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VW Operation Status Map: Shows last year's disturbance areas, new disturbance areas, <br /> and status of all disturbed areas.No map is provided for the South Lowland area as <br /> nothing has changed there and it is likely to be released from bond in the near future. It <br /> needs to be understood that this current status map is somewhat tentative due to no <br /> action having been taken by the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety(DRMS) <br /> on an initial request for an acreage reduction of nearly 2,000 acres. That will be <br /> followed by action to officially modify the Reclamation Permit to bring it into line <br /> with the new lease and its requirements. Until those processes are completed, this <br /> status map must be kept tentative. Once that is completed,new base maps for the lease <br /> can be prepared and submitted. <br /> UW Other base maps will need to be modified once DRMS has approved changes to <br /> the Reclamation Permit, as described above. <br /> COMPLIANCE WITH ACREAGE LIMITATIONS: The acreage limitations included in <br /> amendment four are no longer relevant and are no longer required. Due to the limitation of future <br /> operations to only the original Area IU the 150 acre limitation is now irrelevant. In future reports this <br /> section will be removed. <br /> GEOLOGIC CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED: No unusual or unexpected geologic <br /> conditions were encountered in the last year. The deposit has markedly changed recently. Previously, <br /> it was highly variable with a considerable amount of clay seaming and clay columns. Mining since <br /> last winter has moved into an area where clay seams, if present at all, are thin and far less significant. <br /> Also the quality of the sand has improved considerably which means less land is consumed per unit <br /> volume of sand produced. On the map,this area is in the most northern portions of the mining area. <br /> Land west of this arm of mining still contain the highly variable material. Exactly how far west that <br /> variable deposit extends cannot be determined easily. As shown on the map, the current northern arm <br /> of the mining area will continue northward along the eastern edge of the mining area(staked with T- <br /> posts) and then it will turn west and curl back around to a southerly direction. In this way the high <br /> variability deposit can be encountered from the north. If sand remains good during the southward <br /> mining then the operation will proceed as far as the quality remains good. It may turn out that the high <br /> variability material extends well to the west of its current face. In that event, mining may cease <br /> moving into that material and proceed in higher quality material. That island of low quality material <br /> containing a lot of clay could be removed later as a part of the reclamation work and the material used <br /> as pit backfill. Much of this mining progress will likely occur in the next year. <br /> HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED: No groundwater was encountered in the <br /> mining pit operated in the past year. Flows in Coal Creek were generally weak, except in September <br /> 2013. <br /> Increased moisture recently appears to have helped stabilize the declining water table <br /> somewhat and the moist May 2014 has helped considerably. The riparian corridor is now considerably <br /> healthier than it was last year at this time. <br /> At this point in time, the area known as the South Lowland is under consideration for release <br /> as a part of the large acreage reduction request. If that area is released from bond by DRMS then <br /> Status report for 2014 due July 15, 2014 Page 2 of 10 <br />