2023-02-02_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1994082

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Page 3 of 6 mines. The Yoast Mine comprises 2,318.3 permitted acres, consisting of a narrow corridor for the former haul road which runs approximately five miles south from Routt County Road 27 to the main body of the mine. Approximately 1,019 acres have been disturbed by surface operations. SPL submitted the original application for a new permit on November 16, 1994. The application was deemed complete on November 21, 1994. By March 10, 1995, the Division had received comments from all the required agencies and entities and issued the permit effective August 5, 1995. Haul road construction began at the mine site shortly before the first Division inspection, which occurred on August 18, 1995. In mid-August 1996, the operator began stripping topsoil at the first pit. The dragline was moved in late October through early November of 1996 and actual mining operations commenced shortly thereafter. The application has been renewed five times. With the most recent permit renewal (RN5), submitted by SPL on in February of 2020. The Division, on 21 August 2020 wrote a Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance for Permit Renewal No. 5. The final decision was issued on 26 September 2020. Reclamation and Liability Mining operations have been completed at the Yoast Mine. The North and South Area pits have been entirely backfilled and graded, topsoil has been redistributed and seeding and planting has been completed for the majority of the mine site. Since the approval of RN3, SPL has submitted a Phase II bond Release application (SL3), a Phase I bond release application (SL4), a Phase I, II, and III bond release application (SL5), and a Phase I and III bond release application (SL6). For SL3, the applicant requested Phase 11 release on 628.6 acres of reclaimed land. The Division partially approved SL3 for 592 acres. In May of 2011, landslides had occurred in the area resulting in the Division excluding three areas of instability from the SL3application. The Division excluded a segment of permanent channel YPM5-1, portions of the Neck Pit area where a land slide occurred and a land slide are near Pond013. For SL4, the applicant requested Phase I bond release on 171.6 acres of reclaimed land. The Division partially approved SL4 for 115.5 acres. Areas that were excluded from the SL4 bond release approval include: the dragline walk/county road detour on the north end of the permit area where Routt county constructed a new round about, theYPM-13 drainage channel, topsoil stockpiles A and C, the YPM-20 drainage channel, the un-named road corridor connecting LU- 5 and LU-313, light use roads LU-4 and LU-5, the Pond 012 watershed, Pond 013 andPond014. For the SL5 application, SPL requested Phase I, 11, and III bond release on 6.25 acres. The 6.25 acres associated with the SL5 bond release application was based on a change in land use from rangeland to industrial/commercial and included an area of a constructed round-a-bout with in Routt County road 27. The SL6 bond release application is a partial Phase I and partial Phase III bond release request and was received by the Division on December 28, 2016. SL6 initially requested Phase I release of 94.9 acres of reclaimed land at the Yoast Mine. The number of Phase I acres was revised to 76.5 acres during the review process. SL6 also initially requested Phase III release of 277.2 acres of reclaimed lands that received Phase I bond release under SL1, SL2, and SL4 and Phase II bond release under SL -3. The number of Phase III acres was revised to 275.4 during Yoast Mine 02/03/2023