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facilities. With Permit Revision No. 7, MCC constructed an air intake shaft and an exhaust shaft <br />within Sylvester Gulch. <br />Mountain Coal Company submitted Technical Revision 93 in 2001 to add to the permit <br />application the sealing of bulkheads at the Lone Pine fan portal. Mining ceased in the Lone Pine <br />portion of the mine in early 2001 and the workings served by the fan portal were sealed off <br />underground. The longwall was moved in 2001 to the eastern mining district east of Sylvester <br />Gulch and mining has since progressed northward in the permit area. <br />MCC occasionally uses a relatively small quantity of explosives for blasting for underground <br />construction. The explosives are stored in an explosives magazine located in the main facilities <br />area of the mine. <br />The West Elk Mine portals are located at an approximate elevation of 6,450 feet. Run-of-mine <br />coal is transported from the production panels to the various surface facilities by a system of belt <br />conveyors. A conveyor carries coal from inside the mine portal to the stacking tubes. From the <br />stacking tubes, an underground conveyor reclaim system transports the coal to the two crushers. <br />A conveyor then moves the coal from the crushers to the two storage silos. A stacktube located <br />to the east of the silos provides additional storage for product coal. A loadout conveyor carries <br />coal from the storage silos to the over-the-track loadout. A portion of this conveyor is <br />completely enclosed where it crosses the North Fork of the Gunnison River and Highway 133. <br />Coal is shipped from the West Elk Mine mainly by rail, although some coal is either trucked <br />from the mine or is transferred to various handling or stockpile facilities on the mine site. <br />Coal mine waste at the mine is generated during underground construction activities and mining. <br />Other sources of coal mine waste are contaminated coal spillage, sediment pond dredgings, and <br />soils contaminated with non-hazardous materials. These other sources of waste comprise only a <br />small portion of the coal mine waste produced at the mine. Coal mine waste is currently being <br />disposed onto a permanent coal mine waste pile called the Refuse Pile Expansion area (RPE). <br />This is a 20-acre site to the east of the Lower Refuse Disposal Area, and is east of Sylvester <br />Gulch. The original coal mine waste disposal area, referred to as the Lower Refuse Pile, remains <br />across Sylvester Gulch from the RPE. The level area on top is used as an equipment lay-down <br />area and the slopes have been topsoiled and seeded. An Upper Refuse Disposal Area has also <br />been approved for construction, and has not been built. Although MCC has verbally indicated <br />this pile will not be needed, Stipulation #7 requires MCC to complete a geotechnical <br />investigation prior to constructing the pile. <br />State Highway 133 provides the main access to the West Elk Mine. A haul road joins the <br />highway east of the lower refuse pile and serves as the access to all facilities except the silo <br />storage area. An old haul road accesses this area and other lower mine facilities, which is now <br />considered an access road. Other access roads include the middle-mine facilities road and the <br />Sylvester Gulch fan road, and the Sylvester Gulch extension. The Lone Pine Gulch road has <br />been designated as a light-use road and provides access to the former site of a ventilation fan. <br />Surface runoff from the disturbed area is treated by eight ponds and a number of small area <br />exemptions (SAES). MB-1 is a large upper pond that holds mine discharge water and drainage <br />from the upper areas of the site including the mine bench. MB-2R is the large lower pond which <br />17