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<br /> <br />Mountain Coal Company <br />West Elk Mine <br />Post Olfite Boz 591 <br />Somerset, Colorado 81434 <br />Telephone 303 929-5015 <br />Fax 303 929-5599 <br />November 4, 1994 <br />Ms. Christine E. Johnston <br />Colorado Division of hfinerals R. Geology <br />OH'ice of Mined Land Reclamation <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />Dear Christine: <br /> <br />Mountain Coal Company (iviCC) surveyors recently discovered an error in existing government <br />maps of the mine area. This error affects the location of the mine's permit and lease boundary. <br />Because of this error, AfCC has mined slightly beyond its true permit boundary. This letter <br />provides the relevant factual background on this map error, and requests your assistance in . <br />addressing this error. hlining in this area has been halted and the mining crews are on standby <br />until a solution is reached. <br />'MCC surveyors just recently (November 3, 1994) located on the ground, and confirmed, the <br />position of the S'/+ corner of Section 19, TI3S, R9011', 6th P.\I. This corner is significant, as it <br />represents and controls the location of the western boundary of our coal leases C-0117192 and C- <br />1362. The corner is a General Land Office (GLO) brass cap set on an iron pipe and was set in <br />1905. The surrounding public land system corners that likewise control the lease lines are all of <br />the same type of monument and were set in 1905 by the same cadastral branch of the GLO. <br />After locating the above mentioned S'/+ corner, the surveyed position was found to be <br />approximately 213 feet east and 99 feet north of the same point used to project the relative lease <br />and permit boundaries. This point was originally projected by digitizing the southern line of <br />Section 19 as shown by the USGS topographic map and using the mid-point of that line. <br />There is inherent error in using the topographic section lines and this error is compounded, as <br />Section 19 is a "closing" section. The public land system was created in such a ~vay that excess <br />and deficient closure from the original survey were placed in the northern and western tier of <br />sections; these tiers being called the"closing' sections. The'/+ corners of the "closing" sections <br />are not placed at mid-point between section corners, as illustrated by the 1929 GLO supplemental <br />plat of Section 19. This explains the dirt-erence bzt~veen the surveyed and projected position of <br />the S:~ comer of Section 19. <br />t '1 <br />