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February 29, 2012 C-1981-008/New Horizon Mine MLT <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Inspection Topic Summary <br />YNR <br />NOTE: =Inspected =Not Inspected =Comments Noted <br />VNA <br /> =Violation Issued =Not Applicable <br />NN <br /> - Air Resource Protection - Roads <br />NN <br /> - Availability of Records - Reclamation Success <br />RR <br /> - Backfill & Grading - Revegetation <br />NANA <br /> - Excess Spoil and Dev. Waste - Subsidence <br />NNA <br /> - Explosives - Slides and Other Damage <br />RN <br /> - Fish & Wildlife - Support Facilities On-site <br />RN <br /> - Hydrologic Balance - Signs and Markers <br />RNA <br /> - Gen. Compliance With Mine Plan - Support Facilities Not On-site <br />RR <br /> - Other - Special Categories Of Mining <br />NAR <br /> - Processing Waste - Topsoil <br /> <br /> <br />COMMENTS <br /> <br />This was an Aerial Inspection of the New Horizon Mine conducted by the DRMS on the <br />afternoon of Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Photographs were reviewed and analyzed by <br />Marcia Talvitie of the DRMS. <br />(In all of the photos, a red line has been used to identify the permit boundary. Purple lines <br />designate property boundaries.) <br /> <br />BACKFILL and GRADING Rule 4.14 <br />Contemporaneous Reclamation 4.14.1; Approximate Original Contour 4.14.2; Highwall <br />Elimination 4.14.1(2)(f); Steep Slopes 4.14.2, 4.27; Handling of Acid and Toxic Materials <br />4.14.3; Stabilization of Rills and Gullies 4.14.6: <br /> <br />The pit continues to advance westward. Backfilling is featured in Photos 6, 7, and 8. The <br />sequence to be followed is described in Section 2.05.4(2)(c) of the permit. The lowermost <br />backfill consists of overburden material that has been drilled and blasted to expose the coal <br />seam(s) beneath. This is the gray- to black- <br />overburden, which was removed from the pit prior to blasting operations, is then placed on <br />top of the shot overburden spoil. In the photos, this Bench 1 material is grayish tan in color. <br /> <br />It appears that a quantity of spoil generated from the northern pit (on WFC property) has <br />been hauled to the Morgan property for placement as backfill. There is insufficient backfill <br />available on the remaining Morgan land yet to be mined, to fill the last pit for reclamation. <br /> <br />As mining operations near completion, the boxcut spoil pile (Photo 1) will be hauled to the <br />western end of the permit and be used as backfill for pits on either the Morgan or Western <br />Fuels properties. <br /> <br />FISH and WILDLIFE Rule 4.18: <br /> <br />A herd of elk, approximately 40 in number, can be seen grazing on the WFC property <br />(purchased recently from the Lloyd family), circled in green on Photos 5 and 6. <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 8 <br />213 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 3 Page of <br /> <br /> <br />