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.:. <br />III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII <br />999 <br />Mountain Coal Company <br />West Elk Mine <br />Post Office Box 591 <br />Somerset, Colorado 91434 <br />Telephone 30.39235015 <br />Fax 303 9235595 <br />November 29, 1994 <br />Dt~ u 1 tg94 <br />Ms. Susan McCannon, <br />Coal Supervisor <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology <br />Office of Mined Land Reclamation <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />Re: Mountain Coal Comoanv. NOV No. C-94-033 <br />Dear Ms. McCannon: <br />/\ <br />p~r,F1vED <br />Divisiu~~... ,•~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~eclogy <br />The Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology ("Division") recently issued a Notice of <br />Violation ("NOV") to Mountain Coal Company for mining outside its permit boundary. A copy <br />of NOV No. C-94-033 is attached for your convenience. The Division learned of this issue <br />through Mountain Coal Company's voluntary self-disclosure in a letter to Ms. Christine Johnston <br />of the Division dated November 4, 1994 (copy attached). In that letter, Mountain Coal Company <br />stated that it believed it had "mined slightly beyond its true permit boundary" in Section 19, T13S, <br />R90W, 6th P.M. The basis for this belief was that an on-the-ground survey conducted by <br />Mountain Coal Company on November 3, 1994, revealed that the true center-line of Section 19 <br />was slightly to the east of the mapped center-line of that Section, as shown on approved permit <br />map(s). As you know, Mountain Coal immediately ceased mining in this area, and reported this <br />discrepancy to the Division. <br />Mountain Coal Company's review of the relevant regulations reveals that Mountain Coal has not <br />in fact mined outside its permit boundary, despite the existence of this discrepancy. Division <br />regulations define "permit area" as "the area of land indicated on the approved map submitted by <br />the operator with his application." [Regulation 1.04 (89)]. The Permit for Mountain Coal <br />Company's West Elk Mine defines "Permit Area (Boundary)" as "the area of land and water <br />within the boundaries of the permit designated on Map 3 and Map 1." (Permit at page 1.0-3). <br />Map 1 is attached for your review. (The permit boundary is not shown on Map 3). As described <br />in the November 4th letter, the mapped permit boundary line in Section 19 shown on Map 1, <br />literally depicts half of Section 19 on the map. The fact that Section 19 was a "closing section" <br />(i.e. a "correcting" section, as revealed by the November 3rd survey), was not known at the time <br />the map was prepared. As such, the mapped boundary is reasonably correct. Because the <br />mapped boundary was approved by the Division, Mountain Coal Company has not in fact mined <br />outside its permit boundary. <br />°fD <br />