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<br />The applicant proposes to reclaim the disturbed area to a post-mining land use <br />of rangeland, wildlife habitat, and cropland. This does not constitute a <br />change in land use. Pursuant to 2.07.6(2)(1) and based on the successful <br />reclamation accomplished to date, the Division approves the post-mining land <br />use of rangeland, wildlife habitat, and cropland. <br />The operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section. <br />III. Cultural and Historic Resources (Rules 2.04.4 and 2.05.6(4)) <br />The applicant has provided information on cultural and historic resources in <br />Section 2.9 (pages 2.587 - 2-592), and in Appendix K. <br />Numerous cultural resource studies have been conducted on lands within the <br />Trapper Mine Plan boundary. A majority of area has been intensively surveyed <br />with the remaining acreage located in areas of low ground visibility and/or <br />steep or disturbed terrain, subjected to a reconnaissance survey. A total of <br />twelve archaeological sites (6 prehistoric - 6 historic) have been located in <br />or within 500 feet of the Trapper Mine permit area. Of the twelve sites, two <br />are located near but lie outside the present mine plan boundary. Of the <br />remaining sites eight are to be impacted by proposed mining. It has been <br />recommended that sites 5MF290/949 and 5MF948 both outside of the mine plan <br />area are eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. <br />In current plans, however, neither site will be directly impacted by mining <br />operations. <br />The operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section. <br />I11. Geology (Rules 2.04.5 and 2.04.6(1)) <br />The Division has reviewed Section 2.7 (pp. 2-346 to 2-a01 and 2-452 to 2-454) <br />together with Appendix I for compliance. <br />The core drill program undertaken by the operator to satisfy the permitting <br />requirements of Rule 2.04.6(1) identified a problem never resolved during the <br />initial permit term, ie. the existence of high levels of sodium in the <br />overburden in the central and eastern portions of th permit area. Since these <br />areas were not scheduled to be disturbed during the initial permit te-m, the <br />issue was deferred until such a time, in a subsequent permit term, that mining <br />of the areas would occur. The mine plans and schedules submitted in <br />conjunction with Trapper Mine's application for Permit Revision No. 2 now <br />indicate that the areas in question will be mined during the permit renewal <br />term and that the long standing issue must be addressed. In response to the <br />expressed concern of the Division, Trapper Mine submitted a proposal for <br />sampling the regraded spoil on five acre spacing to a depth of one foot and <br />for analyzing the material in accordance with the parameters documented in <br />Table 2.7-2a. A serious problem associated with highly sodlc regraded spoil <br />is not anticipated, however, if a problem area is detected via analysis, <br />Trapper has committed to submit a mitigation plan for Division approval. <br />Also, in the Permit Revision Number 2 application document Trapper has <br />supplied overburden analysis data taken from regraded spoils near an area <br />where some high SAR levels were found in overburden cores. The regraded <br />-14- <br />