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Mine Site Inspection <br />Mine Name: Deserado Mine <br />Permittee: Blue Mountain Energy, Inc <br />Permit ID #: C -1981 -018 <br />Inspection Date: 04/23/2015 <br />Time: 10:00 am — 2:35 pm <br />Inspection Type: Coal Partial & Methane Gob Vent Borehole Topic Specific Evaluation <br />Weather Conditions: Warm, building clouds, light afternoon showers. <br />Participants: <br />Christine Belka, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement <br />(OSMRE) #182 <br />Scott Wanstedt, Blue Mountain Energy, Inc (BME) <br />Tom Medlin, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) <br />Zach Trujillo, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety (DBMS) <br />Background: <br />This partial oversight inspection was conducted in conjunction with a topic specific <br />evaluation of methane degas boreholes. The purpose of the topic specific evaluation is <br />to determine whether DRMS is effectively implementing its approved program by <br />ensuring that reclamation of methane drainage boreholes is successful and offsite <br />impacts are prevented at borehole locations in accordance with applicable rules. The <br />results of those evaluations appear in separate reports. The particular rules evaluated <br />here include Colorado Rules 4.02, 4.05.5, 4.06, and 4.07. <br />Deserado Mine is an active, underground, longwall coal mine, currently at work on the <br />B -seam. All run -of -mine (ROM) coal mined at Deserado is processed at the surface <br />facilities onsite and shipped directly to the Bonanza Power Plant in Utah. The mine has <br />recently constructed a dewatering system for the B -seam workings that functions as an <br />artificial wetlands for passive water treatment. Gob vent boreholes (GVB)s typically <br />have a two to three -year lifespan at this mine before being reclaimed. Each is drilled <br />prior to mining advance, stopping approximately 40 feet above the coal seam, and <br />subsiding as the longwall miner passes underneath. The Deserado Mine also <br />periodically drills down to their current longwall workings to allow for nitrogen injection <br />as a fire prevention measure. <br />Inspection: <br />Prior to and following the field evaluation, the Team reviewed recent DRMS inspection <br />reports and permit documents pertaining to GVBs at Deserado Mine. Recent DRMS <br />inspection reports indicated no maintenance items related to GVBs and no enforcement <br />actions taken or pending. <br />. ........... ............................... . <br />1 Page <br />