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Colowyo C-1981-019 <br />19 June 200 <br />Pg 4/6 ~llv <br />Backfilling and Grading (cont): -The reclaimed portions of the East Pit are well <br />vegetated and appear to be stable. No erosional problems were noted. <br />-The operator appears to have reached asteady-state operation in the West Pit. <br />Spoil from the current operation is being hauled and dumped in the middle of the <br />north side of the West Pit. Much of the north portion of the West Pit (between the <br />open pit and the West Pit excess overburden stockpile - Hink's peak) appears to be <br />graded at this point. This area appeared to be stable at the time of the inspection. <br />The operator indicated that work removing the upper 75 feet of Hink's peak may <br />begin this summer to complete some of the reclamation on the north end of the West <br />Pit. <br />Support Facilities: -The facilities area was in good condition at the time of the <br />inspection. No problems were noted with the area. <br />-The Gossard Loadout was also in good condition at the time of the inspection. <br />Topsoil: -The operator is still stripping topsoil in advance of the West Pit. The plan for <br />this year is to strip the remaining topsoil in the West Pit (approximately 300,000 bcy). <br />The contractor working on the topsoil is Bower Brothers. To date, approximately <br />240,000 bcy of topsoil has been stripped and stockpiled. Currently, the contractor is <br />working on the south end of the stripping area. The topsoil is being picked up with an <br />excavator (CAT 385) and hauled to the topsoil stockpile at the northeast edge of the <br />Section 16 Pit with 60-ton trucks (CAT 773's). The contractor appears to be removing <br />all of the topsoil, which is more than 25 feet deep in some places. There will be <br />several exemption areas on the west slope due to rocky conditions and the absence <br />of topsoil. The effected areas appear to be on the north half of the stripping area. <br />The operator will survey in these exemption areas and supply the Division with a map. <br />The topsoil on the south half of this slope has been removed. <br />-The Section 16 topsoil stockpile where the current topsoil removal is being placed <br />appeared to be stable. At the time of the inspection (20 June 2006) there was no <br />perimeter ditch or berm around the new pile. This was pointed out to Tony Tennyson <br />and he immediately contacted Bower Brothers about cutting in a ditch. On the <br />inspection the next day (21 June 2006) a ditch had been cut in. The ditch could be <br />bigger and as the pile expands and new ditch is cut CCC should consider this.. One <br />other problem that was noted regarding the topsoil was that a fuel truck was parked <br />on the pile. No equipment should be parked on a topsoil pile (especially a fuel <br />truck). Tony Tennyson also mentioned this to Bower Brothers. <br />- There are still numerous piles of topsoil that need to be spread on the East Pit <br />reclamation. There appear to be approximately 50 truckloads of soil to be replaced. <br />General Mine Plan Compliance: -The operator was currently removing overburden <br />from the F-Seam in the West Pit with the draglines. <br />- The truck and shovel operation was currently working on removing the A-Seam <br />overburden of the West Pit. <br />-The operator was drilling and loading explosives in the B-Seam overburden and the <br />C-Seam Coal. <br />