PERMFILE65999

• Permit No: C1996084
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit 05 Cultural Resources Report 9
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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• used to guide additional inventory and testing, assessment of impacts, and implementation of data
recovery as a means to mitigate. adverse impacts that will result from the proposed developments.
Additional inventory
Approximately 550 acres remain to be surveyed for developments proposed within the first
five yeazs of the mining operation. This acreage covers 24 proposed sedimentation ponds to be
constructed in drainages that drain the surface mine azea. It will also cover areas to be impacted
by proposed overburden stockpiling in valleys below the 7000 foot contour line around the
periphery of the surface mine. Cultural materials of similar type and distribution as those found
in the surface mine area are expected here. If the present average site density holds, 30
additional sites can be expected in these areas.
The haul road to the P1/P2 box cut, and on to the R3 and R4 portals in Chimney Canyon
still needs to be addressed. This road corridor will also include realigrunents of the existing road
in Lorencito Canyon. A combination of surface inventory and alternative site discovery
techniques aze recommended for these proposed developments, but at present their location has
not been determined. This road corridor extends for about five miles from the load out facility
to the R3 and R4 portals.
The rail spur, where it extends beyond the 40-acre parcel inventoried for the load out
facility, has not been inventoried. Surface visibility over much of this azea is lacking, and
• altemative means of site discovery aze recommended for this azea. At present, the location of
the rail spur has not been mazked in the field, nor has a redesigned alignment of the Lorencito
Canyon road been identified where it will cross and parallel the rail spur. The proposed rail spur
extends for about 1800 feet outside the 40-acre block surveyed for the load out.
Additional Test Excavations
The test excavations already conducted on this project were preliminary in nature and
designed to give a cursory view of the sediments, the ease with which they can be tested, their
depth, and the likelihood of fmding cultural materials through "blind" testing, or testing in areas
where no surface cultural materials were found or where surface visibility is lacking. Five sites
have been tested and, with the exception of SLA7187, all warrant additional testing. Nineteen
other sites in various parts of the project azea require testing to provide information so that they
may be evaluated for eligibility to the National Register. Testing will include a combination of
probes and isolated 1 sq m test pits to explore areas where probing recovers cultural materials.
Of 16 probes excavated in one non-site azea in Lorencito Canyon, one was positive and is worthy
of additional exploration through additional probes and/or a test pit in the immediate azea.
Reseazch Desien and Treatment Plan
The reseazch design and treatment plan will be structured to address the archaeological
resources of the mine as a whole, in order to better understand the settlement and subsistence
. systems that produced the resources and to place them within the known chronological and
cultural frameworks of the region. The size of this azchaeological database, at present close to