increased the permit area by 1792 acres, 70 acres being private land and 1722 acres being federal
<br />land. The total acreage of the permit area was now 5529 acres, 1678 acres of private land and
<br />3851 acres of federal ]and.
<br />On April 12, 1993, Somerset Mining Company's application for renewal of a valid, existing
<br />permit to conduct coal mining operations, Permit No. C-81-022, was deemed complete. The
<br />Division's adequacy letter was sent on June 11, 1993. The operator responded to the Division's
<br />concems in the submittal of Technical Revision No. l7, dated July 26, 1993. The permit renewal
<br />process was completed on October 22, 1993. The new permit term started on October 11, 1993
<br />and ended on October 11, 1998.
<br />The permit was transferred from Somerset Mining Company to Pacific Basin Resources on
<br />August 3l, 1995 through Succession of Operator No. 2. At that time, the name of the mine was
<br />changed from the Somerset/Sanborn Creek Mine to the Sanborn Creek Mine.
<br />Permit Revision No. 3 was submitted to the Division on May l3, 1996. The operator requested,
<br />through this revision, to increase [he permit area by 3,518 acres, to a total of 9,047 acres. Of the
<br />total permit acreage, 3,553 acres were private and 5,494 acres were federal. Of the total increase
<br />in acreage, 1,875 were on private land and 1,643 acres were on federal land. The increase in
<br />acreage was to incorporate the acquisition of the 160 acre Eastern Lease Modification, a 40 acre
<br />right-of-way and a permit boundary adjustment. Mining would continue in the B coal seam.
<br />Three adequacy letters, dated July 9, September 12 and October 7, 1996 were sent by the
<br />Division. The operator responded successively to all of the adequacy concerns. Before the
<br />approval of Permit Revision No. 3, the operator withdrew the proposal to mine the 40 acre right-
<br />of-way. The permit revision was approved on October 14, 1996, with stipulations numbers 21, 22
<br />and 23 attached. Stipulation No. 21 required BLM approval of the coal lease COC-53510
<br />modification and OSM approval of the Eastem Lease Modification mine plan. Stipulation No. 22
<br />required approval of the Division's decision by USFW. Stipulation No. 22 required submittal of
<br />maps showing the new permit boundary. All three stipulations were satisfied.
<br />Succession of Operator No. 3 transferred the permit from Pacific Basin Resources to Oxbow
<br />Carbon & Minerals, Inc. This transfer was approved on February 20, 1997. The permit was
<br />transferred from Oxbow Carbon & Minerals, Inc. to Oxbow Mining, Inc. on January 23, 1998
<br />with Succession of Operator No. 4.
<br />On January 9, 1998, the Division notified Oxbow Carbon and Minerals of the impending permit
<br />renewal and the need to file a complete application by April 1 1, 1998. The operator submitted an
<br />application for permit renewal on March 13, 1998. The submittal was called complete by the
<br />Division on March 23, 1998, thereby securing the right of successive renewal for the Sanborn
<br />Creek Mine. Completeness letters were mailed out to various federal, state and local agencies
<br />The public notice announcing the completeness of the permit renewal application was published
<br />on April 8, 15, 22 and 29, 1998 in the Delta County Independent. A letter from the Colorado
<br />Historical Society, dated March 27, 1998, stated that they had no concems with the permit
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