2018-05-30_REVISION - M1983035 (3)

Home Browse Search

Reclamation Unit: North cut faces and pit floor reclamation. At this point the North Berm soil and overburden removal, starting at the east end and working west, should be near the East Cut Face area on the south to north line along the east side of the operation. The cut faces on the east side of the pit and the immediately adjacent barren land should be topsoiled. From that point on, the north cut faces (beneath the North Berm) will become available for reclamation as the overlying soil and overburden material is removed. A lot of this soil and overburden will be removed in future steps, but it is important to remember that as the berm removal is completed while working west and the ground that was under the berm is uncovered the adjacent cut slopes that were below the berm need to be reclaimed. Once the land where the berm was located is reclaimed there is no easy access to the adjacent cut slopes without damaging the reclamation already done. Thus, they will be done together. This reclamation of sections that have been uncovered through the removal of the berm and reclamation of the adjacent cut faces will continue until the eastern side of northwest basin is approached. Once that point is reached then the utilization of the berm will primarily be for backfilling and slope reduction of the northwest basin and adjacent very steep slopes. In preparing the pit floor for reclamation,the first step is to deal with all the asphalt material that has been on the floor of the pit for several years. Dealing with this material is a delicate matter as it is not exactly the same thing as clean fill such as left over dirt after creating a basement for a home or commercial building. Although such asphalt is often accepted in landfills, one must also remember that landfills are not wet sites and they usually have a sealed underlayment that prevents or reduces the chance of toxic materials reaching underlying aquifers. The area of the elevated mound where the crushed and broken asphalt is located is undoubtedly greater than the required 3 feet above the high groundwater level in this area and it could be spread out across the mound and then buried under soil and overburden from the North Berm. But unless it can be shown that the northwest basin is, in fact, more than 3 feet above that high water mark for ground water in the area, it should not be used as fill for the northwest basin. It is likely that the groundwater is deeper than it is in the area of the east side of the pit where willow growth is common and thick, but how much deeper is unknown. West of the northwest basin and the berm forming the west wall of the basin the land drops steeply down to a stream course that contains ponds that are many feet lower than the pit floor in the northwest basin. That undoubtedly draws the top of the water table deeper into the ground than is the case further east. But how much is not known. Moving the asphalt up to higher ground is another option and it could be spread across the ground where the North Berm is located where the road will likely be constructed in the future, but that is an Vollmer Pit Technical Revision June 2018 Updated Reclamation Plan Page 16 of 26