Laserfiche WebLink
• 2.05.4 page 2 <br />Unneeded power and telephone line poles and equipment will be removed with the assistance <br />of the local p[[blic utilities at the time the King Coal Mine is abandoned. The well pumps will require <br />power. The surface owner has requested by letter, noted above, [hat power remain. <br />Coal stockpiles will be sold and the residue (base cover) used for back-filling the portals. The <br />residue is mostly shale and sandstone rock mixed with small amounts of coal. <br />SEALING MINE OPENINGS AND DRILL HOLES <br />In accordance with the requirements of our mine plan, 211.41 (c) 30 CFR, the portals (mine <br />openings or entrances into the King Coal Mine) will be back-filled and sealed against inflows of <br />surface water and access by animals or people. Spoil materials on the permit area will be scraped from <br />the surface and used For backfill inside the portals. This will limit acid-forming or toxic materials in the <br />final topsoil dispersion and re-vegetation. After back-filling to a depth of 25 feet from [he portal, the <br />mouth of the portals will be caved to completely seal them. The area will then be back-filled, graded <br />and smoothed over to closely approximate the original contour of the hill into which the portals have <br />been opened. <br />Coal exploration drill hole N-16 in the mine plan area has already ibeen capped with a concrete <br />plug and meets the above requirement. A dry well hole next [o the water tank has been filled. The <br />active well on the permit area (See Map C-4) will remain open and in active use for future use by <br />owners of the property. This well is enclosed in a housing and collare[i. All vent holes will be sealed. <br />See Map C-3 for location(s) of any venUair shafts or holes. <br />GRADING AND BACK-FILLING <br />• No maps of the original contours of the mine site have survived the many years of coal mining. <br />It is doubtful whether any such maps were ever made. Members of the Smith family, original owners <br />of the King Coal Mine, and Mr. Lawrence Huntington, long-time owner of ranch land surrounding [he <br />mine, [ell us the contours of the mine bench are much the same as they were fifty years ago when <br />facilities were first cons[n~cted. Equipment running in the mine yard has disrupted the surface; little or <br />no topsoil remains on the mine bench, but the lay of the land has not changed except for cut and fill <br />work in recent years to provide a parking lot on the south of the bench and on the west side to install a <br />main ventilation fan. The Smith family constructed an earthwork (containment wall) to protect the old <br />tipple bins just below the portals many years ago. The resulting 1.5:1 sloped highwalls are not original <br />contours as can clearly be seen by inspection of the area. Earth material from the parking lot and the <br />fan bench were back-filled into the gully east of the mine. <br />The highwalls, defined by the 1.5:1 slopes on Map C-7 will be back-filled in 2 foot lifts to a <br />slope of 2:1 utilizing mine waste rock. The benches, however, will be graded and contoured to a 2.5:1 <br />slope gradually sloping to 3:1. Only 1.5 acres of the disturbed area is I.S: l slopes or highwalls. After <br />the benches have been graded to a 2.5:1 or less slope, the remaining highwalls will account for less <br />than half an acre. The disturbed area comprises 10.88 acres. The 3:1 slopes conform, in our <br />determination, to the original contours. The access road is relatively flat across the Hay Gulch meadow <br />gradually rising to a 3:1 slope just south of the mine offices. <br />After the surface facilities have been dismantled and removed, the top layers (from zero [o <br />twelve inches thick) of shale, sandstone and some soils (mostly clay form the highwall cuts) will be <br />scraped and graded into a pile for back-filling the mine portals. This material which is not suitable for <br />vegetation can be used to back-fill portals. <br />After the portals are back-filled and sealed, the cleared 3: l slopes will be smoothed over by <br />grading out the rough spots. The benches (parking lot, fan and storage bin areas) will be graded and <br />contoured to slopes 2.5:1 or less. <br />• Analysis of stored waste, as tested by C. T. & E. is included in Appendix 9(4) (Samples #4, #5 <br />& #6). <br />January 1998 <br />