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In April 1989, an application for a technical revision for an incidental boundary change to add <br /> 35.5 acres to the permit area was submitted. The revision was for access and associated <br /> activities by way of slopes and a ventilation shaft from inside the existing F Seam workings to <br /> the B Seam. The revision also included mining in the B Seam by room and pillar, as well as <br /> longwall mining methods. The 35.5-acre incidental boundary change was necessary to <br /> accommodate the B Seam main access entries. The Division subsequently issued a proposed <br /> decision to approve the revision on July 12, 1989. <br /> In 1990, the West Elk Mine began preparations to produce coal from the B Seam. Initially, <br /> room-and-pillar 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 /> No major buildings, major structures, occupied dwellings, cemeteries, parks, railroads or <br /> highways overlie the coal to be mined. There is a small cabin owned by the adjacent <br /> landowner, located between Panels 5 and 6 (which have already been mined.) Two reservoirs <br /> lie close to the F Seam outcrop; however, neither is directly over the coal to be mined. <br /> Ventilation in the mine is provided by three fans. Two are located in Sylvester Gulch and the <br /> other in Lone Pine Gulch. Power to the mine is supplied via existing lines of the Delta- <br /> Montrose Electric Association. At substations located in the Sylvester Gulch facilities area and <br /> in Lone Pine Gulch, the 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 the Sylvester Gulch drainage area. <br /> Explosives at the mine are only occasionally used for underground construction purposes. <br /> Very little explosives are required for this purpose. West Elk does have an explosives <br /> magazine located on site. <br /> The West Elk Mine portals are situated at an approximate elevation of 6,450 feet. Run-of-mine <br /> coal is transported from the production panels to the surface by a system of belt conveyors. A <br /> conveyor carries coal from inside the mine portal to the run-of-mine stacking tubes. From the <br /> stacking tubes, an underground conveyor reclaim system will transport the coal to the two <br /> crushing and screening facilities. A conveyor then moves the coal from the crushers to the two <br /> storage silos. A stacktube located to the east of the silos provides additional storage for <br /> product coal. A loadout conveyor carries coal from the storage silos to the over-the-track <br /> loadout. A portion of this conveyor is completely enclosed as it crosses the North Fork of the <br /> Gunnison River and Highway 133. Coal is primarily shipped from the West Elk Mine by rail; <br /> however, some coal is trucked from the mine or transferred to various handling or stockpile <br /> facilities on the mine site. <br /> Refuse at the mine is generated during underground construction activities and mining. Other <br /> sources of refuse material are contaminated coal spillage, sediment pond dredgings, and soils <br /> contaminated with non-hazardous materials. These other sources of refuse only make up a <br /> small amount of the refuse produced at the mine. Refuse is currently being disposed onto a <br /> 17 <br />