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supports a variety of grasses, shrubs and trees, including willows (Salix <br />gip.), cottonwoods (Populus gip.), salt cedar (Tamarix parviflora) an~- <br />bluegrass (Poa ~.). Further information on vegetation can be found in <br />Section XI of this document. <br />Canyon walls in the permit area provide potential raptor nesting sites and the <br />river is used by waterfowl during migration, wintering and nesting seasons. <br />The north-western portion of the permit, several miles from the surface <br />facilities, provides winter range for mule deer and the western third of the <br />Cameo mine permit is part of a Federal government or State-designated wild <br />horse management area. Additional information on fish and wildlife can be <br />found in Section XII of this document. <br />Mining and Reclamation Plan <br />Room and pillar and longwall mining methods are to be used in recovering the <br />mineable coal reserves within the permit ara. The majority of the mining <br />during this five year permit term will be room and pillar. Mining during <br />future permit terms is planned to be dominantly longwall. The anticipated <br />annual production from both mines is 1,100,000 tons of clean coal. The coal <br />seam to be mined varies from four feet in thickness to a maximum of 11 feet. <br />Room and pillar panels will be typically developed using a five-entry system <br />and longwall panels will be typically developed by a two-entry system. <br />Raw coal is transported by truck from the Cameo mine and by conveyor from the <br />Roadside mine to the wash plant at the Roadside mine site. The wash plant <br />separates waste rock from the clean coal. Clean coal is transported by <br />conveyor 1.3 miles from the wash plant at Roadside to the rail loadout. The <br />coal processing waste from the wash plant is trucked to a disposal area west <br />of the Cameo mine. Two additional refuse disposal areas (Cameo Refuse <br />Disposal Areas Nos. 2 and 3) are planned to be constructed near the existing <br />disposal area. <br />Reclamation will consist of regrading the disturbed area to approximate <br />original contour, topsoiling with a minimum of six inches of topsoil and <br />seeding with native species to achieve the post-mining land use of undeveloped <br />land. Coal processing waste will be used as backfill material to achieve <br />approximate original contour at the Cameo mine and the North Decline, since <br />sufficient material is otherwise not available. More information on the <br />reclamation plan can be found in Section XI of this document. <br />With the implementation of the refuse disposal permit revision, there will be <br />four coal processing waste embankments within the permit area which will be <br />reclaimed. The coal processing waste embankment near the Roadside mine is <br />inactive, while the Cameo embankment is presently in use. The Roadside <br />embankment is presently being used in afield trial to determine the optimal <br />cover needed to attain successful reclamation while preventing material damage <br />to the hydrologic balance. Information from the Roadside embankment will be <br />used to to determine the amount of cover needed for the Cameo embankments. <br />Additional information on the coal processing waste embankments can be found <br />in Section XVII of this document. <br />-6- <br />