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Power to the mine is supplied via existing lines of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association. <br /> Power is stepped down at a substation in the main mine facilities area for powering underground <br /> operations and the surface facilities. <br /> Ventilation in the mine is provided by a fan in Sylvester Gulch (PR-7), and a vent shaft in Deer <br /> Creek,just to the east of Minnesota Reservoir JR-109), as well as numerous Mine Ventilation <br /> Boreholes (MVBs) which are constructed in advance of mining and are operated so as to control <br /> the partial pressure of methane in the air inside the mine. Between 1995 and 2001 ventilation to <br /> the B-seam workings was provided by the Lone Pine Fan. Mining ceased in the Lone Pine <br /> portion of the mine in early 2001 and the workings served by the fan portal were sealed off <br /> underground. The Lone Pine Portals were sealed in 2001 (TR-93). <br /> MCC occasionally uses a relatively small quantity of explosives for blasting for underground <br /> construction. The explosives are stored in an explosives magazine located in the main facilities <br /> area of the mine. <br /> The West Elk Mine portals are located at an approximate elevation of 6,450 feet. Run-of-mine <br /> coal is transported from the production panels to the various surface facilities by a system of belt <br /> conveyors. A conveyor carries coal from inside the mine portal to the stacking tubes. From the <br /> stacking tubes, an underground conveyor reclaim system transports the coal to the two crushers. <br /> A conveyor then moves the coal from the crushers to the two storage silos. A stacktube located <br /> to the east of the silos provides additional storage for product coal. A loadout conveyor carries <br /> coal from the storage silos to the over-the-track loadout. A portion of this conveyor is <br /> completely enclosed where it crosses the North Fork of the Gunnison River and Highway 133. <br /> Coal is shipped from the West Elk Mine mainly by rail, although some coal is either trucked <br /> from the mine or is transferred to various handling or stockpile facilities on the mine site. <br /> Coal mine waste at the mine is generated during underground construction activities and mining. <br /> Other sources of coal mine waste are contaminated coal spillage, material cleaned out of <br /> sediment ponds, and soils contaminated with non-hazardous materials. These other sources of <br /> waste comprise only a small portion of the coal mine waste produced at the mine. Coal mine <br /> waste is currently being processed in a plant that MCC constructed on the Lower Refuse Pile <br /> (LRP). The processing plant and an adjacent coal stockpile and laboratory were approved in TR- <br /> 118. The refuse generated by the processing plant was initially disposed of in a permanent coal <br /> mine waste pile called the Refuse Pile Expansion area (RPE). This is a 20 acre site to the east of <br /> the LRP, and is east of Sylvester Gulch. The level area on top of the RPE is used as an <br /> equipment lay down area and the slopes have been topsoiled and seeded. As the RPE neared its <br /> design capacity, a new refuse pile, the Refuse Pile Expansion East (RPEE)was approved for <br /> construction with TR-120 (and re-designed with TR-127 and TR-133), in the drainage <br /> immediately east of the RPE. Material is transported to and from the RPEE by haul truck. An <br /> Upper Refuse Disposal Area has also been approved for construction, but has not been built. <br /> Although MCC has verbally indicated this pile will not be needed, Stipulation#7 requires MCC <br /> to complete a geotechnical investigation prior to constructing the pile. <br /> Surface runoff from the disturbed area is treated by six ponds (MB-3, MB-4, MB-5E,NSSA, <br /> RPE pond, and SG-1) and a number of small area exemptions (SAEs), two additional ponds <br /> (FW-1 and FW-2) are used for water storage. Surface water and sediment control structures are <br /> 26 <br />