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will occur immediately. This way the hydrologic balance of the West Fork of Clear Creek is <br /> protected. <br /> Mining will be conducted from the southeast end of the site northwards and westwards. Due to <br /> the deposit size, 15-20 years of mining are possible. The initial mining cut will be roughly 26 <br /> acres in size. Mining will continue from this initial cut, that will be in the southeast end of the <br /> gravel terrace, northerly and westerly towards Empire and the West Fork of Clear Creek. The <br /> resultant mine pit will have overall side slopes of 3H:1 V. Mining down into the deposit before <br /> mining laterally will serve to obscure mining activities and their impacts from the surrounding <br /> community. The active highwall may be steeper when actively being excavated. <br /> Mining will be conducted using a combination of dozers, front end loaders, back hoes, and haul <br /> trucks. Topsoil will be stripped in advance of mining and placed in a windrow ahead of the <br /> mining area. Then, raw sand and gravel will be excavated, transported to a crusher and screen, <br /> and then processed into products for sale offsite. A portion of the crushed rock will be washed <br /> for further use in some products. Reject material from processing that is not sold will be used in <br /> reclamation. It is the experience of the applicant that fines salvaged from processing can improve <br /> the soil profile during reclamation. Processing fines can serve as a useful subsoil in a soil profile, <br /> providing additional thickness to the overall soil profile. <br /> Once mining in an area reaches full depth, reclamation of the mined out portions of the slope will <br /> begin. The crest of the last active highwall (usually near vertical) will be knocked down with a <br /> dozer to create the final 3H:1 V reclamation slope. The crest being knocked down will be located <br /> at the mid-point of the final 3H:1 V slope. A conceptual example of this process can be seen in <br /> Figure D-1. Figure D-2 shows how this knock down process continues for the entire mining <br /> slope. Following mining and reclamation of the initial cut, onward reclamation will be conducted <br /> concurrent with mining. The total height of each bench will be determined by the operator's <br /> equipment. Once mining has been completed in an area at given bench height, the operator will <br /> knockdown the highwall crest as described, create the final 3H:1 V slope, and then begin to mine <br /> deeper. This will reduce material moving as well as reduce the maximum area to be reclaimed. <br /> A timetable for the mining operation can be seen in Table D-1. Processing fines, overburden (if <br /> encountered) and imported fill may be used as backfill on slopes. Backfill placed on slopes will <br /> DMR <br /> February 2019 D-2 <br />