2015-10-15_REVISION - C1981046 (6)

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II. Background and History of the Sunlight Mine The Sunlight Coal Mine was developed prior to 1910 by Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) in search of metallurgical coal. CF&I abandoned the property when the coal was determined to be other than metallurgical. There have been numerous owner -operators over the years, the last being the Garfield Energy Corporation (GEC). All mining operations have been conducted from the same portal location and have used an incline driven down the dip of the "D" seam of coal for access and haulage. All mining operations have been room and pillar with haulage ways driven on strike, and the coal seam mined up the dip of the coal seam (42 degrees). GEC obtained a permit from the Mined Land Reclamation Board on October 23, 1982. The permit area encompassed roughly 180 acres, where 5.24 acres of surface were disturbed and 7.31 acres were affected (surface disturbance plus under -mined areas). Surface mining activities of the Sunlight Mine disturbed two areas adjacent to, and located on the north and south sides of, Garfield County Road 117 (GCR 117), and a small area of disturbance further to the north. Mining -related features that were in use at the time the permit was issued, and were subsequently in use as approved by the permit, included two portals (one below and one above GCR 117, both now sealed and reclaimed), an air shaft (now closed) approximately 0.2 mile north of the road, two sediment ponds (one reclaimed), an upland diversion ditch (above the road), an equipment disposal area (now reclaimed), and a facilities area (now reclaimed). Pre -law disturbances that were not incorporated into permitted operations include two small settlement features (0.05 mile north of the road), coal mine waste along Fourmile Creek, and a coal mine waste pile above the road. Reclamation of these pre -law items was accomplished under the Division's Inactive Mines Reclamation Program (IMRP). The closed airshaft and the two settlement features have been noted by IMRP. III. Reclamation Funding The Division issued a show cause order to GEC on March 4, 1987. GEC was `ordered to show cause' why the permit should not be suspended or revoked based on a pattern of violations. The MLRB minutes of April 22, 1987 state that the operator was contacted on several occasions but no response was received. The permit was revoked and the bond in the amount of $11,800.00 was forfeited on April 22, 1987. Additional reclamation performed at the mine site in 1994, 1999 and 2003 was funded by state severance taxes paid in part by producing coal mines in Colorado and utilized by the Inactive Mine Reclamation Program (IMRP). The Sunlight Mine is a permit-revocation/bond forfeiture site. The entire amount of forfeited reclamation bond has been used for reclamation of the site. No surplus money is available for return F