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Ilau~las L. Grauer <br />7~t1 Narhaaa Ieaad dconaerCaaobrainstorm.net <br />r.111'fCIf3~ CII ~ll3~tf-tl~l~~ Ph: (470) 565-8344 <br />[Voice -Fax -Message] <br />Mazch 3Q, 2006 <br />deceived <br />Colorado Division of Minerals & Geology <br />Durango Field Office ApR ~ 3 ~0~6 <br />701 Camino del Rio, Room 125 <br />Durango, Colorado 8 ] 301 <br />Dlvlsfon of~~a,Freld DF?~ <br />Attention: Wallace H. Erickson st' r' i' $ Geology <br />Subject: Hindmazsh Sandstone -Adequacy Issues <br />_ 1~12_Application No: M 2006-009 ! ,- _ - - - - - ___ - <br />Deaz Mr. Erickson: <br />The following response to your Adequacy Issues has been prepared in consultation with the applicant, and <br />corresponds with the same numbers in your list. <br />1. Topsoil, although existing on the site in shallow depths of small pockets and thin ridges, is essentially <br />impractical to salvage with normal construction equipment. In the process of clearing the native and <br />second growth vegetation the grassy.- and brushy species will be incorporated into whatever soil can be <br />removed with convention eazthmoving equipment, i.e., bulldozers and frontloaders. I;azge brush and trees` <br />will be burned on the site. Whatever little expected soil to be salvaged will also incorporate a good deal of <br />the loose surface rock - an unavoidable result of removing such shallow soils so close to the bedrock. All <br />soils that can be removed with conventional equipment shall be salvaged. In places there may be a <br />foot or more, in others less than a few inches or baze earposed bedrock. No estimate of the expected <br />volume can be made, however. Any such soils salvaged shall be truck-hauled to the southwest corner of <br />the site, just east of the access road's entry into the mining azea, where they will be stockpiled and <br />stabilized until utilized for soil replacement in the extracted pit floor after the final bench extraction. <br />I would direct you to Section 3.1.9(6) which states, "If in the discretion of the Board or Office, such <br />existent topsoil is of insufficient quantity or poor quality for sustaining-vegetation, and if other <br />materials can be shown to be more suitable for vegetation requirements, then the Operator shall re-nove, <br />segregate, and preserve in a like manner such other materials which are best able to support <br />vegetation." <br />In this case, a fine residual material left over from the extraction and processing operations shall be left <br />behind following all activity in the pit floor. Except for Humus, such fine materials contain the essential <br />elements of rock erosion which makes up most of the soilci in this region and has proven to be capable of <br />supporting rangeland vegetation in the many abandoned un-reclaimed sandstone quarry sites of the region. <br />This site; .including the previously quamed North and Southeast portions, are typical examples of this <br />assertion, and at that, without a conscious effort at affecting re-vegetation. The combination of topsoiling <br />. , ~ , <br />Flle: C/NeaeSS /AOegResp <br />