2014-07-24_INSPECTION - C1980007 (2)

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June 24, 2014 C- 1980- 007/West Elk Mine JRS the pads at the time of the inspection. The Division believes that all of the thermal event area disturbances listed in SL -06 will remain stable over the long -term. - MDW pads 14 -06, 14 -07 and 14 -08 and the road spur from pad 15 -07 to pad 14 -09 all had positive drainage. There were no erosional problems noted on any of the pads or the road spur at the time of the inspection. The Division believes that all of the MDW pad and road disturbances listed in SL -06 will remain stable over the long- term. RECLAMATION SUCCESS - Rule 4.15, Rule 3: - The vegetation at the main thermal event area was very good. There was good cover and there appeared to be good diversity. There was some hound's tongue and musk thistle noted on all of the bench areas. Although they appeared to make up well less than 3% of the total cover, these weeds will need to be sprayed prior to finalizing the SL -06 Bond Release. There were many shrubs coming in at the margins of the disturbance on all of the benches, including snowberry, serviceberry and Gamble's oak. Dominant species on these areas included western wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass and basin wild rye. Forbs present included bluebells and yarrow. The vegetation on the drill pads (B, D, I and G) was also very good. Similar to what was seen on the main area, the dominant species were western wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, mountain brome and basin wild rye. There was also yarrow and blue bells present. Again, as with the main area, there were a lot of shrubs starting to grow along the margins. These included Gamble's oak, snowberry and serviceberry. The drill hole areas also had some hound's tongue and muck thistle. These weeds will need to be sprayed prior to final approval of the bond release. Overall, the vegetation at the Thermal event area was very good. The cover was good and there was a good amount of species diversity. - The vegetation at the Lone Pine facilities area (including the waste development area, the power line corridor, the borrow area and the portal area) was very good. There was good cover and there appeared to be good species diversity. Dominant grasses included bluebunch wheatgrass, slender wheatgrass and mountain brome. The dominant forbs appeared to be yarrow and alfalfa (the alfalfa was mainly on the borrow area). There were shrubs starting to grow along the margins of the disturbed areas, with Gamble's oak being the main shrub. The upper half of the power line corridor (as it moves up the side of the mountain) is completely filled in with this oakbrush, so the disturbance is no longer visible. There was some musk thistle on the lower portion of the power line corridor and the portal area. These areas will need to be sprayed prior to finalizing the bond release. Of greater concern, there were numerous yellow toadflax plants on the waste development pile. Jessica indicated that they would alert their weed contractor to this fact and get him up there immediately to spray. Overall, the vegetation at the Lone Pine facilities area was very good. The cover was good and there was a good amount of species diversity. - The vegetation on pad 14 -08 was very good. There was good cover and there appeared to be good species diversity. Dominant grasses included bluebunch wheatgrass and slender wheatgrass. Forbs included yarrow and bluebell. There were shrubs starting to grow on the entire pad, with snowberry and Gamble's oak being the main shrubs. There was some hound's tongue on the pad. There was also some tumble mustard (which is an annual weed) on the pad. The pad will need to be sprayed prior to finalizing the bond release. Overall, the vegetation on pad 14 -08 was very good. The cover was good and there was a good amount of species diversity. - The vegetation on pad 14 -07 was very good. There was good cover and there appeared to be good species Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 11 Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 4 Page 4 of 30