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STATE OF COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3567 <br />FAX: (303) 832-8106 <br />7 May 2009 <br />Mr. Ryan Pawlowski <br />Colowyo Coal Company, LP <br />5731 State Highway 13 <br />Meeker, CO 81641 <br />Re: Colowyo Mine C-1981-019 <br />Preliminary Adequacy Review - Technical Revision 80 <br />Dear Mr. Pawlowski: <br />COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF <br />RECLAMATION <br />MINING <br />SAFETY <br />Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />Governor <br />Harris D. Sherman <br />Executive Director <br />Ronald W. Cattany <br />Division Director <br />Natural Resource Trustee <br />The Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (Division) has received the Colowyo <br />Coal Company, LP's (Colowyo) 1 April 2009 submittal of Technical Revision 80 - spoil <br />grading plan - East Pit. The revision was deemed complete on 9 April 2009. The <br />Division has reviewed the submittal and has the following adequacy questions. <br />Rule 4.14 - Backflling and Grading <br />The text in Section 4.14 of the approved Colowyo Permit provides general backfilling <br />and grading details including an analysis showing that Colowyo does not have either thin <br />or thick overburden. No specifics are provided regarding any of the backfilling and <br />grading operations for the East Pit. The nature of Colowyo's multi-seam mining makes it <br />necessary to delay reclamation for a number of years as the pit gets progressively longer <br />and deeper, until the final pit floor is reached following the removal of the F-Seam Coal. <br />At that point the draglines will be casting spoil into the previous cut and the mining <br />operation will have reached a steady-state. As the final limit of the pit is reached, the <br />area that is open begins to decrease until mining ceases, as it has in the East Pit. Since <br />mining in the East Pit ceased in 2005 (with the demobilization of the highwall miner), <br />there are no operational constraints on reclamation of the East Pit. The purpose of this <br />revision is to provide the details of the contemporaneous reclamation and final closure of <br />the East Pit and the subsequent backfilling and grading plan pursuant to Rules 4.13, <br />4.14(1)(c) and 2.05.4(2)(c). <br />1. Colowyo has not provided any description of the proposed backfilling and <br />grading operations in the approved permit. Specific text needs to be added to <br />Section 4.14 describing the details of the backfilling and grading operations <br />proposed on the updated Map 29. The description needs to include the timing <br />and the method of the backfilling and grading. Additionally, the description <br />Office of Office of <br />Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines