Eɔfore me, the subscriber, personally appeared RAIMA SCHAUSS vilo, being duly som, says that Poison Spider Mining Company has been engaged in, has started or will start and · is projected to carry to completion the required annual assessment work on the unpatented lole mining clains hereinafter named. This assessment, work may consist of drilling operations on the said claims; or coring; or photographic operations on drill cuttings or outcrops; or geophysical or geological operations; or expenditure of money by various means; or replacing or repairing posts or other markers on the property and all other related work. The claims to which the foregoing pertains are located in Sweetwater County, roning, and are described 28 follows: St. Clains, beginning with No. 1 and numbered more or less consecutively through Such assessment work is with the authorization of Ralph Schauss and Eugene Stevens, owners of said claims, for the purpose of holding legal title to said claims. Dated and signed this 24th day of August, 1974. Ralph Schaass ted in my presence and sworn to before me by Ralph Schauss this day of Notary Public Mr. ATKISSON. I will ask you to look at the signature at the bottom and ask you if you recognize it. [Witness examines document and counsel examines document.] Mr. ATKISSON. Do you recognize that affidavit? Mr. SCHAUSS. Yes. Mr. ATKISSON. This time the people doing the work-who, by the way, are not Kerr-McGee, but are Poison Spider Mining Co. Is this another one of your entities? Mr. SCHAUSs. Yes. Mr. ATKISSON. It is a solely owned corporation? Mr. SCHAUSs. Yes. Mr. ATKISSON. Does it have a drilling rig? Mr. SCHAUSS. It has prospecting equipment. Mr. ATKISSON. Do these companies ever borrow from each other, that is, borrow equipment? Mr. SCHAUSS. There is lots of borrowing, yes. Mr. ATKISSON. It would not be hard for the management to get together, would it? Mr. SCHAUSs. No. Mr. ATKISSON. Once again, Mr. Schauss, you say that the entity in question-this time the Poison Spider Mining Co.-"has been engaged in, has started, or will start, and is projected to carry to completion the * *"-and I want you to listen to this phrase"the required annual assessment work" on the claims. * Evidently when you executed this and all the other affidavits you had some notion that there was an annual assessment requirement. Is that correct; is that a fair statement? Mr. SCHAUSS. I am still operating under what Judge Kerr said. If a man is working on his property--- Mr. ATKISSON. Did you have a notion that there was some sort of—I did not ask you what kind—but I said, did you have a notion that there was some sort of an annual assessment requirement? Mr. SCHAUSs. Yes. Mr. ATKISSON. All right. This affidavit says that annual assessment requirement was going to be met, is being met, or will be met. Is that not what this affidavit says? Mr. SCHAUSs. Yes. Mr. ATKISSON. In this case, when was it met? Was it before September 5, 1974; shortly after September 5, 1974; yesterday; or when? Mr. SCHAUSS. I would say that in 1975 that Fremont Energy Corp. took over much of this and a lot of this assessment work and was doing the assessment work. Mr. ATKISSON. I understand that Fremont Energy took over these claims and later did assessment work. But my question to you is this: When was the annual assessment requirement, alluded to in this particular affidavit, met? When was that work completed? You do not know, do you? Mr. SCHAUSs. It is continuous work. Mr. ATKISSON. If it is continuous work, and if you do not mark it off for discrete annual periods, how can you swear under oath in an affidavit that an annual assessment requirement is being met? The law clearly says that you cannot even do that without having already done the work? Mr. SCHAUSS. I was working on the claims. Mr. ATKISSON. All right. I will have the staff show you, Mr. Schauss, a fourth proof of labor. Mr. Moss. Without objection, that will be inserted in the record at this point. [The document referred to follows:] 53 Before we, the subscriber, personally appeared Such assess who, being duly sworn, says that assessment work on the folowing nemed ungatented lade rining clains has been done for the current year by Western Exploration Company or has bea started in part or is now in the process of belag doue by sid Company and is projected to continue until such time as may be required to complete such work. ment work has been or is being or will be performed at many places on the large number ceral claims hereinafter named. This assessment work consists of many types and kinds of work or activities or expenditures, among which may be any of the following: Travel to, from and on the claims by any employees, contract workers or geologists or other personnel; radiometric surveys; radiometric map preparation; surface surveys; surface mapping; drilling operations; geologic examination of drill hole cuttings; assaying; identification of drill hole cuttings; drill hole coring; physical, geological, geophysical, radiometric, or other similar means of evaluating or examining drill hele cuttings; geological, geophysical, or other examination or surveying of surface formatichs; correlating surface or underground formations by geological comparison or otherwise; water sampling and analytical work on water sampling; payment of vages by money or other things of value to contract workers or other workers; photographic work and white - colored infra-red, or any other type of film on outcrops, drill hole cuttings, surface exposures, terrain features, geological requirements, and other desirable photography; resetting or replacing of posts, or any other markers of any kind; geological, geophysical, or drill hole, or any other types of reports; rental or repair of equipment, and other kindred expenditures; road construction; road repair; expenditures for supplies and equipment and/or related repairs; and any and all other means that may have been or will be applied to such assessment work. The claims to which the foregoing pertains are located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and are described as follows: black K Claims numbered consecutively, beginning with No. 1 and continuing through 1436 thefes muberall consecutively, begining vith No. 1 and contining though Township 25 North, Range 102 West; in Sections Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 15, 19, I Claims numbered consecutively, beginning with No. 1 and continuing through POE Claims numbered consecutively, beginning with No. 1 and continuing through Such assessment work is with the authorization of Pollution Control & Engineering Corporation, owner of said clairs, for the purpose of holding legal title to said claims. Dated and signed this 22 day of August, 1973. ། Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 2-2 day of August, 1973. |