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Land uses in the general area include agriculture, coal mining, and <br />wildlife habitat. Land managed by the BLM within the permit area is <br />grazed by sheep during summer and fall. Hay meadows and orchards are <br />common along the North Fork Valley below the town of Somerset. <br />Description of the Operations and keclamation Plan <br />The Hawk's Nest Mine - East and West Portals is an underground operation <br />presently mining the "E" seam. Mining is down the dip of the coal seams <br />from the outcrop. A combination of retreating longwall and room and <br />pillar methods are employed. The applicant proposes to access the lower <br />"Wild" and "D" seams through 3 rock tunnels from the "E" seam during the <br />first permit term. Long range mine plans propose expansion of mine <br />workings to the lower "B", upper "B", and "C" seams. Currently the "t" <br />seam mine is producing one million tons of coal per year. Anticipated <br />maximum production during the permit term is one and one half million <br />tons per year. Coal will be produced from Federal Leases C-27103, <br />D-042921, D-056724, and C-17130; and from U.S. Steel fee coal leased to <br />Western Slope Carbon. <br />Coal is transported from the portals into a crusher and thence either <br />directly to the coal stockpiles at the load-out or portal yards or to the <br />wash plant at the east portal yard. The wash plant separates the coal <br />into clean coal, stoker coal and lump coal. Fine refuse material is <br />slurried back into abandoned mine workings. Coarse refuse is disposed of <br />in an approved refuse disposal area adjacent to the Delta County Landfill <br />at Hotchkiss. <br />Sediment and drainage control at the mine is achieved by a system of <br />diversion and drainage ditches, culverts, and 5 sedimentation ponds. <br />Final reclamation of the site will entail sealing of the 5 portals at the <br />West mine and 3 portals at the East mine, removal of all surface <br />facilities, and regrading of the mine bench and portal face-up areas to <br />achieve a stable configuration. The regraded area will be ripped, <br />topsoiled, and re vegetated. <br />