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? <br />18, 1995. All "Sections" referenced within this document are contained within the Regulations. <br />Detailed information about mining and reclamation operations at the Carbon Junction Mine can be <br />found in mining and reclamation permit application C-92-080 on file at the Division offices, located <br />at 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215, in Denver, Colorado. <br />H. SUMMARY OF THE BOND RELEASE PROCESS <br />Reclamation and Bond Release History of Bond Release Area <br />Coal mining at the Carbon Junction Mine was completed prior to 1990. Coal was extracted from <br />two pits, an approximate 8-acre area called the North Pit and an approximate 3-acre area called the <br />South Pit. The permit area has undergone three bond releases: SL-01, SL-02, and SL-03. <br />SL-O1 was a liability release approved in 1997, granting release of Phases I, II, and III reclamation <br />liability for 18.34 acres located outside the current SL-04 bond release area. No bond was <br />associated with the SL-01 release area. The SL-01 bond release area was removed from the permit <br />area after approval of the bond release. Approximately one acre had been disturbed by mine <br />operations in the SL-01 bond release area, an explosives storage area and its access road. The <br />Division approved the SL-01 bond release application based on Oakridge's demonstration that <br />development of a golf course had substantially commenced on a nearby land parcel. The golf course <br />development was planned to extend into the SL-O1 bond release area where the approved postmining <br />land use was industrial and commercial. The development did not occur in the SL-01 bond release <br />area, however, as the golf course was not constructed. The SL-01 bond release area currently is <br />vacant land. <br />Bond release SL-02 was approved in 2005, granting full release for Phases I, II, and III reclamation <br />of the South Pit. The SL-02 bond release area was removed from the permit area, and was <br />transferred to the then-active and immediately adjoining Ewing Mesa Pit #1 sand and gravel <br />operation (DRMS Permit No. M-1992-116). <br />Bond release SL-03 was approved in 2008, granting Phase I release for the following areas: the <br />former North Pit mining area, the North Pit Haul Road, the Permanently Reclaimed Spoil Area, <br />Topsoil Pile #2, the South Pit Drill Pad, the Equipment Storage Area, the Carbon Junction Channel, <br />and ancillary adjacent areas. Reclamation of the SL-03 bond release area included backfilling, <br />grading, topsoiling, and seeding. The SL-03 bond release area included all of the area currently <br />proposed for Phases II and III release in SL-04, with the exception of the following areas which have <br />been either reclaimed or approved for permanent retention, as noted: <br />a) Topsoil stockpiles 4 and 7 (approved for permanent retention in TR-16 in June 2010), <br />b) Ponds 1 and 2 (backfilled, graded, topsoiled and seeded beginning in late 2008 and ending in <br />early 2009, as approved in TR-15), <br />c) The East Collection Ditch (located east of the Permanently Reclaimed Spoil Area) and the <br />ditch located on the east side of the former Equipment Storage Area (backfilled, graded, <br />topsoiled and seeded beginning in late 2008 and ending in early 2009), and <br />d) Equipment removal in the former Equipment Storage Area (removed in 2008). <br />2