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Bob Oswald <br />Re: St. Jude Mine, Permit M-1978-039 F~12 <br />Request for Technical Revision <br />Page 2 of 3 <br />Reclamation Plan <br />The St. Jude Mine was originally permitted by Pioneer Uravan, Inc. in 1978. The St. Jude Mine <br />was subsequently acquired by Union Carbide, which also held permits for a number of other <br />mines in the St. Jude Mine vicinity. As a consequence of the evolution of operators, reclamation <br />plans for the five permits now held by this current Operator for mines in the area are not <br />consistent. This Operator prefers to take this opportunity of submitting a proposal for a Technical <br />Revision to make minor clarifications and revisions to the reclamation provisions in the Permit <br />so that reclamation practices will be uniform (subject to individual site conditions and <br />requirements) for the five permits held by this Operator in the St. Jude Mine area. These <br />changes will facilitate reclamation planning and execution. <br />Portal Closure: As noted in the Permit, the portal will be permanently closed by pulling <br />the timber sets in the portal entrance and backfilling with barren rock. The portal entrance <br />structure and gate will be removed prior to final plugging of the portal. The decline is <br />approximately 10' x 10' in section. The Operator proposes that, prior to closing the portal, site <br />debris and trash be placed in the portal for permanent burial. This will include placing debris <br />from buildings and concrete floor slabs, which will provide a solid stop against which backfill <br />material will be placed. <br />Filling and reclamation of the portal will be conducted with a small capacity front-end loader <br />(likely in the 3 cu. yd. range). In addition, a small track mounted dozer, or equivalent, will be <br />used to push fill material up in the portal to ensure that it remains stable. <br />As with all disturbed areas occumng on sloping ground, the final graded exterior surface of the <br />portal plug will not exceed 2:1 slope. <br />Building Debris and Slabs: The St. Jude Mine shop/dry/office is a 50' x 40' metal <br />building. The floor slab is generally 4 inches thick, although there may be areas of slightly <br />thicker concrete due to irregularities in the substrate during placement of concrete. The concrete <br />slab is reinforced with wire mesh, and occasionally minor amounts of trash steel were placed in <br />the pour for additional strength. <br />Vent Shafts.' There are no vent shafts or other remote facilities associated with this <br />Permit. <br />Dump Grading: Outslopes of dumps will be graded to a slope of no steeper than 2 <br />Horizontal : 1 Vertical to provide a suitable face for reclamation and to blend the reclaimed <br />dump into existing site contours. The general practice will be to reduce all "created slopes" to a <br />gradient of not more than 2:1. However, as a practical consideration there will be occasions <br />when reduction of slopes will not be performed if the required grading will create greater <br />disturbance and potentially cause site erosion. As stated, the normal practice will be to reduce <br />all slopes, but possible exceptions might include benches or road cuts that have already <br />revegetated or stabilized or which can only be graded by cutting new access, provided however <br />that the existing face is stable and not eroding. <br />Access Roads: Road closures and reclamation will consist of grading shoulders, cuts, and <br />ditches, if necessary, to reduce slopes to 2:1 or less. In conjunction with grading, water bars will <br />be placed at select locations to prevent buildup of runoff down the road surfaces; the number of <br />bars will be minimal to avoid additional disturbance. The road surfaces will be scarified to <br />