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<br />The majority of the mine facilities were located immediately south of the highway and <br />the Purgatoire River, near the mouth of Ciruela Canyon. Two ventilation shafts, mine <br />buildings, water tanks, portal, coal stockpiles, conveyors, and a coal truck loadout were <br />located in this area. Amine development waste pile was also constructed at the mouth <br />of Ciruela Canyon, immediately south of the rail line that crosses the permit area. Two <br />other ventilation shafts were located at remote areas away from the main facility. <br />During active mining operations, the mine used both continuous miners and a 600-foot <br />wide longwall mining machine to extract coal from the Maxwell seam. No longwall <br />mining occurred under Highway 12 or under the adjacent Purgatoire River alluvial valley <br />floor. However, development mining did occur under these areas to allow access to <br />reserves to the north of the highway. Two complete longwall panels and a portion of a <br />third panel were mined north of the highway. Thirty-one mine drill holes and shafts that <br />penetrated the mine workings were converted to an industrial land use to allow for <br />methane gas extraction from the workings. This conversion allows for orderly gas <br />extraction without additional disturbance to the environment and allows development of <br />a resource that would otherwise go to waste. <br />The mine site is located in a plateau area, where elevations range from 7,000 - 7,600 <br />feet above mean sea level. Land use in the area consists of cropland and pastureland <br />on valley floors, with rangeland dominating the upland areas. Recently, development of <br />ranchettes and coal bed methane extraction has become an extended use of these <br />traditionally remote areas. <br />The Golden Eagle mine is located on the western limb of the Raton Basin. The Raton <br />