PERMFILE70158

• Permit No: M1999002
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 1/21/1999
• Doc Name: Reclamation Plan
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit E
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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E.1 Reclamation Types
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~/`~ EXHIBIT E
RECLAMATION PLAN
•
In general, American Soda will reclaim disturbed surfaces at the Yankee Gulch Sodium
Minerals Project (Yankee Gulch Project) in accordance with the Bureau of Land
Management's (BLM) Mitigation Measures and Conditions of Approval for the
Commercial Mine Plan. There will be three different types of reclamation required for
the Yankee Gulch Project. The first type addresses reclamation and revegetation of the
solution mining well field. The second type includes reclamation of facilities and
structures (e.g., buildings, ponds) at both the Piceance Site and the Parachute Site. The
third type is reclamation of the pipeline corridor.
American Soda has prepared a Soil Conservation, Erosion and Sediment Control,
Reclamation, and Revegetation Plan (Reclamation Plan) for the Yankee Gulch Project.
The Reclamation Plan primarily addresses reclamation and revegetation of the solution
mining well field, but it also describes ultimate reclamation of project facilities. Most of
the information requested in Exhibit E is detailed in the Reclamation Plan, which is
provided in its entirety with this 112 Permit Application. Where appropriate, references
to specific sections of the Reclamation Plan that correspond to the requirements for this
exhibit are given below.
A Pipeline Reclamation Plan has also been prepared that will be used for reclamation of
the pipeline corridor immediately after pipeline installation. The Pipeline Reclamation
Plan is provided as Attachment 1 of this exhibit.
E.1.1 Well Field Reclamation
Reclamation of the solution mining well field is the only one of the three reclamation
types that will be an ongoing process throughout the operating life of the project. As
depicted in Figure D-2, the solution mining well field will be divided into six "mining
panels" that will be developed in 5-year intervals over a 30-year mine life (see Exhibit
D, Section D.4). Table E-1 shows the size of each of the panels and their anticipated
disturbance areas, the latter being based on an estimate that approximately 47 percent
of the area of each mining panel will be affected by mining operations. Reclamation
and revegetation details for each of the mine panels is discussed in Section E.2.
Each panel will have up to 15 wells retired at the end of a given year. As individual
solution mining wells are retired, the solution collector pipes and pipe rack serving that
well would be removed, and the wells would generally be plugged and abandoned. As
sites become inactive, the well pads would be stabilized using suitable techniques (e.g.
mulching or plantings of annual vegetation) to prevent erosion until final reclamation
E-1