Laserfiche WebLink
The Sanborn Creek addition to the Somerset Mine, now the Sanbom Creek and Elk Creek Mines, <br />is located approximately one mile east of the town of Somerset. Initially, this part of the mine <br />was developed and mined using conventional room and pillaz techniques with the same <br />conventional equipment as previously discussed, except that conveyors were used in place of rail <br />cars. Annual production of this part of the mine was projected to be about 750,000 tons per year. <br />Upon opening the portals, coal was fast trucked to the tipple at the Elk Creek yazd. A conveyor <br />system was built while developing the first part of the Sanbom Creek addition. The conveyor <br />system was used instead of haul trucks to convey coal from the Sanborn Creek portals to the <br />tipple at the Elk Creek yard. <br />The Sanbom Creek East Tract and the East Tract modification, aze located adjacent to the <br />original Sanborn Creek addition on the eastern boundary and is an underground continuation of <br />the Sanborn workings. No additional surface disturbance was required. Method of operations <br />and production rate projections remained the same. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 24 on February 15, 1995, the coal production level <br />at the mine was increased to 1.3 million tons per year. The production level at the loadout was <br />increased to 1.6 million tons per year. The mine plan was also changed to accommodate the <br />increase in production. Continuous mining was still the mining method used. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 29 on July 15, 1997, Oxbow Mining, Inc went to <br />the longwall mining method. The anticipated annual coal production was increased from 1.3 <br />million tons per yeaz to 4 million tons per yeaz. To handle this increase in production, this <br />revision also approved Oxbow Mining's plans to improve the coal handling facilities, increase <br />the coal stockpile size, construct a new coal waste disposal site, move existing or build new <br />support facilities and modify the train loadout for the new production rate. <br />The West Valley Fill coal refuse azea was permitted through Technical Revision No. 29 for use <br />when the East Yard waste pile was filled to capacity. The operator began using the West Valley <br />Fill coal refuse area during the third quarter of 2000. This facility was approaching its capacity at <br />the time of this renewal and plans were in process for the development of a new waste facility. <br />On January 26, 1999, Oxbow Mining evacuated the Sanborn Creek Mine due to elevated levels <br />of carbon monoxide. The concern was that the elevated levels may have indicated a mine fire. <br />The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the DMG were notified. Emergency <br />measures were taken to seal the mine openings. Two days after the sealing of the mine openings, <br />there was an explosion in the mine, presumably due to a buildup of methane. MSHA directed <br />Oxbow Mining to drill emergency boreholes into the mine, for water injection and for gas <br />monitoring. In February of 1999, Oxbow Mining pumped about 88 acre-feet of water from the <br />North Fork of the Gunnison River,through one of the emergency boreholes, into the Sanborn <br />Creek Mine in the longwall azea where the spontaneous combustion event was suspected of <br />being located. <br />11 <br />