1993-11-26_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981025

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Proposed Decision -North Thompson Creek/Phase II Bond Release November 26, 1993 Page 5 There are two units of land in the permit area for which no reclamation is proposed. They are (1) the prime farmland area consisting of a road and a hay storage area at the loadout, and (2) the access road leading from the mine site to the fan portal. No bond was posted for the fan portal road; therefore, it was not considered in the bond release evaluation. Although the road was installed pre-law, it was used to access the fan portal during the permit term. Therefore, the road is subject to the conditions of Rule 4.03.2(7)(a), which requires access roads to be reclaimed unless the Division approves their retention as suitable for the post-mining land use. In order for the Division to make this approval, the operator must furnish proof, in the form of a letter from the landowner, that the landowner desires to keep the access road intact. The disturbed prime farmland area is located in a portion of the unit train loadout. The landowner has made it known to the Division that he does not wish this area to be re- claimed. The disturbed area consists of an access road and a small area to be used for hay storage. Because this use of the prime farmland area was approved as part of Technical Revision No. 11 in 1991, the area of disturbed prime farmland requires no reclamation and meets the criteria for a full bond release. V. PROPOSED DECISION The Division proposes to deny a Phase II Bond Release for reclamation at the North Thompson Creek mine site and to approve a full bond release for the area of disturbed prime farmland located at the unit train loadout. The proposed decision is based on a site inspection conducted on October 6, 1993, a review of the monitoring and permit files and information submitted by the operator in support of the bond release. The Division determined that the required vegetative diversity is not likely to be met without additional seeding. In addition, the operator has not demonstrated that vegetative cover in front of the No. 1 Mine portal is adequate to prevent excessive erosion. Revege- tation work may require significant re-disturbance of the mine site. Therefore, the operator is hereby advised that the remaining sediment ponds at the mine site should not be reclaimed until revegetation has been successfully established. The area of disturbed prime farmland, located at the unit train loadout, will not be reclaimed. Therefore, the Division proposes a 100% bond release for this area. The bond currently held for the North Thompson Creek permit is 5393,000.00. Therefore, the pro- posed band release of $45,000.00 will leave a remaining bond of $348,000.00. The following reclamation tasks need to be completed for the final bond release for the North Thompson Creek Mines: A. Backfilling and grading of the No. 1 Mine portal. B. Reclamation of sediment ponds.