REV01299

• Permit No: C1981033
• IBM Index Class Name: Revision
• Doc Date: 2/1/2005
• Doc Name: Denial of Modification of Bond Release Application
• From: DMG
• To: Bear Coal Company, Inc.
• Type & Sequence: SL3
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 275
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
February 1, 2005
Daniel Bear
Bear Coal Company, Inc.
17036 Opal Hill Drive
Parker, CO 80134
RE: Bear No. 3 Mine, Permit No. C-1981-033, Bear Coal Company
Phase One Bond Release Application No. 3 (SL-3), Request For Partial Release
Dear Mr. Bear:
COLORADO
DIVISION OF
MIN SRALS
GEOLOGY
RECLAMATION•MINING
SAFETY•SCIENCE
Bill Owens
Governor
Russell George
Executive Director
Ronald W. Cattany
Division Director
Natural Resource Trustee
The Division has received Bear Coal Company's (BCC) request for a modification to the Bear No. 3 Mine
Phase One bond release application (SL-3) that is currently under review. The request came in a letter dated
January 15, 2005 from Jim Stover, the consultant for BCC. In this request, BCC is proposing to limit the scope
of SL-3 to include only structural demolition and disposal, thereby excluding backfilling and grading operations
from bond release consideration at this time. BCC states that, with the release of this bond money for the
structural demolition and disposal, money would be available for the resolution of additional bond release
issues.
After careful consideration, the Division has decided to deny BCC's request to modify 5L-3 from a Phase One
bond release to a partial Phase One bond release. The Division's decision is based on information concerning
events at the Bear No. 3 Mine that have recently come to light that affect the reclamation liability at the site.
The Division's adequacy review letter dated August 20, 2004 detailed these additional tasks. As of the date of
this reply letter, no work on these additional tasks have been performed at the Bear No. 3 Mine. In addition, the
costs of some of these reclamation tasks are not known at this time. Therefore, the Division believes that it
would be inappropriate to release any reclamation bond without a complete accounting of the reclamation cost
liability remaining at the site. Also, the Division can not release bond money so that the operator can perform
further reclamation tasks.
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me.
Sincerely,
J seph J. ash
nvironmental Protection Specialist
cc: William Bear (Bowie Resources)
Jim Stover, P.E. (J.E. Stover & Associates)
c:/word/bear3/sl3partrellet 1
Office of Office of Colorado
Mined Land Reclamation Active and Inactive Mines Geological Survey