Laserfiche WebLink
1.0 GENERAL <br />• Seneca Coal Company (SCC) has previously auger mined at Seneca II, Yoast, and II-W. <br />Augering occurred in the mid- to late 1980's at Seneca II and from June 2000 to December <br />2001 at Yoast and II -W. Seneca proposes highwall mining at Yoast as shown on Exhibit 12- <br />1, Operations Plan -Mining. Since the final highwall is the economic limit at which the <br />dragline can uncover coat, other coal extraction methodology has to be utilized. <br />Potentially recoverable reserves under and beyond the highwall would be lost if alternative <br />recovery methods are not implemented. SCC has used augering in the past and experienced <br />an unacceptably low recovery rate, therefore SCC is proposing to employ a highwall miner in <br />place of the auger. The highwall miner is expected to have a higher in-place recovery rate <br />and deeper seam penetration than experienced with the auger. It is proposed to highwall <br />mine both the Wadge and Wolf Creek seams. <br />Per regulation 4.23.2(1) (there are no highwall miner regulations, therefore auger regulations <br />will be followed) any auger (highwall miner) mining associated with surface mining activities <br />shall be conducted to maximize recoverability of the coal reserves remaining after the surface <br />• mining activities are completed. Therefore, highwall mining operations shall leave areas of <br />undisturbed coal to provide access for removal of those reserves by future underground <br />mining activities. These undisturbed areas of coal shall be a minimum of 250 feet wide at <br />any point between each group of highwall miner openings to the full depth of the highwall <br />miner hole. They also are to be no more than 2,500 feet apart measured from the center of <br />one section to the center of the next section. As shown on Exhibit 12-1, Operations Plan <br />Mining, SCC is proposing to highwall mine five areas, with existing pillars of unmined coal <br />being left in place between each highwall mined area. SCC and Peabody Holding Company, <br />Inc. have looked at underground mining at the Yoast Mine and the entire surrounding area <br />and have determined that these proposed highwall miner areas would not be an ideal location <br />for a future underground portal. There are other areas that would be better suited for <br />potential portal locations. <br />Rule 4.23.2 121 is being complied with already, since there are no abandoned or active <br />underground workings within 500 feet of the proposed auger (highwall miner) operations. <br />In the interest of contemporaneous reclamation for Rule 4.23.2(31, auger (highwall miner) <br />• mining will be initiated and completed as soon as possible after the surface coal has been <br />removed. The highwall miner operations will be following the dragline stripping operations <br />along portions of the final highwalls as shown on Exhibit 12-1, Operations Plan-Mining. <br />TR-25 12-2-2 Revised 09/04 <br />