2010-06-11_REVISION - C1992080 ‎(2)‎

• Permit No: C1992080
• IBM Index Class Name: REVISION
• Doc Date: 6/11/2010
• Doc Name: Summary of Adequacy Review ‎(Memo)‎
• From: Tom Kaldenbach
• To: File
• Type & Sequence: TR16
• Email Name: TAK
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
MEMO
COLORADO
D IV IS I ON OF
RECLAMATION
MINING
SAFETY
Date: June 11, 2010 Bill Ritter, Jr.

From: Tom Kaldenbach Governor
James B. Martin
Executive Director
To: File - Carbon Junction Mine (C-92-080), TR-16 Loretta E. Pirieda
Director
Re: Summary of Adequacy Review of TR-16
TR-16 proposes not distributing topsoil contained in stockpiles #4 and #7, and leaving them as
permanent features on the site. Page 5-29 of the permit application of the existing "unabridged" copy
of the permit application shows the volumes of the stockpiles as 117,100 cyds in #4 and 18,300 cyds in
#7.
Permit application page 5-29 indicates topsoil stockpile #4 is to be redistributed to the Equipment
Storage Area. This stockpile is not included in the current reclamation plan of the adjacent Ewing
Mesa gravel pit as that plan has only three remaining tasks: an electrical substation, a sediment pond,
and a large overburden stockpile at the end of the site (on the north side of the coal Equipment Storage
Area). The Equipment Storage Area was regraded and seeded in 2006, and remaining equipment was
removed in 2008. A variety of grasses have developed in the area. Topography of the Equipment
Storage Area blends well with the surrounding slopes of stockpile #4 to the south, and the overburden
stockpile of the Ewing Mesa gravel pit to the north. Although stockpile #4 is a hill at a location that
was flat ground prior to mining, the topography of stockpile #4 blends well with the site's ridges,
rolling hills, and intervening flats and gulches. Leaving stockpile #4 as a permanent feature would not
hinder achieving approximate original contour at this location.
Permit application page 5-29 indicates topsoil stockpile #7 is to be distributed to sediment pond 2.
Pond 2 was regraded to its final permanent configuration in early 2009, with the earthen embankment
removed, leaving a flat-bottomed drainage that reports a short-distance to the lower part of Carbon
Junction Canyon. Runoff from the west half of the Permanently Reclaimed Spoil Area (an approved
boxcut excess spoil pile) will continue to flow through the Pond 2 drainage to Carbon Junction Channel,
via a culvert underneath the permanent asphalt-surfaced haul road. Addition of topsoil to the former
site of Pond 2 is not needed as the site has more than the minimum one foot of topsoil required by the
reclamation plan. A mature, dense growth of willows has developed at the Pond 2 location.
Topography of the Pond 2 site blends well with the surrounding slopes of the gulch where it is located.
Like topsoil stockpile #4, stockpile #7 is a hill at a location that was flat ground prior to mining, and the
topography of stockpile #7 blends well with the surrounding ridges, rolling hills, and intervening flats
and gulches. Leaving stockpile #7 as a permanent feature would not hinder achieving approximate
original contour at this location.
The observations that it is not necessary to distribute the topsoil in stockpiles #4 and #7 for either
growth medium or for achieving approximate original contour supports a decision to not distribute the
topsoil stored in these stockpiles and leave the stockpiles as permanent features on the mine site.
cc: Dan Hernandez
Office of Office of
Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines