2008-02-22_REVISION - C1981038 (11)

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UNIT TRAIN LOADOUT Unit Train Loadout History The unit train loadout, located along State Highway 133 just east of Paonia, was built to receive coal by haul trucks and load and ship coal by railcar from the Orchard Valley Mine. The Orchard Valley Mine and train loadout began operations in 1975 before passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). In 1994, the permit was transferred to its current permittee, Bowie Resources LLC and the mine was renamed the Bowie No. I Mine. Mining eventually ceased at the Bowie No. 1 M ine in December 1997. However, the Bowie No. 1 Mine train loadout continued operations by shipping out coal that had been mined at the Bowie No. 2 Mine. This continued until a new unit train loadout was constructed for the Bowie No. 2 Mine in 2002. Small shipments of specialty coal from Bowie No. 2 went through the Bowie No. I Mine unit train loadout for a while but, eventually, the Bowie No. I Mine unit train loadout was permanently shut down. Unit Train Loadout Facilities Operation Description The coal haul truck unloading facilities were located on the west side of the train loadout facilities bench. During its operational phase, coal haul trucks used a paved truck loop to go to the steel covered truck unloading building where they bottom dumped the coal into the concrete tunnel that fed the conveyor system. The coal was delivered eastward to the top of the concrete silos by means of a covered elevating conveyor. Each of the concrete silos was 110 feet in height and 70 feet in diameter and held up to 7,000 tons of coal per silo. The three silos were connected on top by short sections of covered conveyor. A covered elevated conveyor transferred coal from the silos to the steel sided train loading structure that was located on the east side of the loadout facilities. The steel sided train loading structure was 70 feet tall, 45 feet long and 48 feet wide and contained a 250 ton surge bin and a loading chute. Additional structures at the loadout included a truck scale, steel shop building, fuel facility and a fenced- in substation. The railroad spur is 2.4 miles long and includes a wye off of the main line and a bridge over the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Unit Train Loadout Bond Release Inspection The bond release inspection began at the west end of the train loadout facilities bench. The entrance gates and fence, paved haul road sections and the scale house remain. The truck unloading building superstructure had been demolished and removed otfsite. The underground tunnel for the truck unloading structure had been filled up with material but the concrete footers and tunnel sides were still in place. The fuel facility with the 12,000 gallon fuel tank was gone, replaced, however, by a contractor's fuel tank. Many pieces of mining and drilling equipment were still on site in this area. The covered elevating conveyor, support struts and motor control center building superstructure were gone from the site, as was the skid mounted motor control center. The concrete silos had been taken down in pieces and crushed to gravel size for use as underground road base at the Bowie No. 2 Mine. Most of the concrete gravel had already been removed from the site. The two motor control center building 4