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s - ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <br />999 <br />Oxbow Mining Inc. <br />Sanborn Creek Mine <br />June 15, 1999 <br />Oxbow Mining Inc. acquired the Sanborn Creek Mine in 1995. The company is <br />an affiliate of Oxbow Carbon and Minerals Inc. of West Palm Beach, Fla. The <br />mine is in Gunnison County, near the town of Somerset. The mine produced 1.6 <br />million tons of coal in 1997 and 1.5 million tons in 1998, before a mine fire forced <br />the company to seal the mine in January, 1999. It was the 7~h largest coal <br />producer of the 12 producing mines in Colorado in 1998. <br />Prior to the fire, the mine employed approximately 175 people. 100 of those <br />employees were furloughed as a result of the mine fire. All of those employees <br />were called back to work in May when Oxbow re-entered the mine and verified <br />that the longwall mining equipment was still functional. The company plans to <br />resume coal production in July and, to resume full production with the longwall <br />this fall. <br />While the mine was sealed, water was pumped into the section of the mine <br />where the fire occurred. Air inside the mine was monitored for several months. <br />When that monitoring indicated that the mine was safe to re-enter, the federal <br />Mine Safety and Health Administration gave Oxbow permission to re-enter the <br />mine. The water used to suppress the fire is now being discharged from the <br />mine. <br />During the mine closure, Oxbow and the Division of Minerals and Geology <br />worked together closely. The company had to build roads, drill monitoring wells <br />and, construct a mine water treatment pond as part of its efforts to deal with the <br />mine fire. Typically, plans for these types of activity must be submitted to and <br />approved by the Division prior to implementation. The Division instructed the <br />company to forego normal permit approval processes in light of the emergency at <br />the mine. Oxbow agreed to take reasonable efforts to keep ground disturbance <br />in compliance with relevant regulatory requirements and, to submit updates to <br />the mine permit shortly afterwards. The company and the Division are finalizing <br />that paper work now. <br />(OVER) <br />