Laserfiche WebLink
Second Permit Term <br />• Those areas to be permitted for mining and reclamation during the second five-year permit term are <br />identified on the Operations Plan and the Reclamation Plan. The second term consists of the years <br />2000 through August, 2005 and includes the proposed revisions included in TR 21. TR 21 was <br />submitted to include two (21 areas of additional disturbance (approximately 16 acresl, the <br />incorporation of highwall mining in conjunction with the currently approved auger mining, and the <br />recovery of Lennox coal for a test burn and potential ongoing recovery. <br />The dragline and the auger miner proceeded, as planned and approved, into 2002 when the auger <br />mining was discontinued. Auger mining began in 2001 at the bottom of the neck pit. All aspects of <br />the auger operation are described in Attachment 12-1, Auger Mining. <br />The dragline operation will continue through the 2000-2005 permit term and into the 2005-2009 <br />permit term. SCC proposes to replace the auger with a highwall miner to maximize coal recovery of <br />coal reserves currently uneconomical for dragline recovery. Exhibit 12-1, Operations Plan-Mining <br />(sheet 2), indicates the areas where the highwall miner could recover additional coal reserves. All <br />aspects of the proposed highwall miner operation are described in Attachment 12-2, Highwall Mining. <br />Area surface mining operations are currently expected to be completed by 2008. Current plans reflect <br />initiation of highwall mining operations during second quarter 2004, continuing through 2005, when <br />• the highwall miner will move to the Seneca II-W mining area. The dragline will complete the final pit in <br />the southeast portion of the Yoast Mining Area in 2007 and will then complete the final pit for the <br />Yoast Mining Area along the haul road corridor (Neck Pit), as it is moved out of the area in 2008. The <br />highwall miner will return in 2007 to recover Wolf Creek Coal and will complete final highwall miner <br />coal recovery from the last pit in the haul road corridor (neck pill during 2008. Reclamation of mined- <br />out areas (both surface and highwall mining) will be ongoing during the second and third permit terms. <br />Following completion of final coal recovery in 2008, reclamation of all remaining surface facilities will <br />commence, unless a bonafide request is made by the landowner to retain certain facilities and the <br />Division approves such a request. Such a request has been made for Haul Road A. Please refer to <br />Tabs 13, 19, and 25 for further explanation. Exhibit 20-2 shows the location of these postmining <br />facilities. <br />Potentially Unstable and Active Landslide Areas <br />The Division has expressed concern about several potentially unstable mapped landslide areas which <br />have been delineated on Exhibit 6-1, Site Specific Geology. These areas will be field verified during <br />the 1993 field season. Since the majority of these potentially unstable areas will not be affected until <br />1999 or later, Seneca will continue to monitor those areas which have been field verified. <br />Additional field verification of the initial geologic and geotechnical mapping of the areas, where Haul <br />• Roads C, D, and B extension are proposed, has been completed. A geotechnical analysis of these <br />proposed facilities, will be completed, based on the results of the mapping and subsequent report <br />which will be an addendum to the existing Attachment 13-6. <br />TR-25 9 Revised 09/04 <br />