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. •; <br />July 16, 2001 <br />National King Coal <br />4424 County Road 120 <br />Hesperus, CO 81326 <br />King Coal Mine <br />Partial, Special focus inspection <br />July 11, 2001 <br />Participants: <br />Tom Bird, National King Coal <br />Harry Ranney, Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) <br />Howard Strand, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) <br />Henry Austin, OSM <br />I participated in a partial inspection of the King Coa] Mine on July 11, 2001, with the above participants. <br />The DMG / OSM Oversight Team selected this mine and other active underground mines <br />for a special focus evaluation during the 2001 evaluation year. The inspection focused on <br />"Public Participation: Public Notice of Underground Mining Schedule". Mr. Ranney also <br />conducted a complete inspection and we accompanied him. Weather conditions were hot <br />and dry, and ground conditions were dry throughout the site. <br />Our mine office records review included review of the public notice of the underground mining <br />schedule. We reviewed approximately aten-year period at the mine, 1991 to 2001. We confirmed the <br />public notices required by comparison of the complete underground mine development map against the <br />surface ownership map in the approved DMG permit to determine which surface landowners were <br />affected during the ten year period. The permittee's records contained the required public notices for all <br />the surface landowners affected during the above period. All the notices were dated at least six months <br />before mining under the respective landowner, and a]] notices provided a mining schedule timeframe as <br />required by the approved Colorado regulatory program. The following surface landowners were <br />notified: Huntington Ranches (1991 & 1997), State of Colorado/ State Land Board (1994), Ute <br />Mountain Ute Tribe (1994), and Crawford Ranch (1999). These surface landowners represent all <br />landowners affected during the period noted above. The permittee complies with Colorado Rule 4.20.2. <br />This concluded our special focus inspection. <br />As noted, we accompanied Mr. Ranney on his complete inspection. We did not observe <br />any off site impacts during our field inspection of the mine. Al] areas inspected were well <br />maintained. Mr. Ranney pointed out one bypass culvert outlet that should be cleaned out <br />to ensure it will function as designed. We did not participate in the additional record <br />review conducted by Mr. Ranney. <br />Please address any questions concerning this report to Henry Austin at haust;n@osmre.eov <br />or to (303) 844-1400 X1466. <br />