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• portal, and then to a stacking tube and coal stockpile. Coal is then transported from the <br />stockpile area by conveyor to a truck loadout facility and is trucked to the Terror Creek <br />Loadout facility (Colorado Permit No. C-83-0591 near Bowie, Colorado, or to the Somerset <br />Mining Company (Permit No. C-81-022) area for shipping. Mining at the Bear No. 1 and <br />No. 2 Mines ceased in June 1982. The surface facilities of the Bear No. 1 and No. 2 <br />Mines have been removed, and the 19-acre disturbed area has been regraded, ripped, <br />seeded and revegetated. The portals are sealed and the face-up areas backfilled to a <br />stable configuration. <br />The Bear No. 3 operation involved the renovation of the abandoned Edwards portal, and <br />the mining of the C-Seam in Federal Coal Leases D-052501 and C-01170192. Mining has <br />commenced from the outcrop of the C coal seam exposed in the mountainside south of <br />the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Additional development entries were driven to <br />complement those of the Edwards Mine as part of the Edwards Mine reopening and <br />renovation. The main entries proceed updip in a southerly direction with panel <br />development areas extending both easterly and westerly from the mains. Ramps to the <br />B-Seam were constructed extending south from the C-Seam main entries. <br />Bear Coal Company produces coal by room and pillar methods with an expected recovery <br />of about 67 to 75 percent. Mining during this five-year permit term will be limited to the <br />B-Seam. Mining during the previous five-year permit term was also within the B-Seam. <br />B-Seam mining was approved via Technical Revisions No. 3. The applicant anticipates <br />mining of the E-Seam 200 feet above the C-Seam, and the F-Seam, 350 feet above the <br />C-Seam, sometime in the future . <br />• A sediment control system, including a sediment pond, drainage ditches and culverts, has <br />been constructed to control surface runoff from the portal and surface facilities areas. <br />Topsoil has been salvaged and stockpiled for use in final reclamation. <br />Upon cessation of mining, final reclamation at the Bear No. 3 Mine will entail facilities <br />removal, portal sealing and backfilling, and regrading the mine bench and face-up area to a <br />stable configuration. The regraded area will be ripped, topsoiled and revegetated. <br />Post-mining land use for the Bear No. 1 and 2 Mines is wildlife habitat. The post-mining <br />land use for the Bear No. 3 Mine is primarily wildlife habitat, with a limited residential use <br />of the facilities area. <br />The operation and reclamation plan presented in the application includes requests for <br />variances from approximate original contour (steep slope mining), mining within 300 feet <br />of a residence, and disturbance within 100 feet of a perennial stream. The Division has <br />approved these variances. Appropriate mitigation or alternative plans, and waivers have <br />been incorporated into the permit application. <br />C: <br />11 <br />