_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017 (217)

Home Browse Search

• BEN Or IN REPLY REFER M United States Department of the Interior ° BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT 3482 GRAND JUNCTION DISTRICT C-09004 764 HORIZON DRIVE (7-123) GRAND JUNCTION,COLORADO 81501 October 15, 1985 Mr. George Wear Director, Special Projects Mid-Continent Resources, Inc. 201 Centennial St. , Suite 406 Glenwood Springs, CO 81601 Dear Mr. Wear: In response to questions from the Branch of Solid Minerals, you recently submitted a minor modification to your approved resource recovery and protection plan. The No. 3 Mine Main Slope will be realigned and the No. 1 Mine longwall panels subsequent to panel 103 will be shortened to avoid a fault zone. Additionally, panel development in the No. 2 Mine has been reoriented to avoid the same fault zone and the Main Slope will be turned downdip to overlay the No. 1 Mine slopes and to intersect the rock tunnel. The modification will create no adverse environmental impact, improve safety, coal recovery, and future coal recovery potential. Accordingly, the minor modification is approved with the following stipulation: This minor modification is approved for only that area within your current Mine Permit. As currently projected longwall panels 104, 208, and 209; extension of the No. 2 Mine Main Slope downdip of the fault; development of a set submains from the No. 2 Mine Main Slope to 5 North Left; and two longwall panels in secs. 19 and 20, T. 10 S. , R. 89 W. (coal leases C-011646 and C-0125457) are outside your current Permit Area and will require a permit revision. Additionally, the area being considered for hydraulic mining is considered to be a major modification and will require a permit revision. An examination of the Dutch Creek No. 2 Mine on September 26, 1985, by Matt McColm, Branch of Solid Minerals, accompanied by Tom Johansen noted that, due to a rock split, panels 206 and 207 are being developed approximately 1000 feet shorter on the north end than the projections shown on the Sequence of Operation Figure II-A-3 submitted with your minor modification. The split, encountered during development of panels 204 and 206, appears at the floor and rapidly thickens to at least 4 feet, but does not appear on any maps in our files. Coal above the split is not of minable thickness. Accordingly, a minor modification to shorten panels 206 and 207 is approved with the stipulation that subsequent panels are to be developed as close as practicable to the rock split. The rock split shall be shown on future maps, as appropriate.