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II. CRITERIA AND SCHEDULE FOR BOND RELEASE <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(a) states, "Up to sixty percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released when <br />the permittee successfully completes backfilling, regrading, and drainage control in accordance with <br />the approved reclamation plan." With regard [o Phase I bond release, the approved reclamation plan <br />for the Trapper Mine calls for backfilling and grading to approximate original contour (AOC) the areas <br />affected by open pit mining, along with the reestablishment of the drainage system. No mine related <br />structures needed to be removed. <br />Trapper Mining Inc has not requested in this submittal that any sedimentation ponds be designated as <br />permanent impoundments. However, Trapper has constructed livestock water tanks on [he reclaimed <br />lands and, in Minor Revision No. 160, received approval to designate specific water tanks as <br />permanent impoundments. Therefore, Rule 3.03.1(3)(c) applies. Approval of this Phase One partial <br />bond release would remove the operator's liability of backfilling and grading for those specific <br />livestock water tanks that were converted to permanent impoundments. The operator has provided for <br />the continued maintenance of those permanent impoundments. The operator has supplied appropriate <br />permanent impoundment demonstrations for these livestock water tanks with the September 1996 bond <br />release submittal, and these demonstrations were approved in Minor Revision No. 160. <br />III. OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS <br />The operator has applied for Phase One bond release on 2511.7 acres. These areas are shown on Map <br />1.0 of the bond release package. The backfilling and grading and drainage reestablishment work <br />included in this bond release was performed from 1980 through 1995, in lands associated with the <br />Ashmore, Colt\Browning, Derringer and Enfield pits. The drainages that were mined through and <br />subsequently reclaimed as permanent drainages are West Buzzard, East Buzzard, Far East Buzzard, <br />Coyote, No Name, Johnson, West Pyeatt, Middle Pyeatt and portions of East Pyeatt. A small portion <br />of the reclaimed Ashmore pit area in Johnson drainage was filled in withpower utility ash and covered <br />with at least five feet of spoil and topsoiled. All of the other areas had been contemporaneously <br />reclaimed with the spoil from the advancing pit. There were no buildings that needed tobe demolished, <br />although temporary culverts and ditches were removed. <br />The Division determined the success of Trapper's backfillingand grading and drainage reestablishment <br />efforts, and how they met the requirements of the approved reclamation plan, through several means. <br />First, the Division examined the maps supplied by Trapper to determine whether approximate original <br />contour had been achieved. In the bond release package submitted by Trapper, the operator supplied <br />as-built post-mining topography maps (Map 1.0), certified cross-sections at representative locations <br />(Map 1.1), which show the as-built topography compared to the approved post-mining topography, atd <br />drainage profiles at representative locations (Map 1.1), comparing as-built and approved post-mining <br />topography. Also used in the analysis were the pre-mine topography map, Map M-3, and the approved <br />post-mining topography map, Map M-12, taken from Trapper's permit application. No specific <br />