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Coal produced by National King Coal is trucked to markets in New <br />Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. This is done utilizing the services <br />of thirty -ton trucks provided by three major and several <br />independent operators. These trucks are operated by a force of <br />approximately 28 drivers. Coal is hauled traveling from County <br />Road 120 east of the King Coal mine site and Colorado State Highway <br />140 south of Hay Gulch on to regional markets. The mine also <br />supplies coal for residential heating to local customers who pick it up in <br />their own trucks or have it delivered to their homes. <br />II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ALTERNATIVES <br />Alternative 1 - Proposed Action <br />The proposed action is to issue coal lease COC 62920 which contains approximately <br />1,304.51 acres of coal bed 1 reserves. The estimated recoverable coal reserves for coal bed <br />1 within the lease application area is 7.05 M tons (5,209 tons per total tract acre). This <br />proposed lease application area would be mined as an expansion of the existing National King <br />Coal mine. This would add about 23.5 years to the life of NKC's mining operations at the <br />projected 300K ton per year production rate. Actual years of operation could last over an <br />extended time since coal production from the King Coal mine logical mining unit (LMU - with <br />fee and federal lease reserves) could be realized in conjunction with production from the East <br />Alkali Tract at the end of the life of mine of the King Coal mine. Mining in the proposed <br />lease application area and in the adjacent LMU and leases could take approximately 30 years <br />(Mine Life). The manpower requirements will remain approximately the same at 30 to 50 <br />employees.. <br />The current surface coal handling facilities of NKC's King mine located in Hay Gulch would be <br />abandoned and reclaimed upon production from the East Alkali Tract becoming the sole <br />source of coal for the market. Before the end of the life of the King Coal mine, new surface <br />facilities would be constructed to serve the mine accessing the East Alkali Tract. These new <br />surface facilities would be constructed on a lease issued by the State of Colorado which lies <br />immediately to the south of the proposed lease area. Standard surface buildings generally <br />include a bathhouse, office building, shop, truck scale and scale house, warehouse and a <br />parking garage for mobile equipment. Coal handling facilities usually include such components <br />7 <br />