Any highway begins with a gravel pit (unless you're building in Hawaii where you probably would start by dynamiting a lava bed). After a prospector has spotted a potential site, "due diligence" is completed with title searches, zoning, access and water regulations. Then negotiations can be completed with the landowner. Ready to move in the mining equipment? Not yet!

THE NEXT STEP...

is the permitting process. This can take up to a year. Various government agencies - local, county, state and federal -require that permits be obtained for each phase of the mining process. The Local Land Use permit is the very first one required in any mining operation.

This can be the most difficult to obtain, since it regulates such things as access to public streets, noise levels, hours of operation, and setback requirements. Quite often public meetings are a part of the procedure. All pits also require a Stormwater Permit, Air Quality Permit, and Reclamation Permit.

As the titles indicate these regulate stormwater contamination, dust control for air quality, and a financial guarantee to insure reclamation of any disturbed mining area.

When mining will occur in wet environments, additional permits are required regulating discharged water contaminants, water rights availability, groundwater contamination from fuel, designated wetlands areas, and dredging and filling operations within river and stream channels, to name a few. A Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Access Permit is required whenever a mining operation must access the state highway system. Specific permitting requirements apply in certain locations, i.e., Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands and mining on public lands where there is a potential for disturbing artifacts.

All of these permits, and others, must be researched and written applications prepared and submitted. Up to this point, the work is in the hands of the Permitting Manager and office staff. Once the permits are all approved by the issuing agency, the site work can begin to prepare for the actual mining operations.

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