1994-10-17_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017

• Permit No: C1981017
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Date: 10/17/1994
• Doc Name: Bid Documents ‎(IMP)‎
• Permit Index Doc Type: General Correspondence
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

C-0115606 C-9004
C-0125456 C-9005
C-0125457 C-011646
C-12640 C-030345
C-074632
OCT 1 t 1994
Memorandum
To: The Files
From: GJRA Mining Engineer
Subject: Abandonment Report of Federal Coal Leases, Mid-Continent
Resources, Inc. , Coal Basin Mines
On October 3, 1994, an abandonment inspection was performed on the nine
Federal coal leases formerly held by Mid-Continent Resources, Inc. The
inspection was in response to the lessee relinquishing the leases via an Order
Granting Motion to Reject filed in Bankruptcy Court on October 19, 1992.
Present for the inspection were Ed Ginouves, BLM GJRA Mining Engineer, Bruce
Fowler, GJRA Geologist, and Steve Renner, Reclamation Specialist for the State
of Colorado, Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) . All surface disturbances
related to mining operations at the Coal Basin Mines were covered by DMG
permit and no attempt was made to account for lease specific reclamation other
than to verify that access to the Federal coal resource had been properly
sealed.
While the Coal Basin Mine Permit encompassed eight of the nine Federal coal
leases held by Mid-Continent, only four of the Federal leases (C-09004, C-
09005, C-011646, and C-0125457) have ever been impacted by surface or
underground disturbances related to mine operations. All exploration holes
drilled on the leases have been properly abandoned and released. Careful
examination of the mine maps and the fee/Federal property boundaries show a
total of 53 separate entries to underground workings. The distribution of
these entries between the five mines comprising the Coal Basin Mines in given
in Table 1. Although all of the entries connect to underground workings that
eventually lead to one or more of the four Federal leases, only thirteen of
these entries are located on Federal coal, and these are all on the outcrop
lease C-09005. All entries located on the C-09005, that were not shown as
previously sealed on the mine map, were visited during the inspection. All
were found to be backfilled with incombustible fill or sealed with a double
wall of solid concrete blocks. On October 11, I telephoned Tony Gabosi, an
MSHA inspector located at the MSHA District Office in Price, Utah who
personally inspected all the sealed entries. Mr. Gobosi confirmed that the
work done on the entries satisfied the current regulatory standard for sealing
of mines as given at 30 CFR 75.1711.
The principal access to the Federal coal reserves since 1988 has been the twin
set of rock tunnels. These tunnels are not portalled on any of the Federal
leases but intersect Federal lease C-09005 some 13,000 feet inby the portals
where they intersect the B and M beds. The tunnels provided access to the
Dutch Creek No. 1 and No. 2 mine workings. The original sealing plan for
these tunnels called for water-tight reinforced concrete bulkheads to be
constructed above and below the Cozzette, Rollins, and Middle sandstones, as
well as at the portals. Because the mine workings are draining water at the
rate of several hundred gallons/min. , these bulkheads would eventually be
under hundreds of feet of head. This plan was modified to provide for