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~: <br />MINING PLAN (5-17-77) <br />CORTEZ PIT - NIELSONS, INC. <br />The Cortez Pit is an existing sandstone quarry operation <br />being conducted approximately one hundred feet above McElmo Creek <br />at an elevation of between 5,860 and 5,900 feet. Eleven of the <br />sixteen acres shown on the map have been mined with all of the <br />affected area being in a class of major disturbance. <br />The small amount of topsoil and trees existing on the mesa <br />before operations were dozed into small stockpiles along the north <br />and east perimeter of the mined area. The trees that have been <br />cleared will be burned at the site. <br />The existing pit is excavated approximately twenty ft. below <br />natural grade. New operations have begun to mine another twenty <br />ft. lift starting along the midpoint of the south boundary this lift <br />will be mined in a northwesterly direction and require an additional <br />one to two acres each year. This acreage is not new disturbance, <br />but the same area that was mined during past operations. This <br />current mining will leave the floor of the pit approximately forty <br />ft, below natural grade. <br />The material at the pit is a sandstone with pockets of shale <br />and coal. It is loosened by drilling with an air track and blasting <br />with a combination of dynamite and prills. Blasting is done in a <br />manner to minimize the amount of material that is lost over the <br />edge of the cliff. <br />A bench will be left between the existing level and the new <br />level of mining. This bench will be from five to ten ft. in width, <br />and approximately 1,400 ft. in length along the north and east side <br />of the pit area. <br /> <br />