INSPEC15342 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Colowyo C-1981-019 26 April 2006 Pg 4/5 ~-~~ Backfilling and Grading (cont): -The reclaimed portions of the East Pit are well vegetated and appear to be stable. No erosional problems were noted. - The operator appears to have reached asteady-state operation in the West Pit. Spoil from the current operation is being hauled and dumped in the northeast corner of the West Pit. Much of the north portion of the West Pit (between the open pit and the West Pit excess overburden stockpile - Hink's peak) appears to be graded at this point. This area appeared to be stable at the time of the inspection. The operator indicated that work removing the upper 75 feet of Hink's peak may begin this summer to complete some of the reclamation on the north end of the West Pit. -The upper portion of the Gulch A ditch (post-mining drainage channel) has been "roughed-in". The operator needs to complete the channel and place the appropriate riprap into the channel to complete it. Support Facilities: -The facilities area was in good condition at the time of the inspection. No problems were noted with the area. -The Gossard Loadout was also in good condition at the time of the inspection. Topsoil: -The operator was currently stripping topsoil in advance of the West Pit. The plan for this year is to strip the remaining topsoil in the West Pit (approximately 300,000 bcy). The contractor working on the topsoil was Bauer Brothers. They were in the process of pushing the topsoil down the hill with dozers. This topsoil will then be picked up with an excavator (CAT 385) and hauled to the topsoil stockpile at the northeast edge of the Section 16 Pit with 60-ton trucks (CAT 773's). The contractor will be leaving small (approximately 2'x2') islands of topsoil so the Division can record topsoil stripping depths and verify that all of the topsoil has been removed. There will be several exemption areas on the west slope due to rocky conditions and the absence of topsoil. The effected areas appear to be on the north half of the stripping area. The operator will survey in these exemption areas and supply the Division with a map. The south half of this slope appears to be good topsoil. -There are still numerous piles of topsoil that need to be spread on the East Pit reclamation. There appear to be approximately 50 truckloads of soil to be replaced. General Mine Plan Compliance: -The operator was currently removing overburden from the B-Seam in the West Pit with the draglines. - The truck and shovel operation was currently working on the Y-Seam of the West Pit. -The operator was drilling and loading explosives in the X-Seam overburden. -The Colowyo Mine has also contracted the Bauer Brothers to remove approximately 1.7 million bcy of overburden from the West Pit where they are removing topsoil. They will be removing the overburden down to the E-Seam for the highwall miner (which will return some time in late spring or early summer). This overburden will be placed at the northwest side of the Section 16 Pit for the eventual final reclamation of this pit. - The mining at the Colowyo Mine appears to be progressing as discussed and approved in the PAP.