2024-09-05_PERMIT FILE - C1980007 (2)

Home Browse Search

West Elk Mine 2.05-4 Rev. 11/04- PR11; 03/06- PR10; 07/15- MR413; 07/18- PR15, 01/24-TR152, 04/24-TR154 0117192, COC-56447, COC-54558, C-1362, COC-67011, COC-67232. The private lease is the Mt. Gunnison Fuel Company lease. Together, the eight coal leases and fee properties encompass about 19,620 acres. Federal leases D-044569, C-0117192, COC-54558, COC-56447, C-1362, COC-67011, and COC-67232 account for 1,380 acres, 923 acres, 1,012 acres, 2,770 acres, 5,797 acres, 690 acres, and 2,448 acres, respectively. The private lease and fee coal covers the remaining 4,600 acres. Six major coal seams exist on MCC lease holdings. The seams are identified alphabetically with the A Seam being the lowermost and the F Seam the uppermost. The intervals between the seams vary from as little as 15 feet to more than 250 feet. Current and future economically minable coal reserves in these leases occur in two of the six seams (the E and B Seams). The northern B Seam reserves have been mined and the E Seam will continue to be mined as projected on Map 51. The past and projected B seam mining is shown on Map 52. MCC mined in the F Seam from 1982 to 1991 from Lease D-044569 and C-0117192. This mining was only marginally successful. Poor mine roof conditions, sandstone channels, thin coal, poor coal quality, and other unfavorable conditions negatively affected mining and rendered this seam uneconomic under past and present market conditions. Approximately 180 feet below the F Seam horizon lies the E Seam. Approximately 400 feet below F Seam and 200 feet below E Seam lies the B Seam. The northern mineable B Seam reserves contained some areas of coal, particularly in Federal Leases D-044569, C-0117192, COC-54558, and COC-56447 where no mineable E Seam exists above the B Seam. As such, B Seam mining in this area caused no issues for E Seam. Recovering the two economically-viable seams at West Elk Mine requires thorough evaluation of various mining scenarios. The mineable areas of the E and B Seams can be seen by comparing Map 13 (B Seam thickness) with Map 18 (E Seam thickness). E and B Seam projected operations, maximizing the recovery of reserves, are shown on Maps 51 and 52, respectively. MCC has assessed the recoverable coal reserves of the Federal coal leases contained in the E and B Seams. As of the end of 2023, approximately 39.92 million tons of recoverable coal reserves were estimated to remain in the E and B Seams (Table 28) within the current permit and lease areas. Table 28 Estimate of Recoverable Coal Reserves at the West Elk Mine Recoverable Reserves (millions of tons) Lease Lease Lease Lease Lease Other Seam COC-56447 COC-67232 C-1362 D-044569 & COC-54558 & Fee Lease Total COC-67011 C-0117192 B 0.15 7.4 23.2 0 0 0.01 30.76 E 0 0 6.6 0 0 2.56 9.16 Total 0.15 7.4 29.8 0 0 2.57 39.92