1993-11-05_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981038

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• The information submitted in the application by Cyprus does not constitute a formal underground mining permit application. It has been used in order to develop an impact analysis. Its use is intended to illustrate one possible plan for developing federal coal reserves on this tract and does not imply that Cyprus will be given any preference in the event that a lease sale is held. In addition, it does not imply that the mining permit application developed from these preliminary plans would comply with the regulations or be approved by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division if a lease sale were held and Cyprus obtained the lease. Any plan which is ultimately submitted must comply with all applicable state and federal regulations as described above before it can be approved. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ALTERNATIVES INCLUDING THE PROPOSED ACTION The proposed action is to offer for competitive lease 521.78 acres of D Seam coal reserves in the Roatcap Creek Tract as requested by Cyprus. There are two alternatives associated with this EA: Alternative One - the proposed action is to lease the Roatcap Creek Tract and Alternative Two - No Action is to deny the lease application. The preferred alternative is to lease the tract. Another alternative considered but not analyzed was the possibility of a successful bidder being someone other than Cyprus. If this was the case, two possible things could happen. Either the lease would be subleased back to Cyprus or a new portal would be constructed. Because the coal seams are at depth it is not economically feasible to construct another portal to access reserves at depth (2,000 feet below the surface). A. Alternative One - Proposed Action The proposed action is to offer for competitive lease 521.78 acres of federal coal, the Roatcap • Creek Tract, containing an estimated 12 million tons of in-place coal reserves of which 7 million tons are minable reserves. The coal reserves are in the D seam of the Mesaverde formation. Leasing the coal would prevent the bypass of federally owned coal. i The applicant's proposed action was amended to include an additional 120 acres lying along the northern boundary of the application area. The additional area was incorporated into the tract in order to ensure all federal coal for which there were adequate data were included to avoid a potential bypass tract in the future. The applicant's proposed action as amended by the BLM is the Bureau's preferred action. Access to,the reserves on the proposed tract is limited. The tract lies to the northwest of a block of existing private and federal coal leases held by Cyprus, constituting the Orchard Valley Logical Mining Unit. The existing logical mining unit contains a total of approximately 6,802 acres of federal and private coal and supports the Orchard Valley Mine. Production from the mine was approximately 880,000 tons in 1991 and 585,000 tons in 1990. Production in 1992 is expected to exceed 1,000.000 tons. Mining of the D seam will be by underground room and pillar mining methods. Continuous miner units and shuttle cars will be used as the means of extraction, with a belt conveyor for transportation of the coal to the surface. Coal will be transported by truck from the portal to the rail loadout located on fee lands off Highway 133 east of Paonia. There is no anticipated surface disturbance. All mine facilities are located off the Roatcap Creek Tract are already permitted by CMLRD on fee and federal lands. Production may commence on the tract within the first three months after lease issuance if Cyprus is the successful bidder. The production rate from the tract would be about 1.3 million tons per . year, but could vary with market demand and/or production being satisfied in greater or smaller quantities from other federal leases. Mining on the tract could be completed in 2.5 years but may take longer because mining will occur in conjunction with the adjacent lease tract. Page 3