Laserfiche WebLink
Mine, at the West Ridge Waste Pile and at the R.O.M. stockpile. The access roads <br />include an access road leading from the crushing and screening bench up to the <br />wazehouse area, portal bench and fan bench, an access road leading to the West Ridge <br />Waste Pile pond, an access road which leads to the old waste disposal pile and <br />sedimentation ponds 1 and 2 and an access road which leads to sedimentation ponds 3 <br />and 4 from BLM road leading to the old Converse Mine. The five light use roads include <br />three roads, named east, central and west roads, which provide access for hydrologic and <br />subsidence monitoring, a road leading from the main facilities fan bench to the <br />explosives storage area and a road leading to the West Mine fan area. <br />At the main mine facilities area, there is one paved haul road leading from security post <br />No. 1 at the turnoff from [he Steven's Gulch road to the crushing and screening bench. <br />The mine site haul road and access roads were constructed prior to the enactment of <br />SMCRA and the Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coa] <br />Mining, and at that time the haul and access road embankments and road cuts were not <br />constructed according to [he specifications set forth in Rule 4.03. Alternative <br />specifications may be authorized by the Division if the applicant can demonstrate <br />through appropriate geotechnical analysis that the existing road embankments have a <br />minimum safety factor of 1.25, and that the road cuts have a minimum safety factor of 1.5 <br />or that a lesser safety factor will not result in significant environmental harm or harm to <br />the public health or safety (4.03.1(3)(c)(i) and (3)(d)(ix), and 4.03.2(3)(C)(i) and <br />(3)(d)(ix)). <br />The operator has demonstrated that the haul road and access roads are stable and will <br />continue to meet the performance standard. The demonstration was supplied in a report <br />(Phase II - Geotechnical Stability, by Merrick and Company) submitted in response to <br />stipulation No. 14 of the 1981 Orchard Valley Mine (Bowie No. 1 Mine) Permit, and <br />which is included with [he Permit Application in Volume 6. The Division has approved <br />the alternative road specifications based on this demonstration. <br />The reclamation plan approved in Technical Revision No. 28 allows for the retention of <br />access roads and the associated terraces. The presently permitted haul and access roads <br />will be narrowed to a 16 foot width within the 20 foot wide terrace corridor. The <br />reclamation plan requires that all other terraces be reclaimed. The operator has <br />committed to removing the asphalt between Steven's Gulch and the crushing and <br />screening level and performing finish grading of the road. <br />in August 1986, the operator submitted a permit revision application to construct new <br />portal facilities, named the West Mine, in the East Roatcap Creek Valley. This <br />application proposed the construction of a new portal facility and haul road, because the <br />existing portals at the Orchard Valley Mine, now called the Bowie No. 1 Mine, had been <br />rendered unuseable by the underground coal mine fire. The applicant proposed to <br />upgrade an existing public access road to serve as a coal haul road to the proposed portal <br />bench. <br />2~ <br />