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reclaimed in any given year. However, reclamation of the East Pit disturbed areas was modified <br />with the placement of West Pit development excess spoil. Extraction of coal from the East Pit <br />was terminated in 2006 (Drawing 23, 31 August 2005). Currently the only ongoing activity in <br />the East Pit is reclamation of the final cut, including backfilling and grading of the pit and <br />highwall reduction. <br />The still expanding, large, multi -seam West Pit is located to the west of the East Pit. The method <br />of operation utilized in, and the coal seams extracted from, the West Pit are the same as those of <br />the East Pit. The West Pit will approach the East Pit in size. Mining in the West Pit is <br />advancing from north to south, paralleling the movement of the adjacent East Pit. Projected life <br />of the West Pit is estimated to be through 2014 (Drawing 23, August 12, 2011). In 2005 the <br />West Pit reached a steady -state operation and Colowyo began backfilling and grading operations <br />on the north and mid -pit areas. <br />The Section 16 Pit is located south of the East and West Pits. The northern boundary of the <br />Section 16 Pit will eventually be merged with these two south - trending pits. Mining of the <br />Section 16 Pit is of the "X" coal seam only. Mining was from east to west, but was reoriented <br />from north to south for the final strip in the area. Mining ceased in the Section 16 Pit in 2002, <br />however, Technical Revision (TR -65) approved of expansion of Section 16 Pit to the south (June <br />29, 2007). This pit expansion allowed Section 16 Pit to meet up with the South Taylor Pit. The <br />operations on the South Taylor Pit will use the Section 16 Pit as a haul road corridor for the life <br />of the operation. The Section 16 Pit will be reclaimed following mining in the South Taylor Pit. <br />The South Taylor Pit is a multi -seam operation that mines up to 17 coal seams and seam - <br />complexes. The seams mined in the South Taylor Pit are the "A ", `B ", "C ", "D ", E ", "F" and <br />"G" and their complexes. The seams range in thickness from 2.5 feet to 17 feet and the <br />overburden and interburden ranges in thickness from 2 feet to 65 feet. The operation progresses <br />from northwest to southeast. The initial box -cut material from the South Taylor Pit is placed in <br />two valley fills (the East Taylor and West Taylor Fills) that contain a total of approximately 60 <br />million cubic yards of overburden and interburden. Colowyo has requested a variance from <br />contemporaneous reclamation for the South Taylor Pit due to the mining conditions. The <br />overburden and interburden from the upper seams of the South Taylor Pit will be hauled to two <br />temporary overburden stockpiles (TS West and TS East), which will contain approximately 44 <br />million cubic yards of material. The dragline spoils remain in the pit. Final backfilling and <br />grading will consist of grading the final spoils on the northwest edge of the pit, ripping and <br />reducing the highwall, and hauling back all of the temporary spoil from TS West and TS East <br />into the pit. <br />The area to be mined within the Collom Lite Pit covers an area of two long ridge lines at about <br />7900 feet in elevation, and bisected by the stream channel of Little Collom Gulch. The Collom <br />Lite Pit is anticipated to cover 880 acres and reach a depth of 600 feet. Little Collom X Pit will <br />be located approximately one and one -half miles north of the Collom Lite Pit. Ultimately the <br />Little Collom X Pit will cover 213 acres and will be 100 feet deep in places. Coal production in <br />Colowyo Coal Mine C1981 -019 PR -03 30 April 10, 2013 <br />