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Description of the Mine Operation and Reclamation Plan <br />Sizes of Permit Area Disturbed Area and Production Volumes <br />The permit area covers approximately 19,940 acres. Since mining began, cumulative <br />disturbance will total 676.9 acres by the end of this permit term (2012). The portion of the mine <br />to be permitted under the current application at full production is projected to produce <br />approximately 6,000,000 to 11,000,000 tons of run-of-mine coal per year dependent on mining <br />conditions. <br />Mining Method <br />The Foidel Creek Mine was originally permitted as an underground operation employing room <br />and pillar mining on privately owned coal within a 924 acre permit area. TCC referred to the <br />original permit as a pilot project designed to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of <br />underground mining operations on the Wadge coal seam, which was previously surface mined in <br />the portal area and on dip slopes to the south and southwest by TCC's sister company, Colorado <br />Yampa Coal Company (CYCC). Existing surface disturbance along Foidel Creek at the main <br />mine facility area consists of portals, surface support facilities, an office, low-quality coal <br />stockpiles, a processing waste pile, conveyors, a tipple and batch weigh loadout facility, a ROM <br />coal stockpile, two rock dust tanks, an explosives magazine, a rail spur, and sediment control <br />ditches and ponds. A large area of the main facility area was within a disturbed area called the <br />Area 2 pit within the CYCC permit No. C-81-071. Since the completion of mining associated <br />with the No. C-81-071 permit, all pertinent facilities have been transferred to the Foidel Creek <br />mine permit. <br />The Life of Mine (LOM) permit revision (PR-01) application was approved in 1986 to expand <br />the project into a 35-year mining operation utilizing both room and pillar and longwall <br />techniques, with a peak production of approximately 3.5 million tons per year. Upon approval of <br />PR-01, the permit boundary encompassed 13,114 acres and included both federal and privately <br />owned coal. New and expanded surface facilities were required due to Permit Revision No. 1. <br />These facilities included an office/bathhouse complex, new conveyor facilities, a transfer <br />building, and 150,000 ton open coal stockpile and loadout facilities. Additionally, the Fish <br />Creek Borehole dewatering site and associated treatment ponds were installed on Fish Creek, in <br />TSN, R87W, Section 25. This borehole discharges treated water to Fish Creek at outfall 001 of <br />CDPS Permit CO-0042161. <br />Permit Revision No. 2 (PR-02), Southwest Mining District, was approved with stipulations on <br />February 17, 1993. PR-02 approved mining and subsidence in Panels 7, 8, and 9 of the SW <br />mining district. Mining was completed in this area in 1996. <br />Permit Revision No. 3 (PR-03), approved May 9, 1996, allowed mining in the Eastern Mining <br />District of Gate roads 11 Right through 5 Right, construction of the Southwest Development <br />Mains, and extraction of Longwall panels 9 Right through 7 Right. Approval of PR-03 expanded <br />the LOM permit area to 22,694 acres. Extraction of 10,000,000 Tons/year was approved under <br />Technical Revision No. 28, in 1997. <br />roiaei creek Mine 12 June 4, 2010