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<br />Mountain Coal Company
<br />April 22, 2016
<br />Mr. Leigh Simmons
<br />Colorado Department of Natural Resources
<br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety
<br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215
<br />Denver, CO 80203
<br />Rec,e j j,Ep
<br />APR 2 7 2016
<br />DlwslON OF
<br />MININ6AND CT/ON
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<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 />jloveland(u�archcoal.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, Monitoring and Mine Ventilation Borehole Pads and Roads in the Dry Fork of
<br />the Minnesota Creek Area
<br />Dear Mr. Simmons:
<br />Please find enclosed Mountain Coal Company, LLC's (MCC) application for a Phase I Bond Release. At
<br />this time, the following application does not include proof of publication of the public notice or return
<br />receipts for the delivery of the landowner letters. These will be sent subsequent to MCC receiving them.
<br />MCC requests Phase I Bond Release of $109,599, for two exploratory drill holes, two monitoring wells,
<br />and nineteen mine ventilation borehole (MVB) sites and roads that have been reclaimed within the Dry
<br />Fork of the Minnesota Creek area (see Tables I & II). These sites are located on National Forest System
<br />lands within portions of Sections 33 and 34 of Township 13 South, Range 90 West and Section 2 of
<br />Township 14 South, Range 90 West. These sites and roads were necessary for temporary mine
<br />ventilation.
<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 SUI 116159 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 site locations and roads within MCC's permit area was completed in 2015.
<br />This included the plugging and abandonment of nineteen boreholes, as well as backfilling and regrading
<br />their associated drill pad locations and access roads. The sites and roads proposed for bond release have
<br />been revegetated and stabilized using various methods of seeding, fertilizing, mulching and
<br />installation/application of straw mulch erosion control blankets. Approximately 9.97 acres have received
<br />these treatments.
<br />As agreed to in email correspondence dated January 25, 2011 (See Appendix H), MCC's Reclamation
<br />Photograph Reports of the reclaimed MVB 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
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