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May 21, 2014 C- 1981 - 019 /Colowyo Coal Mine JRS <br />Inspection Topic Summary <br />NOTE: Y= Inspected N =Not Inspected R= Comments Noted V= Violation Issued NA =Not Applicable <br />N - Air Resource Protection <br />R - Roads <br />N - Availability of Records <br />R - Reclamation Success <br />R - Backfill & Grading <br />N - Revegetation <br />R - Excess Spoil and Dev. Waste <br />N - Subsidence <br />N - Explosives <br />N - Slides and Other Damage <br />R - Fish & Wildlife <br />N - Support Facilities On -site <br />R - Hydrologic Balance <br />R - Signs and Markers <br />R - Gen. Compliance With Mine Plan <br />N - Support Facilities Not On -site <br />N - Other <br />R - Special Categories Of Mining <br />N - Processing Waste <br />R - Topsoil <br />COMMENTS <br />This was a partial inspection of the Colowyo Mine conducted by Jim Stark of the Colorado Division of <br />Reclamation, Mining and Safety. Kurt Blunt of Colowyo accompanied me on the inspection. The mine was <br />actively mining coal. They were not hauling coal to the loadout or shipping coal since they were working on <br />replacing railroad track and ties. The weather was warm and alternated from sunny to cloudy with some light rain. <br />The ground was basically dry during the inspection. <br />BACKFILL and GRADING — Rule 4.14 Contemporaneous Reclamation 4.14.1; Approximate Original Contour <br />4.14.2; Highwall Elimination 4.14.1(2)(f); Steep Slopes 4.14.2, 4.27; Handling of Acid and Toxic Materials <br />4.14.3; Stabilization of Rills and Gullies 4.14.6: <br />- The backfilled and regraded West Pit areas were, for the most part, stable at the time of the inspection. There <br />were no signs of any settling or tension cracks in the backfill. There is a small slump just south of the East Taylor <br />Pond on the east side that has stabilized and is now well vegetated. Colowyo will need to continue to monitor this <br />location and repair the area if necessary. There is also an area where water broke through one of the upper contour <br />ditches on the east side (just below Hink's Peak) just north of the East Taylor Ditch. This has resulted in <br />numerous rills and gullies from the top of the slope all the way down to the Taylor Tributary Ditch. These rills <br />and gullies will need to be repaired once field conditions permit. The contour ditches will need to be repaired in <br />this location as well. Finally, Colowyo will need to determine why the water broke through in this area and <br />determine if the problem can be fixed so it does not happen again. Please note that any changes to the reclamation <br />plan (besides routine maintenance) will need to be approved with an appropriate revision prior to being <br />implemented in the field. <br />- The backfilled and regraded East Pit areas remained stable at the time of the inspection. There were no signs of <br />any settling, slumping or tension cracks in the backfill. The 2013 reclamation block had some very minor rilling <br />but nothing that requires any immediate attention. Of course these areas will require continued monitoring like all <br />other recent reclamation. As a whole, there were no erosional problems noted in the East Pit reclamation (with the <br />exception of the 2013 reclamation block noted above). The contour ditches in the East Pit reclamation areas were <br />also all stable, including those in the 2013 reclamation block. There were no areas where water has jumped the <br />ditch and caused any erosional problems. The stock tanks appear to be helping to control erosion in the East Pit. <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 12 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 3 <br />Page 2 of 24 <br />