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Climate at the loadout is similar to that of the mine site, but slightly dryer due to reduced <br />elevation. <br />All soils and native vegetation have been previously removed from the loadout site. Weeds <br />and volunteer species persist, especially on the fringes of the disturbance. The site has no <br />natural wildlife habitat and the site is fenced to prevent access of domestic animals and big <br />game. <br />Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br />Of the 3,585 acres originally permitted at the New Elk Mine, 155 acres were already disturbed <br />for working areas and facilities. Permit Revision #1 added 120 acres to the permit area, of <br />which 36 acres were affected by new, proposed surface facilities. The resulting permit area <br />encompassed 3,705 acres with 191 acres of surface disturbance. No disturbed acreage has <br />been fully released from bond as of January 2011. A large area south of Highway 12 was <br />released of further liability as per Division written policy for release of areas overlying <br />underground workings(SL -01). Included in this area are two small areas of surface <br />disturbance, the Apache Canyon ventilation shafts, which were transferred to the Golden <br />Eagle mine permit, #C -81 -013. The resulting permit area totaled about 900 acres. In 2006, <br />the Division approved a Phase I bond release for 35.14 acres at the mine site (SL -02). <br />Technical Revision No. 50, approved in 2009, added 698 acres to the permit area to include <br />both the upper and the lower Apache Canyon ventilation shafts( previously transferred to the <br />Golden Eagle mine) back into the New Elk permit area. The vast majority of the 698 acres <br />added was necessary only to include the gate road development from the portal to each shaft <br />location. Only two acres of the 698 acres are classified as disturbed. <br />The existing operation at the time of original permitting consisted of several benches used for <br />storage, office building, shop buildings, railroad tracks, 2 portals, conveyors, coal silos, <br />substations, fans, air shafts, a water tank, a parking lot, four sediment ponds, ditches, culverts, <br />roads, and a refuse disposal area. Surface facilities added as a result of permitting actions <br />included a refuse disposal valley fill and sediment pond north of Colorado Highway 12, two <br />new topsoil stockpiles, coal stockpiles, conveyors, and a preparation plant and thickener tank. <br />Presently, the New Elk facility is going through a rehabilitation phase in anticipation of future <br />mining of coal. Technical Revision No. 56 (TR -56) approved limited mining to the south in the <br />Apache coal seam in the Division of Wildlife lease, increasing the permit boundary by 22.5 <br />acres, and mining in the Allen seam to the north and east within the existing permit boundary. <br />All mining approved under TR -56 was primary mining only, with no secondary pillar recovery , <br />therefore, no subsidence was planned or approved under TR -56. Permit Revision No. 2 (PR- <br />02) proposes additional mining in the Allen and Apache seam seams in the expanded permit <br />boundary in coal owned by the State of Colorado under the Bosque del Oso State Wildlife <br />Area. The expanded permit boundary as a result of PR -02 establishes the mine site permit <br />boundary back to the historic boundary prior to SL -01 which released a large surface area from <br />liability over old mine workings. Mining approved under PR -02 will extend Allen seam mining <br />into Section 24 and extend Apache seam mining to the south and east into Sections 25, 26, <br />5 <br />