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The Red Canyon No. 1 Mine was a room and pillar underground operation. A limited <br />extraction rate of 50-55 percent was employed by the operator to avoid subsidence <br />impacts to the land surface and the surficial aquifer system. Total production <br />between 1977 and 1984 was 320,509 tons from the E seam. Maximum production <br />occurred in 1981 when 137,698 tons were shipped. The general mine plan <br />progressed north approximately 1,800 feet, was developed 4,000 feet to the west, <br />and developed 1,200 feet to the north. When Red Canyon was in operation, coal <br />was stockpiled adjacent to the portal for shipping to Delta by truck. Trucks <br />unloaded the coal at the loadout; it was dumped into a screen if necessary and <br />loaded onto a rail car by a loader. <br />Underground development waste was disposed in abandoned strip pits adjacent to <br />the portal area, along the east side of the draw in which the mine is situated. <br />The waste disposal area has been reclaimed and covered with 4 feet of non-toxic <br />material. <br />The 21 acre surface facilities area associated with the Red Canyon No. 1 Mine <br />included two mine access portals, two shops, a loader garage, a rock dust bin, <br />several tanks, a powder magazine, a cap magazine, a cinder block fan noise <br />deflector, 20 power poles, and some miscellaneous foundation and culverts. A <br />13.65-acre loadout, located in an industrial area in Delta, was reclaimed and <br />bond was released in 1987. <br />Surface water runoff from the disturbed area is now controlled by one sediment <br />pond located at the southern end of the surface disturbance. The major drainage <br />channel, which carries irrigation water to the draw below the pond and <br />subsequently to the Carbon Ditch, divides the site into an eastern and western <br />drainage system. There is also an upper diversion ditch located at the north end <br />of the mine. <br />Cessation of mining activities occurred in 1984. Reclamation work began in 1988; <br />all facilities were removed, the portals were backfilled and sealed, and the mine <br />bench and face up area were regraded to approximate original topography. <br />Non-toxic overburden from adjacent pre-law spoil ridges was utilized for plant <br />growth medium. Additional reclamation work performed in 1997 included <br />modifications to the permanent drainage channel to direct flows into the pond, <br />ripping and seeding of the remaining segment of the road into the site, and <br />reclamation of certain ditch segments. Sealing of monitoring wells is the <br />primary remaining reclamation task. Retention of the sediment pond as a <br />permanent impoundment was included in the Division's approval of Technical <br />Revision No. 13, in September, 1996. <br />8 <br />