REV93206 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plan The Sanborn Creek Mine has been in operation since 1902. Operations have evolved from the earlier hand method of mining to the present day operations using continuous mining equipment. The mining system was conventional room and pillar mining using continuous miners, shuttle cars, conveyors and/or rail cazs. All coal was moved to the surface using rail cars. Approximately 12 to 14 feet of the B seam were mined in the development and retreat cycle. Annual production in the mine was approximately 900,000 tons per yeaz. Once at the surface, the rail cars dumped the coal at the dump station where it was conveyed to the tipple. The coal was crushed at the tipple then conveyed to the coal storage silo. The silo, a cylindrical cement structure, straddles the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad track and loads unit trains. The Sanborn Creek portals are located approximately one mile east of the town of Somerset. This part of the mine is being developed and mined using conventional room and pillar techniques with the same conventional equipment as previously discussed, except that conveyors are used in place of rail cars. Upon opening the portals, coal was first trucked to the tipple at the Elk Creek yazd. A conveyor system was built while developing the first part of the Sanborn Creek mine addition. The conveyor system is used instead of haul trucks to convey coal from the Sanborn Creek portals to the tipple at the Elk Creek yard. Annual production of this part of the mine is projected to be about 500,000 tons per year, with an annual maximum of 1,300,000 tons per year. Development waste (gob) is disposed of on the surface in the presently approved gob pile on the Elk Creek yard. Non-combustible mine development waste will be disposed of underground in fuvshed C-seam mine workings in a fashion approved by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. As the mine has been in operation since 1902, much of the disturbed area associated with the mine was affected prior to the effective date of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 and the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act. Baseline environmental factors were not measured, and no topsoil was salvaged prior to previous disturbance. Disturbances which have been conducted since the effective date of the Act have been permitted and conducted in compliance with the Act and Regulations. These activities include the Hubbard Creek Ventilation Fan No. 2 facility, the 3 Dip Methane Degas Wellfield, and the Sanborn Creek Mine. All other areas of disturbance at the mine occurred prior to the effective date of the Act, although the Elk Creek facilities are currently functional as the Sanborn Creek Mine support facilities. U.S. Steel conducted a vegetative survey of unaffected land adjacent to the surface-disturbed areas for the purpose of developing a reclamation plan for the surface-disturbed area. The Sanborn Creek Mine 10 Permit Revision No. 3