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The general area in which the Elk Creek Mine is located is characterized by steeply sloping <br /> mountains covered either with tall shrub vegetation dominated by oakbrush and serviceberry, or <br /> stands of pinyon and juniper trees. Drainages in the area are lined with riparian vegetation <br /> communities along the stream banks. Some of the more level areas have been cleared and <br /> support limited livestock grazing; however, the surrounding land is generally undeveloped and is <br /> used primarily as wildlife habitat. Recreational activities such as big game hunting, trapping, <br /> fishing, and off road driving also occur in the general area. <br /> The Elk Creek portal facilities are approximately a half of a mile up the Elk Creek canyon from <br /> the town of Somerset and are located at the contact of the alluvium of the North Fork and steep <br /> upland sedimentary formations. <br /> The Sanborn Creek Tract portal facilities were just east of Sanborn Creek or approximately one <br /> mile east of the town of Somerset. <br /> Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br /> The Somerset and Sanborn Creek Mines, now the Elk Creek Mine, were in operation from 1902 <br /> to 2013. Operations evolved from the earlier hand method of mining, to continuous mining <br /> methods, and, finally, to longwall mining. <br /> The conventional room and pillar mining system used continuous miners, shuttle cars, conveyors <br /> and/or rail cars. All coal was transported to the surface using rail cars. Approximately 12 to 14 <br /> feet of the B seam were mined in the development and retreat cycle. Annual production in the <br /> mine was approximately 900,000 tons per year. <br /> Once at the surface, the rail cars dumped the coal at the dump station where it was conveyed to <br /> the coal tipple. The coal was crushed at the tipple and conveyed to the coal storage silo. The <br /> silo, a cylindrical cement structure, straddled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad track <br /> and was used to load unit trains. <br /> The Sanborn Creek addition was located approximately one mile east of the town of Somerset. <br /> Initially, this portion of the mine was developed and mined using conventional room and pillar <br /> techniques with the same conventional equipment as previously discussed, except that conveyors <br /> were used in place of rail cars. Annual production of this addition of the mine was projected to <br /> be approximately 750,000 tons per year. Upon opening the portals, coal was first trucked to the <br /> tipple at the Elk Creek yard. A conveyor system was constructed while developing the first part <br /> of the Sanborn Creek addition. The conveyor system was used instead of haul trucks to convey <br /> 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 <br /> original Sanborn Creek addition on the eastern boundary and is an underground continuation of <br /> the Sanborn workings. No additional surface disturbance was required. Method of operations <br /> and production rate projections remained the same. <br /> With the approval of Technical Revision No. 24 (TR-24) on February 15, 1995, the coal <br /> 7 <br />