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south. This pit expansion will allow the pit to meet up with the new South Taylor Pit. The <br />operations on the South Taylor Pit will use the Section 16 Pit as a haul road corridor for the life of <br />the operation. The Section 16 Pit will be reclaimed following mining in the South Taylor Pit. <br />With PR-02, Colowyo is proposing the South Taylor Pit. It will be amulti-seam operation that will <br />mine up to 17 coal seams and seam-complexes. The seams that will be mined in the South Taylor <br />Pit are the "A", "B", "C", "D", E", "F" and "G" and their complexes. The seams range in thickness <br />from 2.5 feet to 17 feet and the overburden and interburden ranges in thickness from 2 feet to 65 feet. <br />The operation is planned to progress from northwest to southeast. The initial box-cut material from <br />the South Taylor Pit will be placed in two proposed valley fills (the East Taylor and West Taylor <br />Fills) and will contain a total of approximately 60 million cubic yazds of overburden and interburden. <br />Colowyo has requested a variance from contemporaneous reclamation for the South Taylor Pit due <br />to the mining conditions. The overburden and interburden from the upper seams ofthe South Taylor <br />Pit will be hauled to two temporary overburden stockpiles (TS West and TS East), which will <br />contain approximately 44 million cubic yards of material. The dragline spoils will remain in the pit. <br />Final backfilling and grading will consist of grading the final spoils on the northwest edge of the pit, <br />ripping and reducing the highwall and hauling back all of the temporary spoil from TS West and TS <br />East into the pit. <br />Topsoil Removal <br />A scraper operation, supplemented with dozer, loader, excavator and truck haul, strips topsoil ahead <br />of overburden removal. Stripped topsoil is hauled directly to graded spoil azeas on the trailing edge <br />of the pits, or to topsoil storage piles for later distribution during reclamation. Topsoil from the <br />South Taylor mining area will be stored in two topsoil stockpiles (Topsoil 1 and Topsoil 2). <br />Blasting <br />Blasting fractures overburden and interburden. The rubble overburden from the top three to four <br />seams in the advancing edges of the East and West Pits is removed by truck-and-shovel operations. <br />This material is hauled around the active pit and dumped into the active pits on the trailing side. Cast <br />blasting (with explosives) and back casting with draglines aze used for the removal of rubble <br />overburden above the lower seams, in both the East and West Pits, and was used in the Section 16 <br />Pit. Initial box-cut material from the East Pit was placed in the Streeter Fill. Initial box-cut material <br />from the West Pit was placed in the West Pit permanent excess spoil fill. Initial box-cut material <br />from the Section 16 Pit was placed in the Section 16 Fill. <br />Afrer blasting, he truck and shovel operations will also remove the top three or four seams of <br />overburden and interburden at the South Taylor Pit. This material will be hauled to temporary <br />overburden storage piles TS West and TS East (to the north of the pit). Approximately 44 million <br />cubic yazds of material will be placed in the temporary overburden stockpiles. Upon the <br />commencement of mining, this overburden will be hauled back to the South Taylor Pit. The initial <br />box-cut material for the South Taylor Pit will be placed in two permanent valley fills (the West <br />Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance 4 May 2007 <br />Permit Revision 02 Page 23 <br />