2008-10-22_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981020

• Permit No: C1981020
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Date: 10/22/2008
• Doc Name: 2008 Coal Reclamation Award Nomination ‎(Memo)‎
• From: Dan Mathews
• To: Sandy Brown
• Permit Index Doc Type: General Correspondence
• Email Name: SB1
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

5TATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203 D IV IS I ON OF
Phone: [phone] RECLAMATION
FAX: [phone] MINING

SAFETY
DRMS INTERNAL MEMORANDUM
Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor
Harris D. Sherman
DATE: October 22, 2008 Executive Director
TO: Sandy Brown Ronald W. Cattany
FROM: Dan Mathews Division Director
RE: 2008 Coal Reclamation Award Nomination Natural Resource Trustee
Munger Canyon Mine (Permit No. C-1981-020)
CAM Mining LLC (CAM) is deserving of recognition for the 2008 CMA Excellence in Reclamation Award for
a portal bench and access road reclamation project conducted in the summer and fall of 2007 at the Munger
Canyon Mine.
Munger Canyon Mine is a small underground mine located in the Bookcliffs, north of Fruita, in Garfield
County, an area dominated by steep cliff and canyon topography. The mine portal and access road were
constructed pre-SMCRA. The mine portal area is located in the upper reach of the south fork of Munger Creek
Canyon, accessed by gravel road leading from State Highway 139 along East Salt Creek. The lower section of
the road was constructed on grade across relatively level alluvial/colluvial sediments of the broad valley of
lower Munger Canyon, near the East Salt Creek confluence. An upper section of the road was constructed
along the steep canyon side slopes of upper Munger Canyon, and South Fork Munger Canyon. The original
canyon road and portal construction resulted in numerous extremely steep road cuts, and significant fills across
several steep ephemeral tributary drainages. The canyon section of the roadway extends approximately 4000
feet, from the lower valley floor to the portal area.
An initial permanent program permit was issued for the mine in 1983; large scale facilities development was
planned but never implemented. Mine development and coal extraction was very limited, and for most of the
life of mine, the operation was in temporary cessation. Total disturbance associated with the road and portal
bench was approximately 11 acres; approximately 3.5 acres of additional disturbance resulted from construction
of a small coal mine waste disposal area on the valley floor at the base of the canyon road segment (for disposal
of waste generated at the nearby McClane Canyon Mine).
The Munger Canyon and McClane Canyon Mines were acquired by CAM in 1999. CAM subsequently
determined that future coal extraction in the lease holdings would not involve use or expansion of the existing
Munger facilities, and a large scale reclamation project to reclaim the portal area, canyon access road, and coal
waste disposal area was undertaken in 2007 (structural demolition and portal sealing had been largely
completed in previous years).
Office of Office of
Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines