for 4415 Caribou Road, Nederland:

Grand Island Resources (GIR) has been founded on and dedicated to our mission, which is to prove that existing contaminated mining sites and tailings can be remediated and operated while keeping the environment and our water clean and safe, all financed by private capital. We are working hand in hand with federal, state and local agencies, including the Colorado Department of Water Quality Control Division (WQCD), to make all the necessary investments and capital improvements that were not made by previous operators of the Cross and Caribou Mines in the mountains above Nederland, Colorado.

We have retained world-renowned experts and engineering firms and are working closely with the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). We are currently installing modern, proven water treatment infrastructure to replace the last 50 years of antiquated and obsolete water purification methods and treatments with state-of-the-art systems.

GIR regrets that the treatment system could not be installed and placed in operation sooner to prevent violations during our evaluation and revitalization of the Caribou and Cross mines. However, we weren’t looking for a short-term “fix.” Our plan has always been to become ong-term good neighbors by establishing a 21st century mining operation that future generations will appreciate. We are replacing legacy systems with new ones that will meet or exceed current industry standards.

Since early spring of 2021, we have commissioned detailed scientific and engineering studies on how to best treat groundwater discharge from the mines. This summer we pilot tested one water treatment system and have recently transitioned to a far more robust one. Three qualified Colorado water treatment engineering firms are participating with us to design and install a comprehensive treatment system that will ensure full compliance with state and federal water quality standards.

While there have recently been trace amounts of certain contaminants that have exceeded our NPDES permit standards, we are confident the new treatment system will effectively remove them. We are also moving as quickly as science, engineering, and supply logistics allow to upgrade the rest of our equipment and facilities to fully protect the citizens of Boulder County and the environment.

Grand Island Resources is committed to clean water and takes pride in delivering the highest standards of environmental stewardship and is proud of its commitment to all environmental, social and governance principles.

We have made and will continue to make substantial investments to demonstrate that the historic Cross and Caribou Mines can be operated in a manner that is environmentally responsible and economically resilient. We believe we will be able to employ these same means and methods to establish a model using private capital which can be used to restore and reclaim abandoned mining sites throughout the United States.

We look forward to working with local universities and our federal, state, and local government regulators to prove how it is now possible to make Colorado’s mining industry cleaner, safer and more compatible with the Colorado environment and all the people who live in and visit in our great state.