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September 8, 2016 C-1981-022/Elk Creek Mine LDS <br /> <br /> <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 3 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 0 <br /> <br /> Page 2 of 10 <br /> <br /> <br />Inspection Topic Summary <br />NOTE: Y=Inspected N=Not Inspected R=Comments Noted V=Violation Issued NA=Not Applicable <br />N - Air Resource Protection <br />N - Availability of Records <br />N - Backfill & Grading <br />N - Excess Spoil and Dev. Waste <br />N - Explosives <br />N - Fish & Wildlife <br />Y - Hydrologic Balance <br />R - Gen. Compliance With Mine Plan <br />N - Other <br />Y - Processing Waste <br /> <br />Y - Roads <br />R - Reclamation Success <br />R - Revegetation <br />N - Subsidence <br />N - Slides and Other Damage <br />N - Support Facilities On-site <br />Y - Signs and Markers <br />N - Support Facilities Not On-site <br />N - Special Categories Of Mining <br />N - Topsoil <br /> <br /> <br />COMMENTS <br /> <br />This was a partial inspection by Leigh Simmons of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />(Division). Doug Smith of Oxbow Mining accompanied the inspection. The weather was clear, dry and fine. The <br />status of the Elk Creek Mine, as far as the Division is concerned, is “Active” however no coal is being mined and <br />all activity at the site is focused on the early stages of reclamation. <br />The demolition contractors, Demco, had four staff on-site, with work expected to continue through the end <br />of the summer. <br />A second contractor, Tribble & Sons Construction, LLC, of Hotchkiss, was on site, completing <br />reclamation work on USFS land. <br /> <br />GENERAL MINE PLAN COMPLIANCE: <br /> No permitting actions are currently in progress. <br /> <br />RECLAMATION SUCCESS - Rule 4.15, Rule 3: <br /> Tribble & Sons were in the process of reclaiming the dewatering well pad in the far north-east of the <br />permit area, and the road back to the GVB-LW-19-08 pad. A backhoe and a dozer had been transported up to the <br />site by trailer (a four and a half hour journey from the highway). The pad had been backfilled, with appropriate <br />contouring, and potted with the backhoe bucket to roughen the surface. A section of the road had been reclaimed; <br />the topsoil had been roughly graded to match the surrounding topography, and previously grubbed vegetation had <br />been dragged onto the surface to provide protection from erosion and discourage illegal access. Seed had been <br />broadcast as the work was in progress (USFS mix 5), at a rate well in excess of both the 18.9lb per acre specified <br />in the PAP, and the 2 acres per bag specified on the seed mix. Culverts had been removed and drainages restored <br />using large boulders. <br /> <br />REVEGETATION – Rule 4.15 <br />Vegetative Cover; Timing: <br /> Some thistle adjacent to the reclaimed road were in their fall regrowth period and should be treated as a