A major challenge of open pit mine operations is to efficiently dump the overburden waste material in a cost effective way. The traditional approach is to pile the overburden material in a large pyramid shaped “dump”. The advantages…
Summary of Some Land Surface and Water Quality Monioring ResultsModern mining methods can drastically change landforms in the project area. Traditional reclamation grading methods often do not address all the criteria that must be met for the desired post-mining land use including water quality standards, in-stream uses, vegetation diversity and other reclamation criteria. Inability to [...]
Geomorphic Reclamation in New Mexico – Regulators PerspectiveEach of New Mexico’s active coal mines has reclamation challenges that are being successfully resolved through the application of geomorphic grading methods. At the San Juan Mine, the soils and overburden material are of poor quality, and it is not uncommon for the mine to receive less than [...]
Importance of Fluvial Geomorphic Landform characteristicsThe fluvial geomorphic approach to designing landforms that are stable against erosion and promote sustainable land development, requires that essential landform characteristics are incorporated into the landform and that the characteristics are correctly inter-related for proper function. The GeoFluvTM approach to landform design uses measurements of these essential landform characteristics [...]
A surface coal mine in southwest Wyoming designed and regraded 100 acres in 2006 using the Natural Regrade software with the GeoFluvTM design approach. Most of the spoil grading was done with a walking dragline. Final contours were completed with dozers.
