_INSPECTION - C1981019 (45) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Colowyo C-1981-019 18 May 10 Pg 5/7 Backfilling and Grading (cont.): West Pit (cont) - As stated, Colowyo does need to fix these areas but the use of a small dozer would create more disturbance/damage than it would fix. Colowyo should consider repairing these rill areas by hand early in the growing season. Colowyo has repaired the contour ditches that were breached during the runoff this spring. All of the backfilled areas were stable, with no cracking, settling or slumping observed. Overall, the 2009 West Pit reclamation looks very good. **See pictures at the end of this report.** - The 2009 East Pit reclamation area was also mostly dry at the time of the inspection. This area, too, has held up very well over the winter and spring runoff season. The area south of the Final East Pit Ditch had some minor rilling. There are two areas where the rilling is more extensive, although the rills are no more than 4" deep. These areas should be repaired by hand, to avoid the damage caused by placing larger equipment on the reclamation. The "Y" area between the Final East Pit Ditch and the North Tributary, East Pit Ditch has minor rilling. These rills are all less than 4" deep. These rills will need to be repaired. The area below the Final East Pit Ditch and the North Tributary, East Pit Ditch had almost no rilling. This area held up very well through the spring runoff. Colowyo should continue to monitor this area. The flat area just north of the North Tributary, East Pit Ditch had very minor rilling, with the rills measuring less than 4" deep. Colowyo should repair all rills in this area as necessary. The slope immediately south of the Prospect Ditch had some rilling above the upper-most contour ditch and no rills below the ditch. These rills were all less than 4" deep. The area to the north of the Prospect ditch had some larger rills (6") above the upper- most contour ditch and no rills below this point. The rills in this area appear to be directly related to the 2007-2008 reclamation area above it that has extensive gullying. Colowyo will need to repair the rills in the 2009 reclamation area and also repair the 2007-2008 gully area. While the 2009 area can be repaired by hand, the 2007-2008 area will require extensive work, possibly including topsoil stripping prior to the repairs and replacement and reseeding following the repairs. There did not appear to be any settling, cracking or slumping in any of the 2009 East Pit reclamation areas. These areas are overall in good condition. **See pictures at the end of this report.** - Colowyo continues to use the final cut of the Section 16 Pit as the dump for material from the South Taylor Pit (from the truck/shovel and excavator/shovel operations). he backfill is being constructed by end dumping the material in approximately 50- foot lifts. Colowyo plans to continue using the Section 16 Pit area as their dump until it is backfilled to the post-mining topography. **See pictures at the end of this report.** General Mine Plan Compliance: - The 101 dragline was back on the edge of the East Pit highwall. No additional reclamation has been completed on the East Pit highwall and Colowyo has shut off power to the 101 . - The 102 dragline was down for scheduled maintenance. - The 103 dragline was in the West Pit removing F-Seam overburden. - The 114 shovel operation was working on removing B1-Seam overburden in the South Taylor box-cut area. **See pictures at the end of this report.**