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at the mine was increased to 1.3 million tons per year. The production level at the loadout was <br />increased to 1.6 million tons per year. The mine plan was also changed to accommodate the <br />increase in production. Continuous mining was still the mining method used. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 29 on July 15, 1997, Oxbow Mining, Inc started the <br />longwall mining method. The anticipated annual coal production was increased from 1.3 million <br />tons per year to 4 million tons per year. To handle this increase in production, the revision also <br />approved Oxbow Mining's plans to improve the coal handling facilities, increase the coal <br />stockpile size, construct a new coal waste disposal site, move existing or build new support <br />facilities and modify the train loadout for the new production rate. <br />The West Valley Fill coal refuse area was permitted through Technical Revision No. 29 for use <br />when the East Yard waste pile was filled to capacity. The operator began using the West Valley <br />Fill coal refuse area during the third quarter of 2000. TR -43 approved the new 11 West Coal <br />Refuse Facility in October 2003. <br />On January 26, 1999, Oxbow Mining evacuated the Sanborn Creek Mine due to elevated levels <br />of carbon monoxide. The concern was that the elevated levels may have indicated a mine fire. <br />The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the DMG were notified. Emergency <br />measures were taken to seal the mine openings. Two days after the sealing of the mine openings, <br />there was an explosion in the mine, presumably due to a buildup of methane. MSHA directed <br />Oxbow Mining to drill emergency boreholes into the mine, for water injection and for gas <br />monitoring. In February of 1999, Oxbow Mining pumped about 88 acre -feet of water from the <br />North Fork of the Gunnison River through one of the emergency boreholes, into the Sanborn <br />Creek Mine in the longwall area where the spontaneous combustion event was suspected of <br />being located. <br />In April of 1999, Oxbow Mining concluded that additional inflow was coming into the mine and <br />might flood the longwall equipment. The source of the additional inflow was not known but the <br />approximate rate of inflow was about 200 gpm. With Division approval through Technical <br />Revision No. 34, Oxbow pumped out mine water into the North Fork of the Gunnison at a rate of <br />about 2000 gpm. The pumping occurred from July 1999 to the first week of October 1999. The <br />operator decided to dewater only half of the longwall panel in question and stabilize the water <br />level in the mine thereafter. The longwall restarted operations at the beginning of November <br />1999. <br />In anticipation of mining out the Sanborn Creek Mine B seam reserves, Oxbow Mining, Inc. <br />submitted, on November 6, 1998, a revision to begin construction of the new Elk Creek Mine. <br />Technical Revision No. 32 sought Division approval to construct the new portals and their <br />associated surface facilities, and to begin mining of private coal at this new mine. The <br />construction proposed in TR -32 increased the disturbed area by 23.7 acres north of the main <br />Sanborn Creek Mine facilities, along the west side of Elk Creek. TR -32 was approved in July <br />2000. <br />In TR -32, Oxbow Mining proposed to construct two temporary fills over Elk Creek. Fill <br />material was placed within the channel of Elk Creek and the creek flow was diverted through <br />two nine -foot diameter culverts buried by the two fills. Oxbow Mining submitted a geotechnical <br />10 <br />