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main access entries. The Division subsequently issued a proposed decision to approve the <br />revision on July 12, 1989. <br />In 1990, the West Elk Mine began prepazations to produce coal from the B Seam. Initially, <br />room-and-pillaz mining using a continuous miner was utilized to develop panels in the B Seam, <br />for later removal using longwall methods. Mining in the F Seam has been discontinued, until <br />market conditions improve so that this seam can be economically mined. <br />Elevated levels of indicator gases showed there was probable combustion in gob in a mined-out <br />area of the B-West mains in January 2000. Operations were curtailed and MCC immediately <br />began an operation to access the B-seam by drilling into the mine from the Apache Rocks azea <br />above. Permission was obtained from both CDMG and the US Forest Service to initiate a <br />drilling program in that area. Nineteen 4-inch drillholes were emplaced, the location of the <br />combustion identified, and water subsequently pumped into the area from the drillholes in the <br />Apache Rocks area. In the spring of 2001, MSHA gave MCC permission to curtail the pumping <br />of water, so the company completely sealed off the area underground and initiated the approved <br />reclamation of the disturbed ground on the surface. <br />No major buildings, major structures, occupied dwellings, cemeteries, parks, railroads or <br />highways overlie the coal to be mined. Two reservoirs lie close to the F Seam outcrop; however, <br />neither is directly over the coal to be mined. <br />Ventilation in the mine is provided by a fan in Sylvester Gulch. Power to the mine is supplied <br />via existing lines of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association. At a substation located in the main <br />mine facilities azea power is stepped down to serve the underground mine and to serve the <br />surface facilities. With Permit Revision No. 7, MCC constructed an air intake shaft and an <br />exhaust shaft within Sylvester Gulch. <br />Mountain Coal Company submitted a technical revision (#93) to seal the bulkheads at the Lone <br />Pine fan portal. Mining ceased in this portion of the mine in early 2001 and the longwall was <br />moved to the Eastern mining district East of Sylvester Gulch. By June 2001, the area had been <br />sealed off underground. <br />Explosives at the mine are only occasionally used for underground construction purposes. Very <br />little explosives are required for this purpose. West Elk does have an explosives magazine <br />located on site. <br />The West Elk Mine portals aze situated at an approximate elevation of 6,450 feet. Run-of--mine <br />coal is transported from the production panels to the various surface facilities by a system of belt <br />conveyors. A conveyor carries coal from inside the mine portal to the stacking tubes. From the <br />stacking tubes, an underground conveyor reclaim system will transport the coal to the two <br />crushers. A conveyor then moves the coal from the crushers to the two storage silos. A <br />stacktube located to the east of the silos provides additional storage for product coal. A loadout <br />conveyor carries coal from the storage silos to the over-the-track loadout. A portion of this <br />conveyor is completely enclosed as it crosses the North Fork of the Gurmison River and Highway <br />133. Coal is primarily shipped from the West Elk Mine by rail; however, some coal is trucked <br />from the mine or transferred to various handling or stockpile facilities on the mine site. <br />34 <br />