2009-09-29_REVISION - C1981047 (7)

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All sediment ponds at the Blue Ribbon Mine have been reclaimed. The Blue Ribbon Mine site contains a haul road, which is now reclaimed, and a light use road, which is being retained at the request of the landowner, Oxbow Mining. The Division approved a permanent relocation of the ephemeral drainage just north of the disturbed area. The drainage channel was extended about 150 feet further to the west to accommodate the mine bench stabilization project of 1984. The drainage area is less than one square mile. Hubbard Creek was temporarily diverted around Pond No. 1 during the mining operation. With the removal of Pond No. 1, Hubbard Creek was restored to its original channel. Blue Ribbon Phase II Bond Release Review A Phase II bond release request can be submitted when it can be demonstrated that the revegetated disturbed areas support the post mining land use. The demonstration must consider several factors. First, appropriate topsoil replacement needs to be verified. Second, an appropriate vegetative cover and species composition must be demonstrated. Third, a demonstration must be provided that shows that the reclaimed area does not contribute suspended solids levels in excess of that from the premining land or from adjacent and comparable undisturbed land. As mentioned in the previous section, topsoil had not been completely salvaged since part of the disturbed area was pre-law and, therefore, was not required. However, salvaged topsoil was mixed with subsoil that had received appropriate soil amendments and this became the plant growth medium. The success of the revegetation efforts attests to the success of this topsoil plan. There are two vegetation communities that exist on the reclaimed disturbed area, a grassland community and a riparian community. In order to measure revegetation success, Minrec designated two such communities as reference areas. Minrec's consultant used approved sampling protocol and sampling procedures in compliance with the requirements of Rule 4.15.11. For a Phase II bond release, the revegetation success standard for each of the two communities on the reclaimed areas is 90% of the total herbaceous cover found in each of the two reference areas. Both the 2006 Revegetation Success Evaluation Report and the 2006 & 2007 Revegetation Success Evaluation Report show that the revegetation cover at the Blue Ribbon Mine substantially exceeded the reference area standards for cover. The same two reports confirm that species diversity exceeded the reference area standards as well. Finally, the revegetation sampling results clearly show that the revegetation success supports the approved post mining land uses of wildlife habitat, grazing and recreation. Sampling protocol and statistical procedures were in conformance with permit requirements. Included in the SL-2 submittal and formally inserted into the permit application through Technical Revision No. 15 was a demonstration that the revegetated disturbed area was not contributing suspended solids in excess of that of the premining land. The operator used the Universal Soil Loss Equation to show that the reclaimed backfilled slopes would lose about 3.65 tons/acre/year while the original premining slopes would lose about 26.4 tons/acre/year. In the calculation, Minrec used baseline vegetation data from the permit application and the revegetation sampling data from their 2007 revegetation sampling study. Blue Ribbon Phase III Bond Release Review When all of the reclamation work at the mine site has been successfully completed according to the approved reclamation plan and the Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal