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-5- 7ne Colorado Division of Wildlife considers the proposed permit area to be a part of the region's critical winter range for deer and ell;. Description of the Dperations and Reclamation Plan 7ne Carbon Junction Mine is a surface mine, with private mineral and surface - - ownership. Approximately 530 acres are permitted. The life of the mine was originally estimated at 5 years. Proposed original disturoed areas incluged 5C.8 acres for the mine pits, 26.7 acres for an overburden fill area, 4.3 acres for a staging area and 26.6 acres for the remaining mine facilities. To date, approximately 40 acres have been disturbed by pit and fill development, with approximately 5D additional acres disturbed by associated support facilities. Proposed surface facilities included an office building and scalehouse; cnange-room and showers; a wash/processing plant, stacker, coal storage area and reclaim tunnel; employee parkins area; eouiDment storage yard and repair snop; explosives storape van, detonator magazine and dynamite storape magazine; two slurry ponds for the wash plant; a storape pond for wash giant water; a fresh water well; a domestic water storage tank: conveyors: a coal storage area, and a truck loading area. There is also a light vehicle access road and-a coal haul- road. To date, office facilities and wash plant-and _ - _~ associated facilities have not been constructed; nor ha 4e-the bverland~ - convevor or cpal loadout facilities. The mining method is an-open pit style surface mining method where three seams dip at an angle of 26 to 30 degrees to the southeast and outcrop in a northeast/southwest direction across hill and valley arrangements. The planned pit covers an area of 50.8 acres and is Dounged on three ;ides by the limits of economic recovery. The pit was to have a maximum highwall of 470 fe°-t. and ll5e an OUt-Of-plt fill for pOrtlDnS Of the DVerbUrDen until 2 steagy-state Dit was developed. Currently, the mine has two pits as file steady state plt w25 never de Velppe d. Dne p1t 15 1n the LeWls ("~") Seam pn the northw=stern segment of the property and the other is to the east across Carbon Junction Canvon, mining the Lewis, Carbonera ("3"l, and Shamrock ("A") Scdms, VOIUme 07 the Steady statE Dit was LO h2ve reached apprOXimdtelV 3 million cubic yards with approximately 2.76 million cubic yards of material in the excess spoil fill. Approximately 57:,,000 cubic yards of material nave been excavated to date, with a maximum hiphwall height of less than 100 feet. Prior to any of the mining events, topsoil was removed, stockpiled and stabilized with vegetation. To date, no final grading, topsoil replacement or permanent revepetation has occurred. The reclamation plan, as vrooosed would have resulted in the massive sandstones overlying the -owls seam being placed mostly at the bottom of the Dit, with the remaining siltstone, sandstone and shale placed on top of it. The suitable soil would have been removed and