PERMFILE60338

• Permit No: C1981022
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT 2.04-E1 LAND USE AND EXISTING CONDITIONS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Page G-6 Historical Coal Mining Activity August 1999
New coal handling facilities have been constructed at the Sanborn Creek Mine, along with a R
new shop and office complex. Anew batch rail loadout has also been added to this facility.
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• The Sanborn Creek Mine utilizes longwall mining techniques and mined 1.5 million tons of coal
in 1998. The mine was planning for a production of 4.0 million tons in 1999, but was forced to
shutdown in January of 1999 when elevated CO and COZ were detected in the mine ventilation ;
exhaust as the result of a fire. The mine was sealed and the mine fire area flooded with water.
After working with the Mine Safety and Health Administration on safety issues and precautions,
Oxbow reopened the operation in June of 1999.
The new Elk Creek Mine, with its longwall system and related conveying capacity will have the
potential to produce up to 6 million tons per year of coal.
Somerset Mine
In 1902, shortly after initial coal discoveries and development in the area, the Denver and Rio
Grande Railroad was extended up the North Fork of the Gunnison River valley to Somerset.
With both the need for coal for railroad and access to other markets, the Utah Fuel Corporation
constructed a company town at Somerset in 1903 and operated the Somerset Mine from
portals at the C seam outcrop. In the 1920s, approximately 300 miners produced 1,200 tons of
coal daily from the Somerset Mine. The Somerset Mine portals and associated surface
facilities, located in the SW'/<, SE'/., Section 8, T13S, R90W, occupied the area of the present
Oxbow Mining, Inc. surface facilities.
The Somerset Mine was a major producer in the North Fork of the Gunnison River valley,
• operating continuously through the 1980s. The mine had a series of owners including Utah
Fuel Corporation (1903 through 1935), Kaiser Steel Corporation (1935 through 1946), Minerals
Development Corporation (1946 through 1958), U.S. Steel Mining Company (1958 through
1985), and Kaiser Coal Company (1986 through 1990).
Ongoing expansion of the Somerset Mine and associated surface facilities included
development of surface facilities along Bear Creek in the 1960s and Hubbard Creek in the
1970s and 1980s. The Somerset Mine extracted coal from the B seam under Bear Creek and
under Hubbard Creek. When the Somerset Mine was shutdown at the end of 1985, mining was
occurring west of Hubbard Creek in the B seam. The C seam was mined until about 1980
when U.S. Steel Corporation dosed the entire Somerset operation.
There was extensive renovation and construction work at the Somerset Mine in the 1960s. This
included the construction of a dump station and crusher installation in the early 1960s, followed
by the construction of a coal storage silo and a new rail line in the late 1960s. Production from
the Somerset Mine ceased in 1985, and the mine sat idle until 1990. At this time, the B and C
seam portals were sealed.
In 1990, the Somerset Mining Company developed and opened the new Sanborn Creek Mine in
the C seam. The existing surface facilities of the Somerset Mine were again utilized.
Terror Creek Loadout
• A custom coal loadout, known as the Terror Creek Loadout, was constructed in 1982 by the
Pacific Basin Coal and Carbon Company. The Terror Creek Loadout is located in Section 15,
North Fork Coal • Draft Environments! Impact Statement