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Memo to Dan Mathews <br />Deserado Mine TR-48, Subsidence <br />page 2 <br />I have a few specific concerns and comments which follow. For ease of location, I <br />have identified my comments by application section, page, and paragraph. <br />§ III.A.7.b Subsidence Control (pages III-11 & III-12) <br />BME discusses the general benefits of longwall versus room-and-pillar mining in this <br />application section. BME states; "No truly long-term subsidence hazards are <br />associated with longwall mining". I believe BME intends to state that subsidence <br />hazards associated with longwall mining are all manifested in a fairly short time <br />frame. In fact, some of the impacts of longwall mining, such as ground cracking in <br />the peripheral areas around the subsided panels, can remain in effect for relatively <br />extended periods of time (decades) following the cessation of actual ground <br />movement. <br />§ III.A.7.c Subsidence Prediction (pages III-12 through III-14) <br />This section and associated table III-1 present the methodology and results of the <br />basic NCB-style vertical subsidence and strain predictions above the D-Seam and a <br />portion of the proposed B-Seam mining. Table III-1, however, only contains <br />predictions for panels LW-1 B through LW-8B. These are the panels projected to be <br />extracted through the year 2023. This is a long period, approximately 25 years, <br />and more than satisfies the requirements for permit submittal. Coincidentally none <br />of these first eight projected B-Seam panels happen to be superimposed beneath D- <br />Seam panels. However, the mine plan as depicted on Maps 119 (D-Seam) and 120 <br />IB-Seam) will eventually include superimposed D-Seam and B-Seam workings. Only <br />three depicted B-Seam panels, the unnamed panels in Section 35 bearing only the <br />dates 2012, 2013 1 nd 2014, which I assume are depicted on Map 120 for <br />"illustrative" purposes, will eventually be superimposed beneath unnamed D-Seam <br />panels depicted as outlines in Section 35 on Map 1 19. However, no dates or panel <br />labels are included on Map 1 19. The Operator may have intended to delete these <br />panels from the D-Seam mine plan. <br />The subsidence predictions presented in Table III-1 appear to be appropriately <br />completed. My point is that no discussion or subsidence predictions of the additive <br />effects of subsidence of superimposed mine workings in the D-Seam and underlying <br />B-Seam is presented anywhere in the application. Therefore, the application's <br />subsidence prediction can be found adequate for those panels predicted, i.e. all of <br />the D-Seam workings and longwall panels LW-1 B through LW-8B within the B- <br />Seam. However, predictions have not been presented for the three B-Seam <br />