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Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan -Rule 2.05 3 and 2 OS 4 The Blue Ribbon Mine is an underground mine which began operating in 1977. Prior to that time, [he old Blue Ribbon Mine operated from 1952 to 1963. The portals were sealed in 1985 and the majority of the surface reclamation was completed in the fall of 1986. There are two areas that are included in the Blue Ribbon Mine permit application. The area of the portals and office/shop facilities located in the Hubbard Creek drainage, and the truck scale facility along State Highway 133. However, the scale facility was removed from the permit area in 1989, as the State Highway Department acquired the land for the construction of an upgraded highway. The operator. removed the facilities and graded the area prior to release. Blue Ribbon Coal Company mined the E, or Hawk's Nest, seam. The total anticipated life of the mine was 5.5 years. The production rate was approximately 192,000 tons per year. The Blue Ribbon Mine was a drift mine, and was mining down the dip of the coal. Mining was done using room and pillar methods with continuous mining equipment. The coal was removed from the mine via a conveyor system to the surface, where it was screened and loaded onto trucks for shipment to market. The coal was weighed at the truck scale facility located along Highway 133. Access to the Blue Ribbon Mine site is provided by the Hubbazd Creek Road. The entrance to the road is off the old State Highway 133. The Hubbard Creek Road enters the southwest comer of the permit azea and continues across the permit azea in a northerly course as a Forest Service Access Road. Maintenance of the road is the responsibility of Delta County and will not be subject to reclamation. The Blue Ribbon Mine site contains a haul road, which is now reclaimed and an access road, which provides access to Pond No. 5 and the mine bench. Once the pond is no longer necessary to control sediment at the site, the road will be reclaimed. Surface water runoff from disturbed aeeas is now controlled by three sediment ponds. Pond No. 5 holds runoff from the mine bench area and replaced Pond No. I when it was reclaimed iri 1986. Pond No. 4 receives water from the reclaimed coal stock pile area and Pond No. 3 holds runoff from the reclaimed haul road. Pond No. 2 was eliminated with the bench stabilization project. Upon cessation of mining activities in 1985, all surface disturbance except ponds 3, 4, and 5, the access road, and the Hubbard Creek crossing was reclaimed. These aeeas will be reclaimed ai:~: successful revegetation is assured, and the sediment control structures are no longer needed.. T`•' three mine portals were sealed, surface facilities removed in late 1985, and feun~'a:ic -., ::.. non-combustible, non-toxic material was used to backtill the portal bench in 1986. Reclamation around the lower stockpile and two scale locations was done in 1986. Although the operator plans to remove the Hubbard Creek culvert upon final reclamation, a request to leave [he culvert in place permanently was made by G. H. Allen, who owns grazing rights on the permit area and some of the mineral rights in the E seam. The operator has chosen to not address the request at this time. [F the request is formally submitted by the permittee, questions should be asked about whether the culvert is sufficiently sized to remain as a permanent structure, maintenance of 10