PERMFILE64130 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

after the mining operation expires. Herbicides may be used • for weed control as recommended at the time of reclamation. Shrubs and trees are expected to be hand planted. Grasses will be dry seeded and hand broadcast. It is estimated that reclamation will cost $350 per acre at current values. In general, little effort will be made to stockpile top soil because of its erratic occurrence. As can be noted from topographic contours, there are no level areas where regular thicknesses of soil can accumulate. Most of the surface of the affected area has been disturbed by previous coal mining operations. Where the surface has not been disturbed, the material that serves for soil is a weathered mixture of shale and sandstone often poorly sorted and very lean in organic matter. When needed, topsoil will be supplied from other sources to accomplish revegetation. The overburden consists of two types: Loose weathered rock and debris and pseudo soil with intermixed coal and mine waste, and bedrock which will have to be ripped and excavated in the course of mine construction. All of this material will be pushed or hauled to waste dump areas as designated on PQaps C-2 and C-3 (to be furnished at a later • date), and Map A-1. The overburden will be leveled and some natural sorting will occur as the material is pushed along and over the dumps. No special effort will be made to sort soil from rock, or to stockpile any of this material. The objective will be to handle it once to its final resting place. The main access road off U. S. Highway 160 will be located at one and possibly two points along the border area or stripped between the highway and the waste dumps as shown on Maps C-2 and C-3. The exact point of entry and exit off the highway will be determined by the Colorado State Highway Department when a haulage permit is issued to the applicant and certain requirements for entry and off lanes are deter- mined. The access road from the highway to the portal site and screening area will be as direct as possible, but its _oute ..,ap be r:_;cc tc confcra• to t;.e ":cavation and dumping operations during the early phases of mining. The road will be graveled, 60 feet wide and of uniform grade. It will be covered with waste material and graded into the rest of the terrain when the land is reclaimed. The portal area will be covered with up to 6 inches of soil at the conclusion of mining operations and blocking of the portals. This area will be seeded with grasses as earlier described, and potentially the planting of trees and shrubs at a later date. In most instances, shrubs will be - 15 -