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Foidel Creek Mine C-82-056 2021 Annual Hydrology Report <br /> 1.0 INTRODUCTION <br /> The 2021 Annual Hydrology Report (AHR) presents hydrologic monitoring data collected during <br /> the 2021 water year (October 2020 — September 2021) at the Twentymile Coal, LLC's (TC's) <br /> Foidel Creek Mine. This AHR fulfills the reporting requirements under the Colorado State Division <br /> of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS) Permit No. C-82-056. <br /> 2.0 SITE LOCATION AND BACKGROUND <br /> The TC Foidel Creek Mine is located approximately 20 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, <br /> Colorado, at the south end of Twentymile Park (see Figure 1). The Foidel Creek Mne is an active <br /> underground coal mine, that encompasses roughly 15,200 acres in south Routt County. The total <br /> Life-Of-Mine permit area includes approximately 22,647 acres. The primary surface facilities, <br /> including sediment basins, coal refuse pile, coal wash plant, and loadout areas, cover about 800 <br /> acres. The mine's portals and surface facility areas are bordered on the south and southwest by <br /> strip mine spoils from the former Colorado Yampa Coal Company (CYCC). Other associated <br /> satellite TC support facilities, including borehole and ventilation pads, contribute approximately <br /> 150 acres. <br /> Surface coal mining has been conducted in the area since the 1960's. The Foidel Creek Mine is <br /> an underground longwall operation that was established in 1983. Longwall mining is a form of <br /> underground mining where a 1000-foot-long wall is mined in a single slice (typically 2-3 m thick). <br /> The block of coal being mined, known as the longwall "panel", may be on the order of 12,000 feet <br /> long. The gate road along one side of the wall is called the main gate, while the other side is <br /> called the tail gate. The end of the block that includes the longwall equipment is called the "face". <br /> Air is provided by ventilation fans and associated bleeder vent shafts from the surface. The <br /> advantage of longwall mining is that over 80 percent of the coal is recovered, compared with <br /> about 50 percent for the traditional pillar method. In addition, subsidence is immediate, allowing <br /> for better planning by the mining company. The Foidel Creek Mine portals are faced-up in the <br /> down dip high-wall of the former strip mine. <br /> The permit area lies within the Trout Creek watershed is drained to the east-northeast by Fish <br /> Creek, Foidel Creek, and Middle Creek. Foidel Creek is located adjacent to the TC Foidel Creek <br /> Mine surface facilities and receives treated effluent from a series of sediment ponds established at <br /> 1 <br />