Laserfiche WebLink
1.1 Introduction <br />Oxbow Mining, LLC operates the now idled Elk Creek Mine and the closed and reclaimed <br />Sanborn Creek Mine. The surface facilities for the mines are located immediately north of the <br />town of Somerset, Colorado in Gunnison County. The Sanborn Creek Mine portals were located <br />about one mile east and the Elk Creek Mine portal is located about a half mile north of the mine <br />facilities, the town of Somerset and State Highway 133. Coal from both mines was conveyed to <br />the surface facilities where storage, processing (screening and crushing) is conducted. (In early <br />2003 the Sanborn Creek mine completed mining of the last longwall panel, the mining <br />equipment was removed and the mine was sealed and the portals reclaimed) The coal is then <br />loaded onto unit train rail cars for shipment to customers. A limited amount of coal had <br />historically been transported by highway truck from the facilities to a nearby loading and <br />crushing facility (Terror Creek Loadout) where sized coal products were provided to customers. <br />The remaining coal stockpile from the idled Elk Creek Mine was transported to Bowie Resources <br />or the Arch West Elk Mine. <br />The Sanborn Creek and Elk Creek Mines' surface facilities are located within the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison River drainage, which is a tributary to the Colorado River. The North Fork <br />drainage ranges in elevation from 5,550 feet to 12,000 feet and drains 1,253 square miles. The <br />average annual discharge of the North Fork of the Gunnison River at the U.S. Geological Survey <br />gauging station 2.3 miles east of Somerset is 313,300 acre feet of water, or an average discharge <br />of 457 cubic feet per second. Peak flows generally occur in May as a result of snowmelt with <br />minimum flows occurring during the winter months. <br />Surface drainage from the CDRMS permit area runs directly to the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River. One perennial, one intermittent, and eleven ephemeral creeks and gulches drain the <br />permit area. From west to east, the creeks shown on CDRMS permit drawing 2.04 -M6 are <br />known as: <br />Hubbard Creek <br />Perennial <br />Bear Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Elk Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Sanborn Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Unnamed Drainage <br />Ephemeral <br />Coal Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />A -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />B -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />C -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />Hawksnest Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Hoopla Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />Bardine Canyon <br />Ephemeral <br />Thompson Creek <br />Intermittent <br />