Laserfiche WebLink
~s • . <br />saturation percentage <br />selenium and boron (i.f pH> 8.5) <br />lead <br />cadmium <br />mercury <br />molybdenum <br />acid-base potential <br />The operator did indicate that they would sample this material for <br />most of these constituents but did not say when. This should be <br />done this year. If the material turns out to be suitable, the <br />fertility parameters can be checked when reclamation is performed. <br />If it turns out that this material is not suitable, another borrow <br />area will need to be identified. <br />The Division will also need better data on the exact amount of <br />material available and this will involve some investigation. This <br />can be done by excavating a few pits over the borrow area or <br />drilling holes to determine depth and eventually the volume of <br />material available. It may be determined that more soil is actually <br />available than has been previously indicated. If this is the case <br />we may require a deeper replacement depth. <br />Another area that requires some clarification is exactly how many <br />acres will be reclaimed. While conducting the review I have come <br />across at least four conflicting figures of 6.25 acres, 8 acres, <br />and 10.25 acres and 8.36 acres. The actual figure should be flushed <br />out, a map provided which clearly shows the area to be reclaimed, <br />and all references in the text should be consistent with this <br />figure. These numbers are found in both the old and the new text. <br />A final comment on this section is that it appears that the <br />operator intends to use material from the sediment pond as a <br />topsoil substitute also. Based on the data presented in the <br />application, all of the settling pond material (both sediment and <br />embankments) would be deemed unsuitable based on pH alone (all 5 or <br />less). In fact, we may want to determine how best to handle this <br />material (ie: bury two feet deep) when this sediment pond is <br />reclaimed if it is acidic. Also only the material from the pond <br />bottom would be available during the initial reclamation phase. <br />They can re-test this material when they do the suitability test on <br />the topsoil substitute material and perhaps the test parameters <br />will be more acceptable. If so, we will make a determination about <br />its use at that time. <br />Vegetation Information 2.04.10 <br />The mine area apparently encompasses four vegetation types <br />including: Mountain Shrub, Pinion-Juniper, Ponderosa Pine/ Douglas- <br />Fir, and Introduced Pasture. The general descriptions of these <br />communities are fine however, only the introduced pasture includes <br />any kind of quantitative data describing cover and production. I <br />believe this is from an SCS range site description. The other areas <br />should also have general range site descriptions describing typical <br />