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which runs approximately five miles south from Routt County Road 27 to the main body of the <br />mine. Approximately 1,019 acres have been disturbed by surface operations. <br />SPL submitted the original application for a new permit on November 16, 1994. The application <br />was deemed complete on November 21, 1994. By March 10, 1995, the Division had received <br />comments from all the required agencies and entities and issued the permit effective August 5, <br />1995. Haul road construction began at the mine site shortly before the first Division inspection, <br />which occurred on August 18, 1995. In mid-August 1996, the operator began stripping topsoil at <br />the first pit. The dragline was moved in late October through early November of 1996 and actual <br />mining operations commenced shortly thereafter. <br />An application for a fourth permit renewal was submitted by SPL on January 27, 2015. The <br />Division on January 3, 2018 wrote a Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance for Permit <br />Renewal No. 4. The Proposed Decision public comment period for RN -4 expires on February 6, <br />2018. <br />Reclamation and Liability <br />Mining operations have been completed at the Yoast Mine. The North and South Area pits have <br />been entirely backfilled and graded, topsoil has been redistributed and seeding and planting has <br />been completed for the majority of the mine site. Since the approval of RN -3, SPL has <br />submitted a Phase II bond Release application (SL -3), a Phase I bond release application (SL -4), <br />a Phase I, II, and III bond release application (SL -5), and a Phase I and III bond release <br />application (SL -6). For SL -3, the applicant requested Phase II release on 628.6 acres of <br />reclaimed land. The Division partially approved SL -3 for 592 acres. In May of 2011, landslides <br />had occurred in the area resulting in the Division excluding three areas of instability from the <br />SL -3 application. The Division excluded a segment of permanent channel YPM 5-1, portions of <br />the Neck Pit area where a landslide occurred and a landslide area near Pond 013. <br />For SL -4, the applicant requested Phase I bond release on 171.6 acres of reclaimed land. The <br />Division partially approved SL -4 for 115.5 acres. Areas that were excluded from the SL -4 bond <br />release approval include: the dragline walk/county road detour on the north end of the permit <br />area where Routt county constructed a new roundabout, the YPM-13 drainage channel, Topsoil <br />Stockpiles A and C, the YPM-20 drainage channel, the unnamed road corridor connecting LU -5 <br />and LU -313, light use roads LU -4 and LU -5, the Pond 012 watershed, Pond 013 and Pond 014. <br />For the SL -5 application, SPL requested Phase I, II, and III bond release on 6.25 acres. The 6.25 <br />acres associated with the SL -5 bond release application was based on a change in land use from <br />rangeland to industrial/commercial and included an area of a constructed round -a -bout with in <br />Routt County road 27. <br />The SL -6 bond release application is a partial Phase I and partial Phase III bond release request and <br />was received by the Division on December 28, 2016. SL -6 initially requested Phase I release of <br />94.9 acres of reclaimed land at the Yoast Mine. The number of Phase I acres was revised to 76.5 <br />acres during the review process. SL -6 also initially requested Phase III release of 277.2 acres of <br />reclaimed lands that received Phase I bond release under SL -1 and SL -2 and SL -4 and Phase II <br />Yoast Mine -3- 02/05/2018 <br />