Selective Placement of Coal Stripmine Overburden in Montana. III. Spoil Mixing Phenomena

摘要

An overburden handling dragline operation was conducted at a strip mine near Colstrip, Mont. The objective of the demonstration was to determine the degree a dragline could mix overburden inhibitory zones during the spoiling process. To quantify the mixing process the overburden was (1) scatter spoiled, (2) dump spoiled, and (3) spoiled in a normal manner. This demonstration was part of an effort to investigate means of reestablishing nonpolluted hydrological systems in areas where surface mining directly impacts shallow ground-water resources.