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found in the Williams Fork Mountains and surrounding areas. <br /> Land Uses <br /> Land uses in the area are rangeland, wildlife habitat, and agriculture. Cattle and sheep graze in <br /> the Williams Fork Mountains. Dry land wheat is cultivated on colluvial toe slopes of the <br /> Williams Fork Mountains. Native hay and dry land wheat are cultivated on the soils of the <br /> Yampa and Williams Fork River valleys. <br /> Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br /> The permit area covers 11,156.69 acres. This RN8 application will allow the company to continue <br /> mining and reclamation as currently approved. <br /> Mining Method <br /> Total cumulative coal production over the life of the Trapper mine is projected to be a maximum <br /> of 74 million tons. Coal mining occurs at the Trapper Mine using surface mining methods. <br /> Draglines remove overburden and interburden, while front-end loaders and haul trucks remove <br /> the coal seams. Trapper Mining, Inc. has historically oriented the pits north-south, parallel to the <br /> downhill dip of the coal seams. PR-05 reoriented pits G, F and Z (East F-Pit) parallel with the <br /> strike of the coal seams in an east-west direction. Strike line pits progress from north to south. <br /> Each successive pit cut occurs next to and parallel to the previous cut. When more than one seam <br /> is recovered in a pit, partings are removed by dozer, or backhoe, or similar equipment if thin; or <br /> by dragline, if thick. <br /> The October 2006 landslide in the East Panel of Trapper Mine created a need for a change in <br /> mining methods for the East Panel area, resulting in Permit Revision PR6. The K-Pit and L-Pit <br /> (originally identified as G Pit) were originally planned as dragline pits, consistent with Trapper's <br /> historical mining method. <br /> Strip Pits <br /> Trapper mined coal from the following four pits during the 2017 - 2021 permit term: <br /> 1. L Pit <br /> 2. N Pit <br /> 3. I and J Pits. <br /> Pits advance generally southward. Individual cuts in pits are as much as 6,000 ft. long. The <br /> maximum width of a cut is 200 feet. In 2002, D Pit progressed to the point that it merged with E <br /> Pit. Reclamation of D Pit began in summer of 2022 and will continue with topsoiling and <br /> seeding in 2023 as the closure of Craig Station commenced with shutting down a portion of <br /> the station, reducing the amount of ash produced. Only A Pit(Ashmore), remains open for ash <br /> disposal (see description of ash disposal below). Highwall mining in I Pit began in 2021. I and J <br /> Pits comprise single seam pits to the F and G2 seams. N Pit was opened in 2021 for highwall <br /> mining in the L, M and Q seams. <br /> Additional mining is proposed for the upcoming permit term in the western portion of the permit in <br /> C Pit and I Pit West. <br /> 9 <br />