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and production rate projections remained the same. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 24 on February 15, 1995, the coal production level <br />at the mine was increased to 1.3 million tons per year. The production level at the loadout was <br />increased to 1.6 million tons per year. The mine plan was also changed to accommodate the <br />increase in production. Continuous mining was still the mining method used. <br />With the approval of Technical Revision No. 29 on July 15, 1997, Oxbow Mining, Inc went to <br />the longwall mining method. The anticipated annual coal production was increased from 1.3 <br />million tons per year to 4 million tons per year. To handle this increase in production, this <br />revision also approved Oxbow Mining's plans to improve the coal handling facilities, increase <br />the coal stockpile size, construct a new coal waste disposal site, move existing or build new <br />support facilities and modify the train loadout for the new production rate. <br />Development waste (gob) was disposed of on the surface in the approved gob pile on the Elk <br />Creek yard. The West Valley Fill coal refuse area was permitted through Technical Revision No. <br />29 for use when the present waste pile was filled up. The operator begap using the West Valley <br />Fill coal refuse area during the third quarter of 2000. Non-combustible mine development waste <br />will be disposed of underground in finished C-seam mine workings in a fashion approved by the <br />Mine Safety and Health Administration. <br />On January 26, 1999, Oxbow Mining evacuated the Sanbom Creek Mine due to elevated levels <br />of carbon monoxide. The concern was that the elevated levels may have indicated a mine fire. <br />The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the DMG were notified. Emergency <br />measures were taken to seal the mine openings. Two days after the sealing of the mine openings, <br />there was an explosion in the mine, presumably due to a buildup of methane. MSHA directed <br />Oxbow Mining to drill emergency boreholes into the mine, for water injection and for gas <br />monitoring. In February of 1999, Oxbow Mining pumped about 88 acre-feet of water from the <br />North Fork of the Gunnison River,through one of the emergency boreholes, into the Sanborn <br />Creek Mine in the longwall area where the spontaneous combustion event was suspected of <br />being located. <br />In April of 1999, Oxbow Mining concluded that additional inflow was coming into the mine and <br />might flood the longwall equipment. The source of the additional inflow was not known but the <br />approximate rate of inflow was about 200 gpm. With Division approval through Technical <br />Revision No. 34, Oxbow pumped out mine water into the North Fork of the Gunnison at a rate <br />of about 2000 gpm. The pumping occurred from July 1999 to the first week of October 1999. <br />The operator decided to dewater only half of the longwall panel in question and stabilize the <br />water level in the mine thereafter. The longwall restarted operations at the beginning of <br />November 1999. <br />In anticipation of the eventual mining out of the Sanborn Creek Mine B seam reserves, Oxbow <br />Mining, Inc. submitted, on November 6, 1998, a revision to begin construction of the new Elk <br />Creek Mine. Technical Revision No. 32 sought Division approval to construct the new portals <br />(0 <br />