Reclaimed land can be far superior to the natural land. In Fairbanks where water giants were used to clear 100 feet of frozen muck and then the floating dredges used to scoop gravel, the gravel left behind provides the most stable building surfaces around here. While modern mining requires settling ponds and dams and looks sweet only to engineers, when it is all over the land is much improved and has actual positive value.
No question about it. The land we mined and reclaimed produced a better crop, had better drainage, was terraced with ponds at the low corners (not last cut impoundments which are awful) and was worth more per acre. The land owner received a royalty on his coal and got his land back in superior condition. The federal surface mine law overreached in many areas but was generally beneficial.