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West Elk <br />• One of the major components of the mine ventilation program is the Sylvester Gulch Fan. This <br />facility is located in Sylvester Gulch, approximately one-half mile south of the mine facilities area. <br />Information concerning the design and operation of the fan is contained in Exhibit 42. <br />The Lone Pine Gulch Portals were situated approximately one (1) mile west of Somerset, Colorado, <br />at an elevation of approximately 6,480 feet. The Lone Pine Fan Facility was constructed in 1995, <br />accessing the B Seam, to serve West Elk Mine as the primary ventilation facility for the then <br />completed Northwest Longwall Panels (Nos. 1-7}; the Jumbo Mountain Longwall Panels (Nos. 8 <br />and 9), and the Southern Longwall Panels (Nos. 12, 13, 13A). These 12 longwall panels were <br />isolated underground from the active workings, using explosion resistant seals, and the entire area is <br />now abandoned. Watertight bulkheads were installed in each of the portals in 2001. The designs, <br />portal profiles, and plan view of the bulkheads are shown on Drawing Nos. 42A-1, 42A-2, 42A-3 <br />included in Exhibit 42A, in Volume 7 of the Permit Document. The area was reclaimed in 2002 <br />and 2003. <br />In order to assure adequate mine ventilation for West Elk Mine's current and future mining areas, <br />new ventilation shafts (intake and exhaust shafts) were constructed. Construction of the site for the <br />lazge intake shaft and the large return shaft began during spring of 1997 and shaft sinking began in <br />the fall of 1997. The ventilation facility is located approximately one half mile from the existing <br />Sylvester Gulch Fan (Map 53B). Information regarding the design, construction and operation of <br />the ventilation facility is contained in Exhibit 69. <br />A third ventilation shaft (Vent Shaft #3) was constructed during the summer and fall of 1997. Vent <br />Shaft #3 is a 10-foot fuushed diameter shaft located approximately 400 feet east of the electric <br />borehole site (Map 53B). Information regarding the design, construction, and operation of the <br />ventilation facility is contained in Exhibit 69. <br />Derasitication Site <br />A degasifrcation borehole is located approximately 225 feet west of the electric borehole site in <br />Sylvester Gulch. It was constructed during the summer of 1997. This borehole is not currently <br />operating. Recent installation of methane drainage facilities in Sylvester Gulch <br />accommodates West Elk Mine's "in-mine" methane collection and transmission system. <br />Methane gas, captured in the mine, is collected and transported in poly-pipe up Ventilation <br />Shaft No. 3 and then vented. Some methane gas from the mine is used to heat mine <br />ventilation air at Ventilation Shaft No, 1, in a system completed in 2003. <br />Mine DewaterinP and Treatment Facilities Description <br />Sylvester Gulch <br />MCC has designed mine dewatering and treatment facilities to be located within the Sylvester <br />Gulch drainage. The system consists of one 18-inch cased borehole, one 16-inch borehole <br />(completed as a IZ-inch cased hole}, and two 20-inch cased boreholes, completed during the <br />summer of 1997 to access the operational sump in the northeast corner of the IONS Tailgate. <br />2.05-2] Revised June 1005 PRIG; Rev. January 2006; Rev. March 2006; Rev. April 2006 PRl0, May 2006 PRIG <br />