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I' <br /> MINING PLAN (5-17-77) <br /> CORTEZ PIT - NIELSONS, INC. <br /> The Cortez Pit is an existing sandstone quarry operation <br /> being conducted ap <br /> proximately one hundred feet above McElmo Creek <br /> at an elevation of between 5,860 and 5,900 feet. Eleven of the <br /> sixteen acres shown on the map have been mined with all of the <br /> affected area being in a class of major disturbance. <br /> The small amount of topsoil and trees existing on the mesa <br /> before operations were dozed into small stockpiles along the north <br /> and east perimeter of the mined area. The trees that have been <br /> cleared will be burned at the site. <br /> The existing pit is excavated approximately twenty ft. below <br /> natural grade. New operations have begun to mine another twenty <br /> ft. lift starting along the midpoint of the south boundary this lift <br /> will be mined in a northwesterly direction and require an additional <br /> one to two acres each year. This acreage is not new disturbance, <br /> but the same area that was mined during past operations. This <br /> current mining will leave the floor of the pit approximately forty <br /> ft. below natural grade. <br /> The material at the pit is a sandstone with pockets of shale <br /> and coal. It is loosened by drilling with an air track and blasting <br /> with a combination of dynamite and prills. Blasting is done in a <br /> manner to minimize the amount of material that is lost over the <br /> edge of the cliff. <br /> A bench will be left between the existing level and the new <br /> level of mining. This bench will be from five to ten ft. in width, <br /> and approximately 1,400 ft. in length along the north and east side <br /> of the pit area. <br />