2015-08-27_INSPECTION - M2007084

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PERMIT #: M-2007-084 INSPECTOR’S INITIALS: AME INSPECTION DATE: August 27, 2015 Page 2 of 7 OBSERVATIONS This was a normal monitoring inspection of the Clark Pit (Permit No. M-2007-084) conducted by Amy Eschberger of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (Division). Mr. John DeWitt and Mr. Rick Ashcraft represented the operator, Lincoln County during the inspection. The site is located approximately 4 miles southeast of Karval, CO. Access to the site is off of Co Rd 31. The affected land is owned by Clinton A. Clark and Betty Clark. The approved post-mining land use is rangeland. This is a 110c operation permitted for 9.83 acres to mine sand and gravel for use in county road construction and maintenance. The maximum mining depth is approximately 18 feet. The site is situated on top of a prominent ridge that drains primarily to the south. The operation began mining in the northwestern portion of the permit area, and is proceeding eastward/southeastward. The county extracts, processes, and/or hauls off material from this site every year, which is in compliance with its intermittent status. It should be noted that a small earthen dam and stock pond are present approximately 550 feet from the southeastern permit boundary. According to the approved permit application, this drainage feature existed before the permit was issued. Aerial images of the site shown in Google Earth confirm that the dam and stock pond were present at least as early as 1993. Therefore, this drainage feature does not appear to be related to the mining operation. On 09/02/2015, the Division approved a Technical Revision (Revision No. TR-03) to update the Mining Plan Map and Reclamation Plan Map to more accurately define the permit boundary using GPS coordinates. On 9/17/2015, the operator submitted revised maps with corrections made to the lengths shown for the northern and southern permit boundaries. These revised maps were added to the permit file as part of TR-03. At the time of the inspection, the weather was clear, warm and sunny, and the ground was dry. A permit sign was posted at the main site entrance off of Co Rd 31 (Photo 1). The permit boundary was delineated with metal posts. The Division estimates current disturbance to consist of approximately 5.46 acres (see enclosed Google Earth image of site). This disturbance includes a pit with all mined slope gradients at 3H:1V or flatter (Photos 2-4), except for portions of the northern (earlier mined) wall which have gradients closer to 2H:1V (Photo 5). A stockpile of mined material is stored on the pit floor (Photo 6). Salvaged topsoil is stored in two stockpiles located above and southeast of the pit (Photo 7). These stockpiles appeared to be stable with vegetative cover (mainly annual weeds). Volunteer vegetation across disturbed areas consists primarily of annual weeds such as Russian thistle and wild sunflowers (see Photos 2-6). Vegetation across undisturbed areas consists mainly of blue grama grass, with some sand sage and minor buckwheat bush (Photo 8). The approved reclamation plan calls for grading all mined slopes to 3H:1V or flatter, replacing any salvaged overburden and an average depth of 6 inches of topsoil on disturbed areas, and revegetating the site to rangeland. Only the portion of the haul road located inside the permit area will be reclaimed. The remainder of the haul road (approximately 1,750 feet in length) will remain for use by the landowner. No problems were observed during the inspection.