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The Bear Coal Company most recently extracted coal from the Bear No. 3 Mine. No coal has <br />been extracted from the Bear No. 1 and 2 Mines since June of 1982. The Bear No. 3 Mine was <br />an underground room and pillar operation, currently producing an average of 450,000 to 500,000 <br />tons of coal per year from the B-Seam. The coal mined by Bear Coal Company was transported <br />from the underground workings via conveyors to the Bear No. 3 portal, and then to a stacking tube <br />and coal stockpile. Coal was then transported from the stockpile area by conveyor to a truck <br />loadout facility and trucked to the Terror Creek Loadout facility (Colorado Permit No. C-83-059) <br />near Bowie, Colorado, or to the Sanborn Creek Mine (Permit No. C-81-022) for shipping. <br />Mining at the Bear No. 1 and No. 2 Mines ceased in June 1982. The surface facilities of the Bear <br />No. 1 and No. 2 Mines have been removed, and the 19-acre disturbed area has been regraded, <br />ripped, seeded and revegetated. The portals aze sealed and the face-up azeas backfilled to a stable <br />configuration. <br />The Bear No. 3 operation involved the mining of the C-Seam in Federal Coal Leases D-052501 <br />and C-01170192. Mining has commenced from the outcrop of the C coal seam exposed in the <br />mountainside south of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The main entries proceed updip in <br />a southerly direction with panel development areas extending both easterly and westerly from the <br />mains. Ramps to the B-Seam were constructed extending south from the C-Seam main entries. <br />A sediment control system, including a sediment pond, drainage ditches and culverts, has been <br />constructed to control surface runoff from the portal and surface facilities azeas. Topsoil has been <br />salvaged and stockpiled for use in final reclamation. <br />Final reclamation at the Bear No. 3 Mine will entail facilities removal, portal backfilling, and <br />regrading the mine bench and face-up area to a stable configuration. The regraded area will be <br />ripped, topsoiled and revege[a[ed. Post-mining land use for the Bear No. 1 and 2 Mines is wildlife <br />habitat. The post-mining land use for the Bear No. 3 Mine is primarily wildlife habitat, with a <br />limited residential use of the facilities area. <br />The operation and reclamation plan presented in the application includes requests for variances <br />from approximate original contour (steep slope mining), mining within 300 feet of a residence, <br />and disturbance within 100 feet of a perennial stream. The Division has approved these variances. <br />Appropriate mitigation or alternative plans, and waivers have been incorporated into the permit <br />application. <br />12 <br />