GENERAL37804

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 12/15/1994
• Doc Name: Recommend Approval Fed Lease COC-54558
• From: OSM
• To: LAND AND MINERALS MANAGEMENT
• Permit Index Doc Type: Other Permits
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• II. Background
The West Elk underground coal mine is located in Gunnison
and Delta Counties, Colorado, one mile east of Somerset.
The mine has been in operation since 1982. About 105 acres
have been affected by surface disturbance to date.
Including the 1,012-acre permit revision area, the total
permitted area of the West Elk Mine contains about 5,288
acres. Mining is expected to continue for 40 years under
Colorado Permit No. C-80-007 and the approved mining plan.
The original mining plan for the West Elk Mine was approved
under the Federal lands program on July 15, 1981, for
Federal leases C-0117192, D-044569. Since that approval
there have been four other mining plan actions for the West
Elk Mine (August 16, 1985, September 27, 1985, November 21,
1987, and December 22, 1989) that included the approval of
the mining plan for Federal lease C-1362. With this 1,012-
acre mining plan approval, the approved mining plan area for
the West Elk Mine will contain a total of 4,548 acres,
including the previously approved mining plan area for
Federal leases C-0117192, D-044569, C-1362.
The Mesaverde formation B and F coal seams are mined at an
average production rate of about 3 million tons per year and
• are expected to reach about 4.5 million tons per year. The
underground mining operations in the B seam utilize longwall
mining methods. Operations in the F seam use room and
pillar mining methods. No additional surface disturbance,
except from mining-induced subsidence, will result from this
action.
A chronology of events related to the processing of the PAP
is included with the decision document. The information in
the PAP, as well as other information identified in the
decision document, has been reviewed by Colorado DMG staff
in coordination with the OSM Project Leader.
During the review of the PAP, no major issues were
identified.
The public was notified of the availability of the PAP for
review by publication of newspaper notices for four
consecutive weeks, with a last publication date of March 16,
1994. No public comments on the PAP were received after the
public notice was published.
Colorado DMG determined that MCC's bond in the amount of
$5,500,000 is adequate for the Colorado Permit No. C-80-007
associated with this mining plan action. The bond is
• payable to the State and the United States..