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Elk Creek Mine (C-1981-022) MT- 7 <br />The Sanborn Creek addition was located approximately one mile east of the town of Somerset. Initially, <br />this part of the mine was developed and mined using conventional room and pillar techniques with the <br />same conventional equipment as previously discussed, except that conveyors were used in place of rail <br />cars. Annual production of this part of the mine was projected to be about 750,000 tons per year. Upon <br />opening the portals, coal was first trucked to the tipple at the Elk Creek yard. A conveyor system was <br />built while developing the first part of the Sanborn Creek addition. The conveyor system was used <br />instead of haul trucks to convey coal from the Sanborn Creek portals to the tipple at the Elk Creek yard. <br />The Sanborn Creek East Tract and the East Tract modification, are located adjacent to the original <br />Sanborn Creek addition on the eastern boundary and is an underground continuation of the Sanborn <br />workings. No additional surface disturbance was required. Method of operations and production rate <br />projections remained the same. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 24 on February 15, 1995, the coal production level at the <br />mine was increased to 1.3 million tons per year. The production level at the loadout was increased to <br />1.6 million tons per year. The mine plan was also changed to accommodate the increase in production. <br />Continuous mining was still the mining method used. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 29 on July 15, 1997, Oxbow Mining, Inc began longwall <br />mining. The anticipated annual coal production was increased from 1.3 million tons per year to 4 million <br />tons per year. To handle this increase in production, the revision also approved Oxbow Mining's plans <br />to improve the coal handling facilities, increase the coal stockpile size, construct a new coal waste <br />disposal site, move existing or build new support facilities and modify the train loadout for the new <br />production rate. <br />The West Valley Fill coal refuse area was permitted through Technical Revision No. 29 for use when <br />the East Yard waste pile was filled to capacity. The operator began using the West Valley Fill coal <br />refuse area during the third quarter of 2000. TR -43 approved the new II West Coal Refuse Facility in <br />October 2003. <br />On January 26, 1999, Oxbow Mining evacuated the Sanborn Creek Mine due to elevated levels of carbon <br />monoxide. The concern was that the elevated levels may have indicated a mine fire. The Mine Safety <br />and Health Administration (MSHA) and the DMG were notified. Emergency measures were taken to <br />seal the mine openings. Two days after the sealing of the mine openings, there was an explosion in the <br />mine, presumably due to a buildup of methane. MSHA directed Oxbow Mining to drill emergency <br />boreholes into the mine, for water injection and for gas monitoring. In February of 1999, Oxbow Mining <br />pumped about 88 acre-feet of water from the North Fork of the Gunnison River through one of the <br />emergency boreholes, into the Sanborn Creek Mine in the longwall area where the spontaneous <br />combustion event was suspected of being located. <br />In April of 1999, Oxbow Mining concluded that additional inflow was coming into the mine and might <br />flood the longwall equipment. The source of the additional inflow was not known but the approximate <br />rate of inflow was about 200 gpm. With Division approval through Technical Revision No. 34, Oxbow <br />pumped out mine water into the North Fork of the Gunnison at a rate of about 2000 gpm. The pumping <br />Page 8 of 14 <br />