2009-11-16_INSPECTION - C1981033

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III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. 10 day review period, called SL -4 complete on September 21, 2009. Completeness letters were sent out to the Bear Coal Company, the surface owners, the BLM and the Office of Surface Mining. Included in the completeness letters was notification that, weather permitting, the bond release inspection would be held on N6vember 3, 2009 at 9 am. Bear No. 3 Mine Backgroun i The Bear No. 3 mining operation is located approximately ten miles northeast of Paonia, Colorado, and one quarter mile east of Somerset, Colorado, adjacent to the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The Bear No. 3 Mine is ;accessed from State Highway 133 just east of Somerset, Colorado. TlI e original permit C -81 -033 for Bear No. 3 was issued on July 19, 1982. Coal was extracted from the B and C Seams within Bear fee coal and within Federal Coal Leases D- 052501, C0057632, C0057633 and C- 0117192. At the Bear No. 3 Mine, the average annual production ranged from 250,000 to 500,000 tons of coal using the room an d pillar method. The Bear No. 3 Mine was not the first coal mine operation at this site. Previous mining operators began mining in 1934 in the lower coal seam, called the B Seam and progressed later into the upper coal seam, called the C Seam. The B Seam and the C Seam coal beds were accessed by way of portals in each of the coal beds, although several raises were constructed later between the B Seam and the C Seam to facilitate coal haulage out of the mine. Various names have been given to these mining operations and various coal companies have done the mining. In general, however, the pre -Bear No. 3 mine is now called the Edwards /Clark Mine. Coal mining eventually ceased in the Edwards /Clark Mine in 1965. following summary regarding the underground mining details is based upon information provided by BCC. :n BCC started the Bear No. 3 Mine in the early 1980's, the operator decided to use three of the old ards /Clark Mine C -seam portals for access to the C -seam coal, rather than construct their own portals. The ator rehabilitated and widened the Edwards /Clark portal access road to gain access to the Edwards /Clark ils. The Bear No. 3 Mine startup also involved cleaning up the cave -ins in the former C -seam mains of the ards /Clark Mine that drove south for 2500 feet. Small side panels in the C -seam mains were mined out by ' in order to provide storage places for disposal of the cave -in material. After they were filled in, these side .ge areas were sealed. No other mining in the Edwards /Clark Mine was done by BCC, although one of the s from the C -seam to the B -seam was filled in by BCC. The three Bear No. 3 portals were used for the he, the air intake and for the exhaust fan. Retaining walls were constructed at the exhaust fan site and at the he and air intake portals area. BCC constructed facilities for the operation of the mine. A sediment control system was built, comprised of a sediment pond, culverts, ditches and a flood control berm along the river. A mine office/bathhouse, shop, two warehouses and a substation with transformer and powerlines were constructed on the level facilities area. On the steep hillside where the Bear No. 3 portals were located, a ventilation fan was positioned at the east portal. Also on the hillslope, a conveyor system brought coal down to the facilities area, where a stacker tube for the stockpiling of coal was located. Two light use roads led from the portal access road to the conveyor. A reclaim tunnel under the coal stockpile was used to bring coal up from the coal stockpile to a loadout bin for the loading of coal haul trucks. An above - ground fuel facility was also constructed on the facilities area. Certain zones of the facilities area were designated for the temporary placement of non -coal waste, coal waste material, topsoil and mine equipment. There was no permanent storage of coal waste on site. Rather, the coal waste was permanently 3