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The mining process includes cleazing of vegetation, topsoil removal, overburden blasting and <br />removal, and coal blasting and removal. Reclamation activities include backfilling, grading, topsoil <br />redistribution, and reestablishment of vegetation. <br />Vegetation was cleazed and either disposed of in the active pit, or placed on reclaimed areas for use <br />by wildlife as cover. <br />Topsoil was removed in advance of mining operations by scraper equipment, and was then <br />stockpiled or redistributed when possible. Stockpiles are temporarily stabilized with the <br />establishment of vegetation. <br />Overburden was blasted and removed with a dragline, then spoiled into the previous pit. The initial <br />box cut spoil was temporarily placed on an adjacent unmined area, and the spoil subsequently double <br />handled for placement back in the pit once the next pit has been opened. <br />Coal is ripped or shot, removed by loader, and transported via Road A to the Hayden Station power <br />plant or to the Hayden Gulch Loadout facility. <br />No crushing, screening, or washing of coal is proposed. Since no coal processing is planned, the <br />operation will not produce coalmine waste. Non-coal waste will be disposed of offsite at an <br />approved dumpsite. <br />Spoiled overburden is graded by bulldozers to approximate original contour. Several drainages will <br />be reconstructed in the mined azeas. Topsoil is redistributed by scrapers to an average thickness of <br />1.8 feet. The approved reclamation seed mix will then be drill seeded in the fall. If topsoil <br />redistribution is completed in the spring a cover crop will be sown, followed by the permanent mix <br />in the fall. Concentrated islands of seeded and transplanted shrubs will be established on <br />approximately five percent of the reclaimed area. <br />At the end of mining, all surface facilities will be removed, the areas regraded, topsoil redistributed, <br />and revegetation accomplished as described above. <br />Impacts to surface water and ground water will be mitigated and monitored. Surface runoff from all <br />disturbed areas will be channeled to a sedimentation pond. Ponds 10, 11, l la, 12, 13, and 14 have <br />been constructed to date. <br />Surface water will be monitored upstream and downstream of the site on Grassy Creek and Armand <br />Draw during the first permit term. Monitoring of Sage Creek was reinitiated two yeazs prior to the <br />proposed mining in the Sage Creek basin. <br />Ground water will be monitored in the Trout Creek aquifer, in spoils aquifers, natural springs, and in <br />the alluvium of Sage Creek, Grassy Creek, Armand Draw tributary, and Grassy Creek tributaries. <br />Monitoring of Sage Creek alluvium was reinitiated two yeazs prior to proposed mining in the Sage <br />Creek basin. <br />Yoast Mine 17 February 2$ 2006 <br />