The story of Grand Island Resources LLC (GIR) and the Caribou and Cross Mines is about to change. After suffering a major tunnel collapse, the loss of their president, a cease and desist order, and having to let go nearly two-thirds of their workforce, GIR now has one more year to make their case for being considered a Designated Mining Operation (DMO), or face the “end of life” of the mine.

“The Caribou and Cross mines were discovered and began operation in 1869, more than 150 years ago,” GIR attorney Edward Byrne began in his January 9, 2022, letter to the Town of Nederland. “More recently, Tom Hendricks reopened the mines in 1970, and he earned a well-deserved reputation for environmentally responsible hard rock mining.”

“GIR is proud to continue his legacy,” Byrne continued, explaining the history of the mines in his letter, up until GIR came into the picture, and the devastating incidents that have affected the operation in recent years.

Bryne’s 2022 letter was directed to then-Mayor Kristopher Larsen, the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT), and Town Administrator Miranda Fisher, and threatened a $5 million lawsuit against the Town for libel and slander if “malicious” statements were to continue to be made against them.

The letter highlights statements, made by Larsen and others, concerning GIR’s conduct as being untruthful and appeared as an organized attempt to get the mines permanently closed.

“They are aggressively trying to shut down our operation based on false claims of potential harm and outrageous allegations of corporate malfeasance – claims and allegations they are making either with malice aforethought or with reckless disregard for the truth,” Byrne’s letter continues.

Back in the late 1970s, Caribou resident Hendricks dedicated his career to the operation of the Cross mine, just four miles above Nederland, at the early age of 23.

“Mining is not a get-rich-quick scheme anymore. Those days are over,” Hendricks said in a Boulder Daily Camera article from October 9, 1977. “But with hard, dedicated work, you can operate one (mine) as an ongoing business.”

Hendricks explained that the Cross Mine’s average yield was about six or seven ounces of silver and one-quarter ounce gold in one ton of rock, with the lead, zinc, and copper percentages being in the pounds-per-ton.

“Considering our initial investment; the milling costs and the mining costs, we have to mine $80 per ton (per day) of rock to break even. Anything above that, we make a profit.

“Even though you have environmental restrictions, you can still work within them and produce. We are making money now,” Hendricks concluded.

Hendricks’ dedication to environmental responsibility, and his commitment to Nederland, has made him revered in the hearts and minds of the community. The Hendricks Mining Company operated the Caribou and Cross Mines for 43 years before the operation was in need of investment because equipment became outdated.

GIR, a foreign LLC registered in Wyoming, was seemingly first formed in May, 2017; in that same year they acquired the mines and appointed Hendricks as their president.

According to Byrne, from a Boulder Weekly article published February 17, 2022, GIR’s business model is to use private capital to buy “fallow and/or declining mines on public land” and to improve their infrastructure. With modern mining technology, resources would be extracted from on-site waste rock, materials would be processed in onsite ore mills, and the mines would be refilled with a leftover rock slurry before being sealed completely.

Byrne describes how Caribou and Cross mines require expansion in the form of a new ore processing facility, a septic system, and a road to connect the two mines. He stated that the mines were to be GIR’s “pilot project,” to serve as a template for their future business operations.

In December of 2019 the Idaho Tunnel collapsed, which caused mining operations to cease and endangered the stability of Caribou Road.

“GIR has already spent $4.1 million dollars and nearly 20,000 man-hours directly on repairing the Idaho Tunnel, improving its water systems, and preventing the collapse of Caribou Road,” Byrne indicated in his 2022 letter to Nederland officials.

“Since 2019, GIR has spent a total of $6.2 million dollars and 47,210 man hours on the Idaho Tunnel, general clean-up of the Caribou and Cross mines, repairs to other infrastructure, and other water treatment facility improvements.”

Hendricks passed away on January 6, 2020 and as a result, GIR lost their president and Nederland lost their trusted representative and liaison between the Town and the mines.

As GIR focused on repairing Caribou Mine’s water discharge pipelines, discharge from the Cross Mine – normally filtered through settling ponds before being released into Coon Creek Track, which flows into North Beaver Creek – was found in violation of state discharge standards.

On September 21, 2021, the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety (DRMS) was notified by the Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) of GIR’s non-compliance for zinc, cadmium, lead, copper, and silver exceedances. And on October 1, 2021, DRMS sent GIR a “Reason to Believe a Violation Exists and Notice of Board Hearing” letter.

The letter informed GIR that they were being reviewed for a “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.”

“Following the Idaho Tunnel collapse,” Byrne continued in his letter, “there have been 11 individual exceedances of our National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) aquatic life water quality standards out of 20 NPDES water quality parameters, tested twice per month for the past twenty 20 months; 11 out of more than 400 data points,” Byrne continues.

“We are working closely with DRMS and CDPHE to complete our implementation, testing and approval of a brand new water treatment system, which features state-of-the-art post-filtration, polishing media and is already delivering excellent results.”

On January 9, 2022, Byrne sent his letter threatening the Town of Nederland with a lawsuit. Byrne specifically addressed what he had labeled as “misinformation” harmful to GIR, including claims that GIR had made water from valley wells unsafe to drink, food grown in gardens irrigated from North Beaver Creek unsafe to eat, that the City of Boulder’s drinking water is unsafe to drink, and that GIR was actively mining gold with harmful extraction methods.

“Our opponents have not done their research,” Byrne wrote. “We thought many, if not most of Nederland’s residents were more or less aware of the work ongoing at the mines during the past six years.”

On January 14, 2022, Joe Taddeucci, the City of Boulder’s Director of Public Works, in association with the City’s Source Water Quality Project Manager, Water Quality Manager, Assistant City Attorney, and Drinking Water Program Supervisor, submitted an official letter to the DRMS and other mining oversight committees. The letter was a stated opposition to GIR’s application for a discharge permit.

“The City opposes this application due to repeated and significant violations of GIR’s discharge permit, a pattern of lack of transparency, and GIR’s failure to communicate critical issues to DRMS, WQCD, and downstream water providers including the City and nearby residences who rely on well water,” the letter continues.

“Water in Barker Reservoir, which is located approximately four miles downstream from the Mines’ discharges, is a critical water supply for the City. To ensure protection of the City’s critical water supply, the City respectfully requests that DRMS deny the Application, and that both WQCD and DRMS maintain the Cease-and-Desist orders prohibiting any mining-related activities at the Cross and Caribou Mines.”

Taddeucci provided evidence in the letter to detail how GIR was found not to be in compliance with its water quality discharge permit since 2019.

“In May 2020, for example, mine effluent cadmium levels exceeded the allowable limit under GIR’s permit by 223% and lead levels exceeded the limit by 176%,” Taddeucci wrote. “Such violations are of particular concern in ephemeral streams such as Coon Track Creek where Mine discharge can comprise 100 percent of the streamflow at certain times of year.”

Though the DRMS had stated on February 17, 2022 that their preliminary determination is that the Cross Mine met the definition of a Designated Mining Operation (DMO), a cease and desist order was issued and went into effect on February 18, 2022 for Violation MV- 2021-017, which involved several pollutant violations from December 2020 to August 2021 involving excessive and toxic traces of copper and lead found in the watershed.

The order was also imposed due to GIR failing to submit pollutant reports in March and April of 2021.

A DMO refers to a “mining operation at which designated chemicals used in metallurgical processing are present on-site,” and also covers toxic or acid-forming materials, acid mine drainage, and uranium development or extraction. Certain mines are amended and can be considered exempt from receiving DMO status, such as metal mining operations that do not use or store designated chemicals.

DMO status requires the mines to operate under more regulations and oversight.

GIR is seeking DMO status to continue their operations and expansion of the Caribou and Cross Mines. Many members of the community fear such a prospect due to GIR’s recent violations and perceived damage to the watershed, and because of the possible negative impacts to the neighborhoods along, and near to, Caribou Road.

The considerations for lifting the cease and desist order involve GIR being compliant with the Mined Land Reclamation Board (MLRB), providing successful results from hydrologic monitoring, and completing certain corrective actions, which includes submitting quarterly reports.

Additionally, Taddeucci, in his 2022 letter representing the City of Boulder, specified that GIR should not be allowed to resume operations until “a thorough analysis has been conducted to determine whether downstream residential wells have been contaminated; a reliable and long-term water treatment system has been installed; a surface water and groundwater sampling and analysis program has been established; an adequate financial warranty for both long-term water treatment and site cleanup has been approved by DRMS; and a Stormwater Management Plan for the permitted site has been developed.”

From March to July, 2022, GIR submitted repeated appeals to DRMS concerning their final DMO determination of Cross Mine, as well as submitting requests to lift the cease and desist order on April 29, July 12, 21, and 28. Finally, on July 29, the DRMS directed the MLRB to be responsible for the decision. GIR submitted another petition to lift the cease and desist order on August 15.

On January 10, 2023, GIR formally requested that the MLRB approve their Notice of Dismissal and officially dismiss their appeal of the Board’s DMO determination.

GIR and the DRMS engaged in discussions regarding the “regulatory compliance requirements” that they must adhere to under the DMO status and how they affect their ongoing mine operations and their Water Monitoring Program. These discussions led to GIR’s decision to withdraw their appeal, stating that it was “in their best interests.”

The MLRB approved the withdrawal, and GIR was expected to prepare, submit, and obtain approval of a DMO application, which was due by July 17, 2023.

Seemingly as a result of spending most of 2022 under the cease and desist order, workforce for the mines significantly decreased, with some individuals associated with the Caribou and Cross Mines claiming that employees were not paid for a total of 49 days, through Christmas and into the new year.

In response to the diminishment of their workforce, GIR began either altering or abandoning its lease agreements with several Nederland property owners.

“Permission to take from this document is given if it is printed in its entirety. Due to the reduction in our current workforce, Nederland Mining Consultants Inc. (NMC) is giving back some of our properties that were leased to provide housing for our employees and contractors over the last few years.” Richard Mittasch, Vice President of NMC, provided this official statement to The Mountain-Ear.

“NMC is the tenant under the lease and will remain on some leases to preserve our option for the future when we resume regular operations. We are working with State regulators and, in part of our commitment to the community, we have installed a new water treatment system that has exceeded all state and federal water quality standards. We look forward to working with community businesses and residents moving forward.”

Mine Manager and Director of Operations Je’an-Paul Brewer explained in an interview with The Mountain-Ear that there were many factors contributing to the unfortunate layoffs. These factors included cleaning up containment ponds and past mining operations, and updating old water filtration systems and “obsolete” infrastructure in order to not just adhere to current health and safety standards, but to develop beyond them to sustain “environmentally friendly mining.”

On January 18, 2023, the MLRB unanimously approved a motion to lift the cease and desist order. It was determined that GIR was in compliance with the Board’s orders, and that though the second and third quarter hydrologic monitoring reports for 2022 indicated that samples contained “many deficiencies,” the issues were sufficiently addressed by GIR working in close relation with the DRMS.

GIR was also compliant by having previously withdrawn their appeal of the Board’s DMO determination. The cease and desist order being lifted also marked the start of the 180-day period for GIR to submit their new DMO application.

GIR requested for an extension of the DMO application due date in February, 2023, which was approved in March. On December 22, 2023, GIR requested a hearing before the MLRB to extend the due date for the application again for another year.

On January 17, 2024, GIR Mine Manager Brewer, President Daniel Takami, and Technical Team Leader Sergio Rivera attended a hearing of the MLRB regarding a decision whether to permit another extension. Patrick Lennberg was also present, representing DRMS.

Lennberg indicated that GIR successfully submitted 15 months of data collection and five quarters of required water testing and baseline testing, and that recent reports indicated that the affluent from the mines will have no exceedances per their discharge permit. Lennberg added that GIR was maintaining a successful working relationship with DRMS.

GIR specified how they are working on finishing their environmental protection plan but that it can’t be started until the spring. Once the plan is complete, they intend to collect sufficient data that they will provide for the DMO consideration.

DRMS staff recommended that, if the extension were to be approved by the Board, GIR should not be allowed to request any following extensions.

“If the Operator fails to submit a complete DMO Application by January 17, 2025, no additional time will be granted, the end of life of mine will be declared, and the Operator shall immediately cease the mining operation at the site and commence reclamation as required by the current permit and in accordance with Rule 3.1.3(2)” reads the official recommendation.

“And/Or, if the Operator does submit a complete application by the January 17, 2025 deadline but fails to obtain approval of the application within the 365 day deadline provided by Rule 1.4.1(9) for applications, no additional time for review will be granted, the end of life of mine will be declared, and the Operator shall immediately cease the mining operation at the site and commence reclamation as required by the current permit and in accordance with Rule 3.1.3(2).”

The MLRB granted GIR’s request to extend the DMO application due date to Jan 17, 2025.

Nederland, having previously adopted the Rights of Nature resolution in July of 2021, giving “fundamental and inalienable rights” to its 448-square mile watershed, recently approved the Sustainability Advisory Board to appoint “environmental guardians” to speak for the Rights of Nature. Alan Apt and Rich Orman were appointed.

As guardians, Apt and Orman have been monitoring GIR and their progress in being given DMO status. On Monday, February 19, 2024, they provided their official report to Nederland officials, indicating that the Town will have its chance to voice their concerns if GIR submits their application by the due date.

The Guardians’ Report reads: “In a recent hearing before the state board of the Colorado Division of Mining Reclamation, the Cross/Caribou Mine was given a final deadline of 1/17/25 to submit an application for their Designated Mining Operation Status that requires an Environmental Protection Plan. The state may require that their application be submitted this summer so they have time to process the application.

“Once the application is submitted, the public and the Town of Nederland will have the opportunity of responding to their application and ask for additional information. It was encouraging to hear that the state is carefully monitoring water emissions and that no violations have occurred.”