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��Am <br />Mountain Coal Company <br />April 23, 2014 RECEIVED <br />Mr. James R. Stark <br />Colorado Department of Natural Resources ApR 3 0 2014 <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 Division of Reclamation, <br />Denver, CO 80203 Mining & Safety <br />Mountain Coal Company, LLC <br />West Elk Mine <br />P.O. Box 591 <br />Somerset, CO 81434 <br />Jessica A. Loveland, P.E. <br />Environmental Engineer <br />jlovelandCcDarchcoal.com <br />phone: 970.929.2308 <br />Re: Mountain Coal Company, LLC, West Elk Mine; Permit No. CO -80 -007; Request for Phase I Bond <br />Release of Exploration and Methane Drainage Well Pads and Roads in the West Flatiron and the Dry <br />Fork of Minnesota Creek Areas <br />Dear Mr. Stark: <br />Please find enclosed Mountain Coal Company, LLC's (MCC) application for a Phase I Bond Release. At <br />this time the following the application does not include proof of publication of the public notice or return <br />receipts for the delivery of the landowner letters at this time. These will be sent subsequent to MCC <br />receiving them. <br />Mountain Coal Company, LLC (MCC) requests Phase I Bond Release of $97,871.40 for methane <br />drainage wells (MDW), exploration sites and roads that have been reclaimed within the West Flatiron and <br />the Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek areas (see Table I & II). These sites are located within the National <br />Forest System lands and within portions of Sections 14, 23 and 43 of Township 13 South, Range 90 West. <br />These drill sites and roads were necessary for both coal exploration and mine methane drainage. <br />MCC's mining and reclamation permit was originally issued by the CDRMS in July 1981, and was reissued <br />August 1986, January 1993 (effective August 1991), July 1996, July 2001, July 2006 and July 2011. The <br />current five -year permit term expires July 31, 2016. MCC's five -year permit area contains lands in Sections 9- <br />11, 13 -36, T13S, R90W, 6th PM; and Sections 23 -26, T13S, R91W, 6th PM, and Sections 1 -5 , 8 -12, T14S, <br />R90W, 6th PM in Delta and Gunnison Counties. The location of the lands can be found on the USGS 7.5 <br />minute Somerset and Minnesota Pass quadrangle topographic maps. The current permit area encompasses <br />approximately 17,154.9 acres. <br />MCC holds reclamation surety bonds from Arch Insurance Company and Bond Safeguard Insurance <br />Company (Bond numbers SU1116159 and 5010562, respectively) totaling $15 million. The reclamation <br />cost estimates for the reclaimed sites that are part of this request are covered by these bonds. <br />Reclamation of the various drill site locations and roads within MCC's permit was completed in 2013. <br />This included the plugging and abandonment of twenty two drill holes, as well as backfilling and <br />regrading their associated drill pad locations and access roads. The sites and roads proposed for bond <br />release have been revegetated and stabilized using various methods of seeding, fertilizing, mulching and <br />installation/application of straw and matting blankets. Approximately 19.23 acres have received these <br />treatments. <br />As agreed to in email correspondence (See Appendix H) dated January 25, 2011, MCC's Reclamation <br />Photograph Reports of the reclaimed MDW sites and associated roads are sufficient for documenting that <br />all facilities have been removed from each site and the sites have been regraded to approximate original <br />contour. Therefore, drawings showing cross - sections of the backfilled and graded areas, drainage control <br />facilities and the as -built reclamation have not been submitted with this request. The Reclamation <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />