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• C~ undeveloped and is used primarily as wildlife habitat. Recreational activities such as big game hunting, trapping, fishing, and off-road driving also occur in the general area. The portal facilities area near the confluence of Elk Creek and the North Fork is located at the contact of the alluvium of the North Fork and steep upland sedimentary formations. Sanborn Creek Mine portal facilities are just east of Sanborn Creek or approximately one mile east of the town of Somerset. Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan The Somerset 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 and7or rail cars. 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 year. 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 lJestern Railroad track and loads unit trains. The Sanborn Creek addition to the Somerset Mine is 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 tec'nniques ~.vit'n t'ne same COnV2nt10n31 egUlpmenL a5 previously discussed, e:<cept that conveyors are Used in place of rail cars. Annual. production of this part of the mi^e is projected to be about 70,000 tons per year. Upon opening the portals, coal was first trucked to the tipple at the Elk CreeK yard. 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. The Sanborn Creek East Tract is located adjacent to the original Sanborn Creek Mine on the eastern boundary and is an underground continuation of the Sanborn workings. No additional surface disturbance is required. Method of operations and production rate projections will remain the same as for the original Sanborn Creek 14ine. Development waste (gob> i; disposed of on the surface in the presently approved gob pile on the Elk Creek yard. Non-combustible mine development ~.vaste will be disposed of underground in finished C-seam mine .vorkings in a fashion approved by the '4ine Safety and Health AdminisLr3tion, As the mine ha; been in operation since 1902, much of the disturbed area associated wit'n t'ne mine ~,ias affected prier to t'ne effective date of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamatlon Act of 1977 and the Colorado Surface -~-