Excavation and Reclamation, Side-by-Side

As we’ve noted in previous posts, we’ve planned for two operations underway simultaneously, side-by-side, at our south Seven Devils site—excavation and reclamation. That’s just what’s happening at the approximately three-acre parcel we have worked to this point.

So far it’s about 50-50 excavation and reclamation. At the excavation side, the dig has ranged from about 6 feet to 30 feet at the deepest. The tailings have been scooped up and trucked off to the separating plant, where the minerals are separated by gravity and magnets.

Concurrently, at the other end of the site, the reclamation is underway. While one side is scooping materials out of the ground to be trucked to the plant, the “non-economic” materials, in geology-speak, are being returned to where they came from. That means the quartz ,feldspar, and all the heavy minerals with no value other than as part of the in-fill are trucked back “home” and, with the help of bulldozers and a conveyor, are mixed in with the leftover pebbles, rocks and cobbles and the clay.

It’s not rocket science, but reclamation is a good, environmentally and ecologically sound operation that is more precise than it sounds.  The ground needs to be graded and returned to its original topography, meaning we put back in any conveyances, troughs or streams where they were originally located. We want all the water running in the same direction as it was.

RECENT RECLAMATION

To be sure we have it right a surveyor is on site, telling us it should be two feet here or eight feet there. The idea is to have all the water running in the same direction on the surface.

Any topsoil that was stored prior to mining is placed on top of the graded surface.

Then there is erosion control. You can’t just leave the site full of mud. We are using a natural form of erosion control—a grass mix that is seeded into the site.

Finally, we return what we call the “slash,” a term for all the stumps, snags, rhododendron plants and brush that was pushed off to the side of the site when it was excavated. We disperse it around the site per the landowners request because it adds nutrients for the trees, which will be replanted as the final step.