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_. _ `~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ rv o~il-~19 ANACONDA Minerals Col. any 555 Seventeenth Street Denver, Colorado 80202 Telephone 303 293 4000 August 7, 1985 Allen D. Klein, Director Western Technical Center Office of Surface Mining Second Floor, Brooks Towers 1020 15th Street Denver, Colorado 80202 Dear Mr. Klein: -•• -~---sss------- I°E5 AUG -7 P.1 4~ 45 WESTEn.'t 7~C:;!iiG:L CENTER This letter serves to follow up our recent meetings during which we discussed the need for immediate approval of West Elk Coal Company's (WECC) applications to revise OSM Permit CO-0021 (Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division Permit C-007-80) issued for the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Underground Mine near Somerset, Colorado. Two permit revisions were submitted to extend the current 5-year permit boundary. The first, submitted in November 1984 proposed to extend the permit boundary by 320 acres in Section 20, T13S, R90W, 6th P. M. The revision was requested in order to accommodate a change in the underground mining sequence necessitated by geological conditions and to relocate the subsidence test panel in order to increase the barrier pillar width. Please see the attached map. This boundary extension allowed for a revision in mining sequence only; thus, no surface disturbance, other than that which may be caused by subsidence was contemplated. It was originally planned that mining in the 320-acre extension would begin in April or May of 1985. However, this schedule was delayed due to unexpected poor mining conditions and coal quality. The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division (CMLRD) approved the permit revision on July 19 following the requisite 30-day public notificat ion period. The OSM has not yet issued its approval. OSM's Decision Document for the 320-acre permit area extension is expected to clear "quality review" by August 7 and be in Washington for final sign-off on August 9. The permit revision to expand the Mt. Gunnison 5-year permit area by an additional 1630 acres in Sections 19, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 34, T13S, R90W, 6th P.M. was submitted in February 1985. (The acreage was later expanded by an additional 135 acres in Sections 17, 22 and 26 to include those areas which may be affected by mining, i.e. subsidence.) This increase was requested to extend the 5-year permit boundary in order to meet production requirements of Section 3 of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976, 30 U.S.C.A.-Section 201(2)(A) and to meet strict contract requirements for coal quality. The mine plan submitted with the permit revision indicated that the operation would be positioned to cross into the new area by September 1, 1985. Obviously, because approval for the permit revision 4 NACONDA Mmerala Company is a D~ns~on of Alia nbcRicM1rierECOmpany AMCO~6000~A IB ~BJ~