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Colowyo C-1981-019 7 August 2006 (~~ Pg 5/b `-~~CC// General Mine Plan Compliance (cont): Bower has almost completed the first cut along the west highwall and needs Colowyo to drill and shoot a portion of the area to complete the work. The Bower Brothers are using a CAT 3858 excavator to load CAT 773E haul trucks on this portion of the operation. Bower was also working on the east side of South Taylor Draw opening up the E-Seam on that side for the highwall miner. They were loading CAT 773E haul trucks with a Komatsu 750 excavator. The material from the east side was being hauled approximately 500 feet to create a bench for the highwall miner and some of the overburden was being hauled to the west edge of the Section 16 Pit for final reclamation of the pit. On 7 August 2006 the roads within the Bower project were very rutted and they were creating a lot of fugitive dust. Matt Guptill had Bower shut the operation down and perform maintenance on the roads. When we visited the site on 8 August 2006 the maintenance had been performed. -The work on the Section 4 area has been completed and the area is ready for the highwall miner (which was sitting in the pit -see highwall miner section later in this report for more information). - The operator was staking an area of approximately 86 acres in the East Pit for topsoil replacement. Topsoil for this area will come from one of the stockpiles and live hauled from the West Pit. -The mining at the Colowyo Mine appears to be progressing as discussed and approved in the PAP. Revegetation/Reclamation Success: -The Section 16 Pit reclamation appeared to be stable at the time of the inspection. There were no erosional problems noted on the reclamation and the area is very well vegetated. -The areas of the East Pit reclamation that have been Phase II bond released were all well vegetated and stable at the time of the inspection. No erosional problems were noted on these areas. -The areas of the East Pit where topsoil was replaced and the areas were reseeded last fall area all doing well. The vegetation is beginning to grow and the areas all remain stable. There is a great deal of weeds but this is normal for year one reclamation. No erosional problems were noted on any of these areas. - There were numerous patches of Canadian Thistle on the west side of the Section 16 pit that need to be sprayed. The Canadian Thistle on the east side of the Section 16 Pit has been sprayed and is either dead or dying. Air Resource Protection: -The haul roads were dry and the haul trucks were causing some dust but the operator was continually watering the roads at the time of the inspection. The operator was also putting MgCI on the roads to help control dust. There was not a problem with fugitive dust. - The Bower Brothers has a dust problem due to lack of road maintenance but the issue problem was addressed. -The coal stacking and train loading operations at the Gossard Loadout were not causing any fugitive dust at the time of the inspection.