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• The Review Process <br />m r <br />The King Coal Mine was originally opened around 1941 and for many years i[ was operated by <br />Viola Smith. The site was permitted by National King Coal Inc. in 1982 and the Pemit has been <br />successfully renewed every five years since then. The company was purchased by American <br />Metals & Coal International (AMCI) and reincorporated as National King Coal LLC (NKC), in <br />June, 1995. <br />National King Coal, LLC, received its last 5-year permit renewal on August 18, 1992. The <br />Division received the latest Permit Revision/Renewal on Mazch 18, 1997, deemed complete, and <br />on March 19, 1997 sent out notices that an application to renew a valid coal mining permit. <br />Numerous phone conversations with King Coal followed and on June 12. 1997 a formal adequacy <br />review was sent to NKC. Comments were received on July 21, 1997, which addressed the <br />concerns of the Division. During the entire review process, no public comments were received <br />by the Division concerning this permit renewallrevision. AVS checks were conducted several <br />times during the review, the last one on July 29, 1997, and each recommended a conditional issue, <br />due to some minor violations in West Virginia which have not been fully resolved at this time. <br />Permit Revision OS adds an additional 260 acres to the permitted area for expansion of <br />underground mining activities. <br />• Desc ' ion of the Environment <br />The King Coal Mine is located approximately seven miles southwest of Hesperus, Colorado along <br />La Plata Counry Road 120 in Hay Gulch. The site can be located on the Hay Gulch and Loma <br />Linda 7.5 minute USGS quadrangle maps. <br />Regional Geology <br />The proposed permit area lies in the upper rim of the San Juan Basin. This basin is an asytnmetrt <br />structural basin in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Sedimentary rocks in <br />the area are of both marine and non-marine origin. <br />The formation of interest in the area of the mine site is the Mesaverde Group which overlies the <br />Mancos Shale. The Mesaverde Group is composed of three major units (in ascending order): <br />Point Lookout Sandstone, Menefee Formation, and Clifthouse Sandstone. <br />Two coal seams are exposed on the property of which only the upper seam of the Menefee <br />formation has been developed. The upper seam has a thickness varying between 50-74 inches. <br />The coal seam is overlain by a few inches of interbedded sandstone, shale, carbonaceous shale, <br />and coal which in turn are overlain by a massive sandstone which stands well. <br /> <br />3 <br />