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1.1 Introduction <br />Oxbow Mining, LLC owns the now closed Elk Creek Mine and the closed and reclaimed <br />Sanborn Creek Mine. The surface facilities for the mines are located immediately north of the <br />town of Somerset, Colorado in Gunnison County. The Sanborn Creek Mine portals were located <br />about one mile east and the Elk Creek Mine portal is located about a half mile north of the office <br />facilities, the town of Somerset and State Highway 133. Coal from both mines had been <br />conveyed to surface facilities where storage, processing (screening and crushing) was conducted. <br />The coal was then loaded onto unit train rail cars for shipment to customers. A limited amount <br />of coal had historically been transported by highway truck from the facilities to a nearby loading <br />and crushing facility (Terror Creek Loadout) where sized coal products were provided to <br />customers. In early 2003 the Sanborn Creek mine completed mining of the last longwall panel, <br />the mining equipment was removed and the mine was sealed and the portals reclaimed. In 2015 <br />the Elk Creek Mine portals were sealed and final reclamation is ongoing. <br />The Sanborn Creek and Elk Creek Mines' surface facilities are located within the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison River drainage, which is a tributary to the Colorado River. The North Fork <br />drainage ranges in elevation from 5,550 feet to 12,000 feet and drains 1,253 square miles. The <br />average annual discharge of the North Fork of the Gunnison River at the U.S. Geological Survey <br />gauging station 2.3 miles east of Somerset is 313,300 acre feet of water, or an average discharge <br />of 457 cubic feet per second. Peak flows generally occur in May as a result of snowmelt with <br />minimum flows occurring during the winter months. <br />Surface drainage from the CDRMS permit area runs directly to the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River. One perennial, one intermittent, and eleven ephemeral creeks and gulches drain the <br />permit area. From west to east, the creeks shown on CDRMS permit drawing 2.04-M6 are <br />known as: <br />Hubbard Creek <br />Perennial <br />Bear Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Elk Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Sanborn Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Unnamed Drainage <br />Ephemeral <br />Coal Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />A -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />B -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />C -Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />Hawksnest Creek <br />Ephemeral <br />Hoopla Gulch <br />Ephemeral <br />Bardine Canyon <br />Ephemeral <br />Thompson Creek <br />Intermittent <br />