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Additional Sheets <br />1999 Annual Report <br />Pueblo West Pit <br />M-77-573 <br />Transit Mix of Pueblo <br />Anniversary Date: March 2.2 <br />Overview of Permit Year: During the 1998/1999 operating year nearly all activity occurred on the north <br />side of the river, other than processing. The large market demand created a tremendous increase in the <br />amount of land disturbed in the last year. However, part of that expansion was also due to the fact that the <br />mining was occurring in the thinnest part of the deposit. <br />In the revegetation program the difficulties encountered with the initial planting of the land on the <br />east end of the operation were studied carefully and a new approach set up for testing. This new approach <br />is discussed under the section Salty Soil Remedial Program. <br />Other than these two general areas, the operation remained much as it had in previous years. In <br />fact, on the west end of the operation, south of the river, there was essentially no change. <br />Some land (1.35 acres) was released from bond and three lakes (44.1 acres) were released from bond. <br />The total land released From bond was 45.44 acres which reduced the permit area to 296.22 acres. The bond <br />was reduced to $343,323.00. <br />Affected Lands: This operation, containing 296.22 acres, can be divided into many different categories of <br />affected land. These categories range from extraction to revegetation. For purposes of this report, affected <br />land means any land disturbed but not released from bond. That is, any land previously permitted, but <br />released from bond, is not included in the affected land total. The following table summarizes some of the <br />acreages in broad categories. <br />Acreage Accounting <br />(all three annual report maps combined) <br />Total Affected Land (Bonded) 234.85 acres <br />Total Water Surface (Bonded) 31.4 acres <br />Total Soil Replaced (Bonded) 35.75 acres <br />Total Revegetation in progress 35.75 acres <br />Revegetation: Portions of the Divelbliss portion of the revegetation area on the east end of the operation <br />continue to show good growth, but many other areas appear to have declined. Inspection shows that this <br />decline is probably due to an inappropriate seed mixture for the salty soils. Many of the species planted <br />were salt intolerant or only slightly tolerant to salt. This is further indicated by the rapid expansion of local <br />patches of very salt tolerant species, such as Inland Saltgrass. At this time this area is still in a wait and see <br />mode. <br />Transit Mix of Pueblo 1999 Annual Report M-77-573 Pueblo West Pit Page 1 of 3 <br />