APPCOR11279 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1•iessrs. Banta and Daws October 29, 1981 Page 2 • Revision to the existing permit to encompass the adjacent area • Approval Timetables. Background Information Concerning Present Necessity for Mining in Adjacent Rasarvac 41e did not anticipate a short time frame for the current immediate need to receive a revision for facility relocation and subsequent mining in an adjacent area. In 1970, the Bear Coal Company sold surface lands and transferred mineral rights to Atlantic Richfield Company ("ARCO") under the assumption that mining from the bear No. 1 and No. 2 Portals would continue through at least 1982 and perhaps to an unspecified future date. Underground operations in the Bear IJo. 2 Mine has proceded with plans for pillar extraction to occur once the development was completed. However, in the late spring of 1981, ARCO informed us that the pillars could not be recovered, even though the Bear Coal Company had developed tFiem. As you know, the extraction of pillars from an underground mine is the most economical and best method of making production from room and pillar ur~derground operations. 4lith the ARCO notice of limited pillar recovery, almost two million tons of coal will be left intact; this coal v+ill probably be lost for future recovery even though Bear Coal Company put forth the time, expense and effort to prepare these pillars for extraction on retreat from the mine. And, unfortunately, with the untimely notice of ARCO, we are now forced to limit future mining activities, thus causing the most immediate need for approval to mine in the adjacent area. In early 1981, we requested from ARCO the right of access into an adjacent property where surface facilities will be relocated for the Bear No. 2 Portals. l•!e have a surface and mineral lease from Anchor Coal Company for surface facility relocation and actual mining. It v+as assumed that there v+ould be no difficulty in obtaining the access rights from ARCO; however, our assumption was not correct, and we were denied access. Left Faith no recourse, the Bear Coal Company filed a lawsuit in Gunnison County District Court on October 15, 1981 against ARCO to gain compensation for the coal lost on retreat mining and to gain legal right-of-way access into the facilities and portal locations of the adjacent area. Our lawsuit against ARCO does not change the permit revision situation with either OSM or the Division. However, we are diligently working to prepare an application satisfactory to both agencies which might allow us to mine coal at the earliest possible date.