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Page 3 of 6 <br /> mines. The Yoast Mine comprises 2,318.3 permitted acres, consisting of a narrow corridor for <br /> the former haul road which runs approximately five miles south from Routt County Road 27 to <br /> the main body of the mine. Approximately 1,019 acres have been disturbed by surface <br /> 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 <br /> at the first pit. The dragline was moved in late October through early November of 1996 and <br /> actual mining operations commenced shortly thereafter. <br /> The application has been renewed five times. With the most recent permit renewal (RN5), <br /> submitted by SPL on in February of 2020. The Division, on 21 August 2020 wrote a Proposed <br /> Decision and Findings of Compliance for Permit Renewal No. 5. The final decision was issued <br /> on 26 September 2020. <br /> Reclamation and Liability <br /> Mining operations have been completed at the Yoast Mine. The North and South Area pits <br /> have been entirely backfilled and graded, topsoil has been redistributed and seeding and <br /> planting has been completed for the majority of the mine site. Since the approval of RN3, SPL <br /> has submitted a Phase II bond Release application (SL3), a Phase I bond release application <br /> (SL4), a Phase I, II, and III bond release application (SL5), and a Phase I and III bond release <br /> application (SL6). For SL3, the applicant requested Phase 11 release on 628.6 acres of <br /> reclaimed land. The Division partially approved SL3 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 /> SL3application. The Division excluded a segment of permanent channel YPM5-1, portions of <br /> the Neck Pit area where a land slide occurred and a land slide are near Pond013. <br /> For SL4, the applicant requested Phase I bond release on 171.6 acres of reclaimed land. The <br /> Division partially approved SL4 for 115.5 acres. Areas that were excluded from the SL4 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 round about, theYPM-13 drainage channel, topsoil <br /> stockpiles A and C, the YPM-20 drainage channel, the un-named road corridor connecting LU- <br /> 5 and LU-313, light use roads LU-4 and LU-5, the Pond 012 watershed, Pond 013 andPond014. <br /> For the SL5 application, SPL requested Phase I, 11, and III bond release on 6.25 acres. The 6.25 <br /> acres associated with the SL5 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 SL6 bond release application is a partial Phase I and partial Phase III bond release request <br /> and was received by the Division on December 28, 2016. SL6 initially requested Phase I <br /> release of 94.9 acres of reclaimed land at the Yoast Mine. The number of Phase I acres was <br /> revised to 76.5 acres during the review process. SL6 also initially requested Phase III release of <br /> 277.2 acres of reclaimed lands that received Phase I bond release under SL1, SL2, and SL4 and <br /> Phase II bond release under SL -3. The number of Phase III acres was revised to 275.4 during <br /> Yoast Mine 02/03/2023 <br />