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the old State Highway 133. The main entries have been driven down-dip to the north, with the <br />sub-mains being driven east and west from the mains. <br />The B-2 coal seam will also be accessed through three (3) mine entries, proposed in Permit <br />Revision No. 7. The B-2 coal seam adits will be located below and just to the east of the D-2 coal <br />seam adits, at an approximate elevation of 6630 feet. The development mining and longwall <br />mining of the B-2 coal seam were approved in Permit Revision No. 8. The B-seam mine plan <br />was amended in Permit Revision No. 9. <br />Currently, total annual coal production has been capped at 6 million tons per yeaz. <br />The mine facilities have been constructed near the old Bowie townsite. Construction has <br />occurred to develop haul and access roads, a conveyor belt system, mine and facility benches, <br />vent shafts, a truck loadout facility, a refuse pile, and various drainage and sediment control <br />facilities. Approval of Permit Revision No. 3 added a downhill conveyor, coal stockpile and coal <br />haul truck loading system to the facilities. In addition, the mine site entrance was relocated to the <br />east of the original entrance. Coal was being exported from the truck loadout facility onto old <br />State Highway 133 and, then, to the Bowie No. 1 Mine train loadout. However, approval of <br />Permit Revision No. 6 permitted the construction of a unit train loadout. Coal now travels by <br />covered conveyor line from the D-2 coal seam portal bench, through the downhill conveyor line <br />to the coal stockpile at the bottom of the hill and, then, to the unit train loadout. In Permit <br />Revision No. 7, the operator received approval to construct the B-2 coal seam portal bench and <br />to use haul trucks to bring coal from the B-2 coal seam portal bench up to the beginning point of <br />the conveyor line on the D-2 coal seam portal bench. From there, the B-2 coal will travel through <br />the conveyor line system to the unit train loadout. <br />A drainage and sediment control system has been constructed. The system consists of ditches, <br />culverts, sedimentation ponds and alternate sediment control areas referred to as "small area <br />exemptions". Specific details regazding the designs for these systems are presented in Section <br />2.05, as are references to other sections of the permit application document which present <br />additional design details. <br />For the currently approved operations, all available topsoil has been salvaged and stored prior to <br />facility construction. Approval of Permit Revision No. 6 permitted a variance from salvaging all <br />of the topsoil at the train loadout coverfill stockpile. However, the variance was not needed since <br />there was no excess soil material after construction of the unit train loadout. Salvaged topsoil <br />from the facilities azeas was placed in a topsoil storage pile which has a capacity of <br />approximately 270,000 cubic yards. Topsoil which was salvaged prior to the refuse pile <br />construction was stored in another pile which has an approximate storage capacity of 3,111 cubic <br />yards. Specific details regazding the topsoil salvage volumes aze presented on Page 2.05-34 of <br />the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application. <br />Some surface blasting occurred during construction of the facilities. Details regazding the <br />blasting plan are presented within Section 2.05 of the permit application. <br />18 <br />