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Aper No. 2 Mine; Midterm Findings <br />Phase I bond release was approved by the Division on January 29, 1996, for backfill and grading. <br />No enforcement actions have been issued for the Apex No. 2 Mine in the past five years. <br />II. Revisions to the Permit: <br />One technical revision has been approved since the previous permit renewal. Technical Revision No. 10 <br />was approved on December 21, 1998. This technical revision changed the revegetation standards and <br />re-assessed the alluvial valley floor determination. Reclamation liability was unaffected by this <br />revision. The Division determined afrer review ofTR-l0 that the Trout Creek valley in the vicinity of <br />the mine does not qualify as an alluvial valley floor, therefore Sunland Mining Corporation meets the <br />assessment of Rule 2.07.6(2)(k) and Rule 2.06.8(3)(c)(ii). <br />The remaining reclamation liability for the mine afrer approval of SL-O1 was $68.808.00, which equates <br />to 40% of the original bond. The Division estimates the costs of remaining reclamation work in the <br />permit area to be $24,095.00. Sunland Mining Corporation did not submit a replacement bond in <br />response to the approval of the Phase I Bond Release. DMG currently holds a bond in the amount of <br />$172,020.00. <br />III. Stipulations: <br />Permit C-81-011 has no active stipulations. <br />IV. Permit Variances and Specific Approvals <br />Rules 2.06.2, 2.06.3, 2.06.5, and 2.06.7 require that experimental practices, mountaintop removal <br />variances, steep slope mining, variances from AOC, and variances from contemporaneous reclamation <br />be reviewed by the Division where applicable. Apex No. 2 Mine permit includes any operations under <br />these variance categories. <br />The Apex No. 2 Mine permit includes variances from AOC for the backfilled portal bench. The <br />variance from AOC for the portal highwall was approved 7uly 28, 1995, with TR-06. The highwall <br />existed prior to the permanent program regulations promulgation. Variance from AOC is allowable <br />under Regulation Section 4.14.1(2)(f). <br />The landowner requested, and the Division concurred, that the final reclamation seed mix exclude shrub <br />species, since the post-mine land use includes grazing. The approved seed mix is found on page 184 of <br />the permit. <br />The Division has agreed to a vegetation standard based on recommendations from the Natural Resource <br />Conservation Service local representative. Due to the previously disturbed nature of the mine site, no <br />baseline vegetation data was collected at the site. The reclamation success standazds for the Apex No. 2 <br />Mine aze found on permit pages 184-10 through 184-11. <br />The Division has given a variance from Rule 2.07.6(2)(d)(iv) by allowing mining within 100 feet of <br />Routt County Road No. 29. Sunland Mining Corporation was able to show that they had valid existing <br />