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s~~,? <br />_ ..~.. . <br />~~ <br />2,04,3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS <br />~. Site Description and Land Use Information <br />Pre-mining Use: coal mining, rangeland. wildlife habitat. <br />public use of county road right-of-way*. <br />Post-mining Use; rangeland. wildlife habitat. public use <br />of county road right-of-way*. <br />Total lease area ~ 240 acres. Torµ Parta.~rAR~~= ~26.TS ACRes <br />Total surface affected land = 100 acres approx <br />Total disturbed acerage ~ 9.5 acres <br />Expected life of the mine ~ 12 years. <br />The pre-mining land use of the `J .5 acres of area <br />utilized by surface operations and facilities was <br />essentially NONE. This area exists at the southeastern <br />terminus of a 2700 acre ranch and represents some of the <br />least agriculturally productive land within the 2700 acre <br />holding, Prior to mining development. the canyon floor at <br />the site consisted of willow swamp which was untraversable <br />by wheeled vehicles and not highly favored by grazing <br />livestock. The extreme slope of the hillside containing the <br />mine portals precludes any beneficial agricultural land <br />use. <br />Pre-mining land use in this area was limited to <br />wildlife habitat. with no capability to support irrigated <br />pasture and/or hay land wif7~out considerable transformation <br />of the land surface and elevation. <br />The area in which the Apex /2. Mine is located has <br />traditionally been utilized for coal mining activity. The <br />Rattlesnake Butte 7,5' Quad Sheet of 1971 indicates 10 <br />mines within a three mile radius of the Apex ~2 Mine. In <br />addition to the general area having been traditionally used <br />for mining. the immediate area in the Trout Creek canyon <br />has supported five mines within the last 40 years. <br />U565 Bulletin Mo. 297. 'The Yampa Coal.Field. Routt <br />County. Colorado'. by Maruis R. Campbell published by the <br />Government Printing Office in 1906 indicates coal mining <br />activity in Trout Creek Canyon in the immediate vicinity of <br />the present Apex /2 Mine to have existed prior to 1906. Two <br />mine openings are described by Campbell in his 1906 report. <br />'About 1 mile above the mouth of the canyon a 40 foot entry <br />on the west side of the creek has been opened on a seam of <br />about 6 1/2 feet of coal. ...About three-quarters of a mile <br />downstream from the opening dust described. also on the <br />zest side of .the creek. is an entry driven to about 100 <br />feet on a seam also belonging to the lower group and <br />apparently about 200 feet higher stratigraphically than the <br />seam last named...' <br />The Apex ~2 Mine portals and work area are constructed <br />. virtually on top of the old Apez /1 mine work area. The <br />Apex ~l.operated frog approximately 1937 to 1963. The 12 <br />~13`g5 <br />p« <br />