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Page 1 of 4 <br />Hernandez, Daniel <br />From: Hernandez, Daniel <br />Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 8:27 AM <br />To: Gorham, Kent <br />Subject: FW: Reclamation of Golden Eagle Mine Borehole LA-218 <br />Hi, Kent - <br />This is in response to your e-mail regarding the reclamation requirements of the Golden Eagle Mine borehole LA- <br />218. 1 have concluded that the permittee (New Elk Coal Company. LLC) is responsible for sealing it. <br />Here's how I came to that conclusion: <br />• Per your e-mail, Borehole LA-218 was completed by CF&I in April 1975 (an undated borehole "strip log" <br />found in Archives and entitled "CF&I Steel Corporation - Coal Section - Raton Basin, Colorado - Las <br />Animas County - DDH 218" indicates the borehole was drilled to a depth of 510 feet, through what appears <br />to be the main Golden Eagle Mine coal seam). <br />• On January 7, 1976, CF&I Steel Corporation submitted an application to the Colorado Division of Mines to <br />open the "B" Mine. The application form, found in Archives and entitled "Data Sheet for Implementation of <br />the Surface Lands Stabilization Provision of the Colorado Mining Law", refers applicants to the provisions <br />of the 1969 Colorado Open Cut Land Reclamation Act of 1969, revised as the Colorado Open Cut Mining <br />Land Reclamation Act of 1973. The file number for this "B" Mine application is numbered "76-1 ". <br />Item 19.e of the "Surface Lands Stabilization" application form submitted by CF&I in 1976 required <br />submission of an affected area map that showed among other things "the location of test boring holes". <br />The form submitted by CF&I refers to "Exhibit E-5" in the application materials. Exhibit E-5, dated January <br />5, 1976, is a topographic map entitled "Mine Area Drilling" that identifies 45 boreholes in the vicinity of the <br />"B" Mine, with a single borehole shown in Section 29, T33S, R67W. This map does not identify any of <br />these boreholes by number; however, based on other maps and aerial photos in the application materials, <br />your e-mail, the "DDH 218" strip log, and your on-the-ground knowledge of the location of borehole LA-218, <br />I believe the borehole shown on the Exhibit E-5 map in Section 29 T33S, R67W is LA-218. <br />. I have yet to find what might be construed as a permit (or some other form of approval) from the Division of <br />Mines to CF&I in response to CF&I's "Surface Lands Stabilization Provision" application. Nevertheless, <br />CF&I began activities (though not production) at the Maxwell mine in May of 1976 (Colorado Division of <br />Mines' "State Coal Mine Inspection Monthly Reports"). <br />On July 1, 1976, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act went into effect. With regard to pre-existing <br />operations, this new law stated that: <br />o all applications for operations regulated by the new law that had been filed but not yet approved by <br />July 1, 1976 were required to comply with the new law. <br />o all permitted operations in existence on July 1, 1976 were in compliance with the new law, but were <br />subject to the new law at permit renewal. <br />o operations lawfully being conducted prior to July 1, 1976 without a permit could continue to be so <br />conducted until October 1, 1977 if, between July 1, 1976 and October 1, 1977, the operators of such <br />existing mining operations applied for a permit in accordance with the new law. <br />o an operator of an existing operation that was in compliance with the statutes, rules, orders, and any <br />applicable stabilization and reclamation agreements in effect prior to July 1, 1976 was not to be <br />6/2/2008