2014-07-18_INSPECTION - M2008035

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PERMIT#:M-2008-035 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS: ERR INSPECTION DATE: July 9,2014 OBSERVATIONS The inspection was conducted by Elliott Russell of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety(Division). Kent Twiss, the Fleet Foreman for Yuma County Road & Bridge, was present for the inspection. The Moser Pit is located approximately 10 miles south of Yuma, Colorado. The site is an active 112c operation with 3 8.5 7 acres permitted and the post-mining land use is rangeland. This inspection was carried out as a part of the Division's routine monitoring inspection program. At 13:45, the Division and Mr. Twiss arrived at mine entrance along County Road 28. At the time of the inspection it was clear and hot, and the ground was dry. The mine site identification sign was observed at the entrance to the mine, but had the wrong permit number listed and the majority of the sign was illegible; this does not meet the requirements of Rule 3.1.12(1) and will be cited as a problem. Please see the corrective action section of this report for more information. The boundary corners of the pit were delineated by t-posts. No mining activities were occurring during the time of the inspection and no equipment was on site,but there was evidence of recent mining activities observed. The site consisted of a long topsoil pile adjacent to the southern permit boundary. Just north of this pile was a large stockpile of white overburden that had been pushed up out of the pit; this material is known as caliche. This overburden was also pushed up out of the pit into a smaller pile north of the pit. Overburden and topsoil was piled along the eastern crest of the pit as well. Within the pit there were multiple stockpiles of red soil that was being mined for a road-base type of material. There was some standing water observed in the northern and southern portions of the pit, but was most likely a result of recent heavy rainstorms. The site had been permitted just southeast of an old borrow pit that was never permitted. The Division estimates approximately 6.5 acres of the northwest corner of the Moser Pit overlapped with the disturbance from the old borrow pit. During the course of the inspection, it became apparent that the mining operations had disturbed areas outside of the marked permit boundary. The boundary markers' point locations were taken by a Trimble Juno 3B GPS unit. The disturbance boundary was also walked along the western and northern boundary(see attached map). After analysis of this GPS data there is a total of approximately 4.57 acres of disturbance outside of the approved permit boundary. On approximately 2.2 acres of this off-site disturbance area the applicant had backfilled and sloped portions of the old pre-existing borrow pit and had stockpiled material for future sloping; these reclamation activities occurred on the northern half of the area along the western boundary, the southern portion had originally never been disturbed. This was determined after analyzing a 2005 NAIP aerial image, showing the extent of the old pit prior to the permitting of the Moser Pit. Along the northern boundary, the Applicant had re-disturbed an area approximately a half an acre by pushing overburden up and on top of the old pit's overburden pile. The Division considers mining more than 2 acres outside of the approved permit boundary as a violation for mining without a permit. A Reason to Believe letter that a violation exists will be sent with this report and as a possible violation, will require a hearing before the Mined Land Reclamation Board. Photographs taken during the inspection are attached. Page 2 of 7