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Background <br />The Sunlight Coal Mine was developed prior to 1910 by Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) in search <br />of metallurgical coal. CF&I abandoned the property when the coal was determined to be other <br />than metallurgical. There have been numerous owner-operators over the years, the last being the <br />Garfield Energy Corporation. All mining operations have been conducted from the same portal <br />location and have used an incline driven down the dip of the "D" seam of coal for access and <br />haulage. All mining operations have been room and pillar with haulage ways driven on strike, <br />and the coal seam mined up the dip of the coal seam (42 degrees). <br />Garfield Energy Corporation obtained a permit from the Mined Land Reclamation Board on <br />October 23,1982. The permit area encompassed roughly 180 acres, where 5.24 acres of surface <br />were disturbed and 7.31 acres were affected (surface disturbance plus under-mined areas). <br />Surface mining activities of the Sunlight Mine disturbed two azeas adjacent to, and located on the <br />north and south sides of, Garfield County Road 117 (GCR 117), and a small azea of disturbance <br />further to the north. Mining related features that were in use at the time the permit was issued, <br />and were subsequently in use as approved by the permit, included two portals (one below and <br />one above GCR 117, both now sealed and reclaimed), an air shaft (now closed) approximately <br />0.2 mile north of the road, two sediment ponds (one reclaimed), an upland diversion ditch (above <br />the road), an equipment disposal area (now reclaimed), and a facilities azea (now reclaimed). <br />Other pre-law disturbances that were not incorporated into permitted operations include two <br />small settlement or collapse features (0.05 mile north of the road), coal mine waste along <br />Fourmile Creek, and a coal mine waste pile above the road. Reclamation of those items indicated <br />as reclaimed above was accomplished under the Division's Abandoned Mined Lands (AML) <br />Program. The closed airshaft and the two settlement or collapse depression features have been <br />noted by AML. <br />On Mazch 4, 1987, the Division issued an order to show cause why permit C-1981-046 held by <br />Garfield Energy Corporation should not be suspended or revoked based on a pattern of <br />violations. The permit was revoked and the bond in the amount of $11,800.00 was forfeited on <br />April 22, 1987. <br />The Division commenced reclamation of the site in the summer of 1990. Work involved sealing <br />and backfilling the access portal, demolishing and removing certain mine structures and electrical <br />utilities to the north of GCR 117, and sealing the fan portal south of the road. The air intake adit <br />collapsed behind the portal seal in 1994, creating a depression at the surface roughly I S feet in <br />diameter and more than 50 feet deep. The collapse was reclaimed in the summer of 1994 by <br />AML. Removal of a failing crib wail adjacent to and on the north side of the road, backfill of the <br />settlement or collapse over the lower fan portal (below the road), cleanup of miscellaneous <br />equipment and mining debris, and reseeding of re-disturbed areas was accomplished in October <br />of 1999 by AML. All funds from the forfeited Sunlight bond have been expended by the State on <br />reclamation work at the mine. <br />