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C-1981-022
<br />RN-05 Findings
<br />February 2009
<br />The permit was transferred from Oxbow Carbon & Minerals, Inc. to Oxbow Mining, Inc. on January
<br />23, 1998 with Succession of Operator No. 4 (SO-04).
<br />Oxbow Mining, Inc. submitted an application for permit renewal (RN-03) on March 13, 1998. The
<br />submittal was called complete by the Division on March 23, 1998, thereby securing the right of
<br />successive renewal for the Sanborn Creek Mine. The Division's adequacy review letter was dated
<br />July 30, 1999. Because the operator chose to rewrite and reorganize the entire Sanborn Creek Mine
<br />permit application, it was decided to separate the permit application reorganization effort from the
<br />permit renewal process. Since the permit renewal adequacy questions were more pertinent to the
<br />reorganization, rather than to the permit renewal itself, the OMI responses to the permit renewal
<br />adequacy review questions were submitted in a new Permit Revision No. 4. RN-03 was approved on
<br />September 25, 2000.
<br />Permit Revision No. 4 (PR-04) was submitted September 5, 2000, and called complete September
<br />15, 2000. DMG issued the decision on January 9, 2002. Because of computer problems with the
<br />Department of the Interior, the final AVS check was not accomplished until January 16, 2002.
<br />During the review of PR-04, the Division conducted a complete bond inspection of the mine and
<br />recalculated the reclamation bond liability at $3,117,145.00.
<br />On September 19, 2001, Oxbow Mining, Inc., initiated the process of transferring the coal permit
<br />from that entity to Oxbow Elk Creek, LLC, and then to Oxbow Mining, LLC (OMLLC). This
<br />transfer of permit (SO-05) received approval on October 22, 2001. No comments were received, and
<br />the transfer became effective November 20, 2001.
<br />OMLLC submitted an application for Permit Revision No. 5 (PR-05), received by the Division on
<br />February 15, 2003, to revise the Elk Creek Mine longwall plan and add a 160-acre lease modification
<br />to accommodate a reorientation of the longwall panels. The area of the lease modification was
<br />within the approved permit area. The application was initially found incomplete because the package
<br />did not contain information on the possible effects of subsidence on groundwater and surface water
<br />hydrology. Additional information was submitted and the application was called complete on
<br />August 1, 2002. Upon the submission of a revised D-seam subsidence report for the amended
<br />longwall orientation, PR-05 was approved on January 20, 2003. The federal mine plan approval was
<br />signed June 23, 2003 for mining in the D-seam.
<br />OMLLC submitted an application for permit renewal (RN-04) on February 21, 2003. The submittal
<br />was called complete by the Division on March 3, 2003, thereby securing the right of successive
<br />renewal for the Sanborn Creek Mine. A preliminary adequacy letter was sent to Oxbow Mining LLC
<br />on March 10, 2003. Oxbow submitted materials to satisfy stipulations 25 and 34. A complete bond
<br />inspection was performed and the bond liability was confirmed as $3,117,045.00. RN-04 was
<br />approved on October 3, 2003.
<br />On January 11, 2008, the Division notified Oxbow Mining, LLC of the impending permit renewal
<br />(RN-05) and the need to file a complete application by April 14, 2008. OMLLC subsequently
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