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Elk Creek Mine (C-1981-022) MT-8 <br /> to dewater only half of the longwall panel in question and stabilize the water level in the mine <br /> thereafter. The longwall restarted operations at the beginning of November 1999. <br /> In anticipation of mining out the Sanborn Creek Mine B seam reserves, Oxbow Mining, Inc. submitted, <br /> on November 6, 1998, a revision to begin construction of the new Elk Creek Mine. Technical Revision <br /> No. 32 sought Division approval to construct the new portals and their associated surface facilities, <br /> and to begin mining of private coal at this new mine. The construction proposed in TR-32 increased <br /> the disturbed area by 23.7 acres north of the main Sanborn Creek Mine facilities, along the west side <br /> of Elk Creek, and included two temporary fills over Elk Creek. Fill material was placed within the <br /> channel of Elk Creek and the creek flow was diverted through two nine-foot diameter culverts buried <br /> by the two fills. Oxbow Mining submitted a geotechnical stability analysis demonstrating that the two <br /> fills in Elk Creek would be stable. The activities proposed in TR-32 required specific authorization by <br /> the Division in accordance with Rule 4.05.4(4), Stream Channel Diversions (Relocation of Streams) <br /> and Stream Channel Reconstruction, and Rule 4.05.18, Stream Buffer Zones. Therefore, the Division <br /> made the finding that the original stream channel will be reconstructed at the completion of mining, <br /> the water quantity and quality from the stream section within 100 feet of the surface coal mining <br /> operations will not be adversely affected during and after mining, and that appropriate riparian <br /> vegetation will be reestablished. TR-32 was approved in July 2000. <br /> Permit Revision No. 5 required a mine plan approval from the US Office of Surface Mining and <br /> Reclamation, to cover activities in the Elk Creek tract which was received on May 13, 2003. This Elk <br /> Creek operation ramps down from the floor of the Elk Creek Canyon into the D-seam. Development <br /> mining had already been approved at the time of the permit revision; longwall mining into the Elk <br /> Creek tract was approved by the revision and by the federal mine plan approval. <br /> Mining ceased in the Sanborn Creek Mine in the spring of 2003. Oxbow Mining, LLC began <br /> immediately to reclaim the Sanborn Creek facilities. The conveyer was dismantled and removed in <br /> the summer of 2003, the portals were sealed and regraded, and the Sanborn Creek fan shaft was <br /> backfilled. <br /> In January 2013, the Elk Creek Mine was evacuated due to the detection of gasses which indicated a <br /> heating activity behind the longwall operation. Inert gasses were injected into the mine workings <br /> behind temporary mine seals to extinguish the heating event. During this time, all mine dewater <br /> pumps were shut down for safety reasons. Water continued to accumulate in the workings until it <br /> reached a level that prevented proper ventilation and longwall recovery efforts. Two mine dewater <br /> wells were approved in Minor Revision No.'s 104 and 105 to pump out the mine workings. Shortly <br /> after the mine was re-entered in August 2013, mine gas monitoring indicated that the heating event <br /> was not extinguished and had re-ignited. The mine was then re-sealed and the longwall miner was <br /> abandoned in panel 18. <br /> In August 2015, OMLLC submitted Technical Revision No.76 (TR-76) in order to change the post- <br /> mining land use and post-mining topography at several locations within the mine's disturbed area. <br /> Page 10 of 22 <br />