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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.01 Mining plan and timetableMINING PLAN AND TIMETABLE exhibit 1V EXHIBIT MINING PLAN AND TIMETABLE History George Sievers, grandfather of the present owners of Sievers Ranch, immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1880. In 1885 he came to the Roaring Fork Valley and acquired land four miles down river from Carbondale. The raw land was cleared, and a four and one-half mile irrigation ditch was built with picks and shovels. The ranch became a successful operation producing potatoes, hay, grain and livestock. George Sievers remained active in farming until his health failed in 1920. The farm was tenanted for many years. In 1952 George Sievers' daughter, Katherine Sievers Holmes, and her husband, Harleigh Holmes Sr., formed Sievers Ranch & Development Company, a Colorado corporation. This family-owned corporation has continued to the present time as a farming opera- tion raising grain, hay and cattle. Unlike most properties in the Roaring Fork Valley, this ranch has been operated by the same family for the past 94 years. The approximately 122.95 acres included in this conversion and amendment is the northeastern part of the ranch. The total area of the ranch is approximately 625 acres. The northeastern part of the ranch has extremely rocky soils and has been, at best, very marginal grazing land. In 1977 the family-owned Sievers Ranch & Development Company filed for and obtained a limited impact permit (MLR file number 77 -98, anniversary date May 1, 1978) on 8.74 acres at the far 5 north end of the ranch property. The permitted property is leased to a local firm which is responsible for the physical mining of the property. While this is a rather unusual way for the land and mineral owner to proceed, it was the most expeditious way for the ranch company to exert control over the mining and reclamation plans as well as the end product of those plans. Current Conditions Map Exhibit C shows the outline of the affected land, touching landowners, topography and existing utility lines. Map Exhibit C-1 shows the outline of the affected land and current soil, vegetation and hydrologic factors. In the past the affected land has served only as very marginal grazing land because of the rocky nature of the soil. For details of current conditions see baseline data in Exhibits G, H, IN and K. Mining Plan Mining started on the north part of the area in 1978 under MLRB Permit #77 -98. The 8.74 acres in Permit 77 -98 will be included in this conversion as part of the total affected lands (see map Exhibit C-1). A crusher operation now existing will continue to be an integral part of the sand and gravel mining operation. Mining will occur in 18 stages. When each stage is complete, a reclamation phase will be started so as to minimize surface distur- bance at any one time. The mining stages will begin at the location of the present operation on the north end, will proceed easterly 6 EXHIBIT D (Cont'd) and then in a southerly direction. Stage I is about three times as large as any other stage because it was necessary to include all of the limited impact permit land plus all land to the north that is south of Robertson Ditch. Map Exhibit D -1 indicates the general sequence and acreage in each stage. The contours on map Exhibit D-1 are drawn to show conditions at approximately the mid - -point of the life of the mine. Map Exhibit F shows the final contour. During the mining operations a berm will be created along most of the north perimeter and all of the east perimeter of the affected land by leaving part of the area unmined. This berm will screen from view most of the visual impact that might occur from this excavation. The 25 to 30 acres maximum that might be disturbed at any one time is certainly much less than that caused by some recent residential and recreational developments. An excavation line set back from the affected land lines, a distance that will vary between approximately 125 feet and 250 feet, will create the screening berm that will be from 35 feet to 60 feet high. See map D -1, mining stage XIV through XVII, for location of the berm. Also see the sketch below for the approximate cross - section of the berm. TO BE MINED IN STAGES I THRU XIII CURRENT LAND.,,_U EA. EXCAVATION LINE BERM TO BE MINED IN STAGES XIV THRU XVII 35'••6 FINAL LAND SURFACE - 7 - 6 -1 ROBERTSO DITCH OR ROARING FORK RIVER ~E,XH I B T - D—(Cant d 3 The pit will be operated year -round by lessees of the Sievers Ranch & Development Company as an aggregate supply for himself and for others. As operations begin on each stage, the soils will be removed and stored for future use in seedbed preparation. The acceptable soil varies from 12 to 48 inches with the average being approximately 15 to 18 inches. There are places where there is no soil and a few others where there is as much as 3 to 4 feet; however, both of these are exceptions rather than the norm. For details on soils please refer to Exhibit I /J. Soils lay directly on the sand and gravel to be mined, there being no other over- burden. The soils removed from the mining area will be stored on lands that are part of present or future mining stages. Storage areas will vary depending on location of each mining stage. A cover, such as western wheatgrass, will be planted where necessary to preserve the soil stockpile. The sand and gravel below the soil on the affected land appears to be in excess of 70 feet thick. Three attempts to drill test holes encountered very dense gravels and cobble at depths ranging from 10.5 to 14.5 feet. These materials were of such a nature that further drilling became quite difficult. Diamond bits probably would have penetrated the section, but this was not economically feasible. See report by CTL /Thompson, Inc. in the appendix. Inspection of the section along the river indicates a sand and gravel section in excess of 70 feet at that location. Knowledge of the gravels in the Roaring Fork Valley leads us to believe that EXHIBIT. _.:D-- - - -(Co t-' d) observed thicknesses will continue fairly well intact across the land to be excavated. The mining process will be carried on primarily by front- end loaders. The loaders will unload to conveyors which will carry the materials to the processing system. Mining equipment may include, but is not limited to, front -end loaders, bulldozer, dragline, water truck and dump trucks. Each stage will be mined at two or three levels. The thick- ness of each level may vary from 20 to 35 feet. Map D -1 shows mining of the first six stages completed and mining operations on the first level at Stage VII just being completed. In this Exhibit Stages VII through P are shown as not being mined. For contours after mining is completed, see map Exhibit F. Exterior permanent slopes (perimeter) will be mined and maintained at 3 to 1 so that final grading for reclamation will be reduced to only seedbed preparation and revegetation. Likewise, interior floors will be leveled to base grade as mining proceeds so that only seedbed preparation and revegetation will be necessary in the reclamation phases. Interior slopes are all temporary and will be left at the angle of repose. One exception to the interior slope being the angle of repose will be the interior sides of the screening berm which will be excavated at 3 to 1 Robertson ditch runs along the north side of Stage I and Stage XVII and along the east side of Stage XVI. The ditch elevation is approximately 5,9:68 feet at the diversion point 9 EXHIBIT D..-.(. Cont' d) ....: on the Roaring Fork River and approximately 5,966 feet down - stream at the last point where it adjoins Sievers Ranch property. Plans for extraction of the sand and gravel will reduce the eleva- tions on Sievers Ranch property to approximately a constant six feet higher than the ditch. For instance, at the ditch diversion from the river, Sievers Ranch land will have an elevation of 5,974 feet. Where the ditch leaves contact with the affected land, the elevation will be approximately 5,972 feet (see map Exhibit F). During excavation operations care will be taken to prevent any damage to the Robertson ditch by earth - moving equipment or excavated material. Since excavation will stop above the elevation of the ditch, no loss of water from the ditch will occur. The Sievers Ranch & Development Company owns approximately 9% of the Robertson ditch. The drainage of the affected land before mining is basically from west to east and south to north toward the Roaring Fork (see map Exhibit C). Because of the ditch system on the irrigated land there are some reversals of the overall pattern, but these are minor and are man-made in most cases. Drainage after excavation is complete will have the same overall pattern as it did prior to excavation. Specifically, the large drop in elevation will be along the west side of the affected lands on a 3 to 1 slope rather than a 1/2 to 1 slope at the river. The property along the river, like that along Robertson ditch, will be excavated to elevations that are 6 to 10 feet above the river bed. No significant change in the drainage from its present condition is expected. - 10 - EXHIBIT ._..D.... {Copt -'• d). Processing equipment may include, but is not limited to, crushers, screens, screw washers, sand classifiers, trommel screens and conveyors. The equipment will be operated in compliance with air pollution standards. The current pit (MLR file number 77 -98) is being operated under C.D.H. --Air Pollution Control Division- - Emission Permit No. C- 11,539(FD) dated November 16, 1977. It is expected that the pit will continue to be operated under this permit. Part of Stage P (P indicates plant) will be used during Stages II through XVII as the location of the scale house, sanitary facilities, general yard and equipment storage. During Stage I the scale house and sanitary facility will be left as they were built for the original limited impact permit. The remaining part of Stage P will be left undisturbed but will be used in the acreage count as a floating disturbed area that will cover the many location changes of the crusher system and stockpiles. For further information, see the cost of reclamation estimate in Exhibit L. The small amounts of water to be used in dust control and plant operation are highly variable since operating days, windy days, rained out, snowed out days and number of affected acres fluctuate dramatically. These small amounts of water necessary for dust control and plant operations are being supplied and will continue to be supplied from waste water by the Sievers Ranch & Development Company from water rights owned by that company. It is not expected that any significant amounts of water will be encountered during mining operations. There may be some minor EXHIBIT D (Cont'd) amounts of water in the sand and gravel during the period when the fields on the upper part of the ranch are being irrigated. There will be no discharge to the river by the mining or processing operations. No NPDES permit will be required. See Exhibit G for details. Mining Timetable. The mining stages listed below may be correlated to map Exhibit D -1. The stages correspond to the reclamation phases in Exhibits E and F and are numbered accordingly. Note that these are estimates only and that times may vary radi- cally depending on market, weather and the general ecb,nofy. Total Mined Mined Acres Stage Years Acres On Slope Total Acres I 9 to 15 17.68 2.37 18.11 II 3 to 5 5.57 -0- 5.57 III 3 to 5 4.87 -0- 4.87 IV 3 to 5 6.48 3.38 6.90 V 3 to 5 6.22 -0- 6.22 VI 3 to 5 7.07 -0- 7.07 VII 3 to 5 6.49 -0- 6.49 VIII 3 to 5 5.43 -0- 5.71 IX 3 to 5 5.49 -0- 5.66 X 3 to 5 6.09 1.40 6.09 ' XI 3 to 5 5.57 1.38 5.57 XII 3 to 5 5.70 2.07 5.70 XIII 3 to 5 6.85 4.77 6.85 XIV 3 to 5 6.13 3.32 6.13 XV 3 to 5 6.53 -0- 6.53 XVI 3 to 5 10.03 -0- 10.03 XVII 0.5 to 1.5 3.45 -0- 3.45 P 57 to 96 5.66 2.29 6.00 Totals 121.31 20.98 122.95