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Summary
<br />The Review Process
<br />The New Elk Mine was previously known as the Allen Mine, which began operations in 1951.
<br />The New Elk Mine operated under an interim permit issued by the Colorado Mined Land
<br />Reclamation Division (previous name of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety) on
<br />January 25, 1978, pursuant to the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act. CF&I Steel
<br />Corporation, the previous owners, submitted an application for a new permit on February 4,
<br />1981, pursuant to Section 34-33-109 of the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act.
<br />The Division reviewed that application and a proposed decision was issued on December 19,
<br />1983.
<br />The New Elk mine permit has been transferred on four occasions. Permit rights were transferred
<br />from CF&I Steel Corporation to Wyoming Fuel Company on January 31, 1984. Permit rights
<br />were transferred from Wyoming Fuel Company to Basin Resources, Inc. (BRI) on March 29,
<br />1993 (SO -01). In April 1997, permit rights were transferred from BRI to Picketwire Processing,
<br />LLC (SO -02). And finally, the permit was transferred from Picketwire Processing, LLC to
<br />NECC on March 19, 2007 (SO -03). In March 2010, NECC provided information that Cline
<br />Mining Corporation had purchased NECC (MR -91). NECC provided notification that NECC
<br />would continue as the permittee, but TK Mining Services LLC, would be the mine operator
<br />(MR -98 approved November 2011). TK Mining Services, LLC, was removed as mine operator,
<br />and NECC resumed its status as mine operator (MR -108 approved March 2012).
<br />This is the sixth renewal of the permit since it was originally issued. In accordance with Rule
<br />2.08.5, the Division notified NECC on May 29, 2013 of the permittee's need to submit a
<br />complete application for permit renewal by August 30, 2013. The permit renewal application
<br />was received by the Division on August 26, 2013 from NECC. On August 30, 2013, the
<br />Division called the application complete, and notifications of the filing of a complete application
<br />for a permit renewal were sent to the applicant, Las Animas County Planning, Las Animas
<br />County Commissioners, the Colorado Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, Colorado
<br />Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
<br />NECC published notice of the application for renewal once a week for four weeks in The
<br />Chronicle -News beginning on March 17 and ending April 7, 2017. No public comments were
<br />received as a result of the public notice, and no issues were raised as a result of agency
<br />notification letters. Individuals from Colorado Parks and Wildlife as well as the Office of
<br />Archaeology and Historic Preservation wrote letters to say that those agencies did not object to
<br />the proposed renewal of the New Elk Mine permit.
<br />The Division forwarded adequacy concerns to NECC on the following dates: 29 October 2013,
<br />25 November 2015, 11 February 2016, 23 June, 2016, and 7 September 2016. NECC responses
<br />were received by DRMS on the following dates: 20 May 2016 (two separate letters), 24 June
<br />2016, 15 August 2016, 14 October 2016, 28 October 2016, and 8 February 2017. At the time of
<br />the writing of these findings, all adequacy concerns were addressed to the satisfaction of the
<br />Division.
<br />New Elk Mine
<br />Findings for RN -06, May 11, 2017
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