2020-10-22_PERMIT FILE - C1981012A (4)

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42 Map 11, Surface Facilities and Roads- East Portal. Future operations at the New Elk are dependent on re -opening of the New Elk underground mine. When the New Elk mine is in operation, coal is conveyed to the transfer house where it can either go to the 13,000 -ton silos for shipment as raw coal or to the raw coal stockpile. At the raw coal stockpile, coal is dropped through the stacking tube into the reclaim tunnel and conveyed into the preparation plant for processing. From the prep plant, refuse is conveyed to the disposal area and coal is conveyed to the clean coal stockpile. Clean coal is dropped through the stacking tube into the reclaim tunnel and conveyed to the transfer house and to the 13,000 -ton silos for shipment. During past operations, coal was unloaded at the raw coal surge stockpile. This was a 50,000 -ton stockpile (Map 11) north of the Purgatoire River. Coal was loaded and conveyed from this point to the New Elk raw coal storage area. This area is now occupied by DWDA #2 and is no longer a coal storage area. The operator constructed a coal preparation facility at the New Elk site. This site was selected because of the proximity to the 13,000 -ton silos. The plant was initially designed and constructed to process approximately 400 tons/hour of raw coal feed which will produce approximately 300 tons/hour of clean coal product. In the future, the plant can be expanded to 800 to 1,000 tons/hour feed capacity. All material handling and stockpiles have been sized for this larger capacity so that the expansion should only include modifications to the plant itself. The proposed life of the plant is in excess of 20 years. Map 11, Surface Facilities and Roads - East Portal, shows the site plan and additional surface disturbance area for the New Elk Coal Preparation Plant and facilities. These new facilities include: 1. New Elk raw coal stockpile - construction complete 2. Coal preparation plant - construction complete 3. Thickener - construction complete 4. Clean coal storage pile - construction complete 5. Refuse disposal area - construction begun, on-going development 6. Coal Stockpile - construction complete. To allow adequate room for coal storage and plant construction and expansion, it was necessary to move the channel of the Middle Fork of the Purgatoire River approximately 60 feet north for a distance of approximately 580 feet. The channel relocation was the minimum acceptable for required operations space requirements. As shown on Map 11, Surface Facilities and Roads - East Portal, fine and coarse refuse from the plant will be transported by belt over Highway 12 to the refuse site in a valley fill immediately north of the highway. Refuse will be discharged at a rate of approximately 100 tons/hour, increasing to about 200 tons/hour when the plant is expanded. Conveyors have been built with spill plates below the belt to catch any spillage at the highway and river crossings. As the refuse disposal area is expanded, additional conveyors will be constructed to carry refuse to subsequent lifts. A detailed description of the refuse disposal area is presented below. Section 2.05 RN -6 10/17/2016