2004-11-15_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1996083

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BOWIE N0.2 MINE Permit No. C-96-083 Midterm Review This is the midterm review findings document for the Bowie No. 2 Mine. The midterm review is required under Rule 2.08.3 to be performed not later than the middle of each five yeaz pernut term. Through this review, the Division can require reasonable modifications to the permit in order that the permit application complies with the regulations. Rule 3.02.2(4) requires that the amount of the reclamation liability bond be reviewed during the midterm and adjusted, if necessary. This findings document is divided into four sections. Section I describes the history of the mine. An account of the permitting and enforcement actions, including permit revisions, stipulations and enforcement actions is contained in Section II. The reclamation liability bond information is in Section III. The fmal section contains specific questions or comments that azose in the review of the permit application. Section I -Mine History The Bowie No. 2 Mine is an underground coal mine located about five (5) miles northeast of Paonia, Colorado, adjacent to State Highway 133 and neaz the old Bowie townsite. The permittee is Bowie Resources Limited (BRL). As of the date of this midterm review, the permit azea includes 5124.6 acres, of which 2473.3 surface acres aze privately owned and 2651.3 surface acres aze federally owned. The coal to be mined is federal and private. The mineral ownership is 3167.3 acres of federal and 1957.3 acres of private. The disturbed acreage amounts to 224.3 acres while the affected azea is 3099 acres.. The mine permit azea is located on federal and private lands within Delta County, Colorado. The Bowie No. 2 Mine is designated as a federal mine for the purposes of permit and inspection regulation. The original permit was issued on Apri14, 1997 and construction of the mine site began in mid 1997. The current production rate is about 5 million tons per yeaz, although the mine has approval for a maximum annual production of 6 million tons per yeaz. The pernvttee has been Bowie Resources Limited since the beginning of the permitting process. The original operator was Bruin Mining Company. Through Minor Revision No. 2, Sherpa Paonia, Inc. became the operator. With the approval of Minor Revision No. 6, the operator was changed to Bowie Resources Limited. On September 28, 2004, the Division proposed a decision to approve with stipulations Succession of Operator No. 2, whereby the permit will be transferred from Bowie Resources Limited to Bowie Resources LLC. The mine extracts coal from the D-2 coal seam using the longwall method. The operator is also performing development mining in the B-2 coal seam for future longwall operations in that coal seam once longwall mining is complete in the D-2 coal seam. The construction of the B Seam mine portals,