312 IAC 25-6-49 Surface mining; backfilling and grading; timing limitations

Sec. 49. (a) Except as otherwise approved by the director in the approved permit or as provided in subsections (b) and (c), backfilling and grading shall be accomplished as follows: (1) In mining operations in which overburden removal is accomplished primarily by a dragline, shovel, or similar excavating machine that deposits the overburden into spoil ridges, within one hundred eighty (180) days of deposition, provided that no more than four (4) spoil ridges remain at any one (1) time. (2) For direct haul-back operations, where spoil is excavated from an advancing pit and hauled back, dumped, and graded into an inactive pit as one (1) operation, rough backfilling and grading shall be carried out continuously behind the pit or pits being worked. At no time shall there be more than four (4) open pits. (3) For operations that do not use a dragline or shovel for spoil removal and do not employ the direct haul-back method of operation, rough backfilling and grading of spoil shall be completed within one hundred eighty (180) days after it is deposited, and no more than four (4) pits shall be open at any one (1) time. (4) For all operations, rough backfilling and grading of boxcut or excess spoil shall be completed within one (1) year after it is deposited. The director may grant additional time if the permittee can demonstrate, in writing, that additional time is necessary. (b) The director may extend the timing limitations of subsection (a) by the duration of any temporary cessation of mining operations for which the permittee files the notice required by section 62(b) of this rule. (c) The director may grant variances to the limitations of subsection (a) for good cause.