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<br />-z- <br />advanced downdip. Once the original pit had been developed near the crest <br />of the slope, multiple pits were excavated across dip within the permit <br />area. Overburden was drilled and shot, then removed using the 8050 drag- <br />line. Spoil was cast uphill in loose piles. At the end of mining in 1979 <br />an open pit remained along the base of the mined slope. The mined area extends <br />about one mile southeast of the vacated pit. <br />Reclamation of the hillside essentially consisted of leveling pile tops <br />to return the area to its approximate original contour. Reclamation grading <br />resulted in portions of the pit being partially filled before the coal on <br />the floor was totally removed. Most of the hillside where the spoil has been <br />graded has been topsoiled and re-vegetated, TopsoiTing and planting stopped <br />about 700 feet upslope of the highwall. Some intentional depressions have <br />• been created on the re-vegetated portions of the slope which impound water. <br />SITE CONDITIONS <br />The highwall within the portion of the 8050 pit investigated is about 1,700 <br />feet in length and has a northeast strike. The original .pit floor may be 80± <br />feet below the graded spoil surface. Figure 1 presents the approximate extent <br />of the open pit and topography of the area in the immediate vicinity. As a <br />result of reclamation work, the final pit east of the project area has been <br />backfilled and graded. Most of the pit we;t of the project area remains open. <br />An earth bridge has been constructed perpendicular to the pit highwall, <br />west of Sta. 0+00. <br />The pit floor is between 50 and 100 feet in width within the area of <br /> planned entries as measured from the base of the highwall to the toe of <br /> the graded spoil. The crest of the highwall rises about 50 to 65 feet above <br />