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S <br />Keenesburg Partial / Phase 11 Bond Release Inspection <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DBMS) Permit ID #'C-1981-028 <br />Thursday April 22, 2010 10:00 - 2:30 <br />,Participants:. <br />Rob Zuber, DRMS <br />Dan Hernandez; DBMS" <br />Janet Binns, DRMS <br />Don MacDonald, Coors Energy Company (CEC) <br />Dan Kipp, CEC <br />Mike Savage, Savage and Savage Environmental <br />Christine Belka, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM, Badge # 182) <br />Weather conditions: cool, overcast, early rain, wet ground conditions <br />This was a DRMS Phase II bond release inspection for SL-05 at the Keenesburg Mine. Because <br />this is a private mine, the Office of Surface Mining is not directly involved in the bond release <br />action and is conducting this as a partial oversight inspection. <br />Approximately 51.05 acres is proposed for release through SL-05. DRMS representatives <br />verified topsoil depth in all areas proposed for bond release. Locations were chosen at random in <br />each block and a hand soil auger and/or shovel were used to dig down at least 2 feet to verify <br />topsoil depth. Areas 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 23 were all verified as having at least 2 feet of <br />topsoil. <br />Vegetation was visually evaluated to determine if the vegetation surveys conducted by Savage <br />and Savage Environmental for CEC appear reasonable. Grasses are well-established as well as <br />prickly pear, buckwheat, sunflower, and yellow clover. Cheat grass is present, which is common <br />for disturbed areas in this region. Cheat grass is not a List A or B noxious weed in Colorado and <br />is not required to be eradicated. Vegetation is well-established and field-verified to appear . . <br />similar to vegetation reference areas A-A', C-C', D-D'. Reference areas do host more sand sage <br />than reclaimed areas, but this species is likely to naturally repopulate reclaimed parcels. over <br />time. DMRS representatives found no reason to believe that the vegetation survey would be <br />inaccurate. The vegetation in adequate for Phase II bond release. <br />Drill pad areas have been mowed and flagged. These areas are to be Phase III released under an <br />industrial postmining land use and removed from the DRMS permit (not being done through this <br />bond release action). <br />Area 10 contains a trail used to access a water-monitoring well. This trail is well vegetated and <br />stable. The active ash disposal area is in good shape. Pond 2 did not contain any water at the time <br />of inspection. <br />All areas inspected were stable and well-vegetated. No compliance issues were noted during this <br />inspection. All areas proposed for Phase II release meet the requirements of the Colorado <br />regulatory program.