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-51- <br /> Coal is produced from two seams: The Coal Basin seam, or "B" bed, in which <br /> the Coal Basin (No. 5), L.S. Wood (No. 3), Dutch Creek (No. 1 ) , and Bear Creek <br /> (No. 4) mines are located; and the Dutch Creek Seam, or "Middle" bed, which <br /> lies stratigraphically 450' above and "B" bed, and in which the Dutch Creek <br /> (No. 2) mine is located. <br /> The mine portals are located at elevations above 10,000 feet and the workings <br /> now extend to 3,000 feet. Mining conditions are difficult and adverse due to <br /> the 10 to 15 degree dip of the coal seams, the extreme depth of the seams, <br /> numerous geological faults throughout the area, and the existence of large <br /> amounts of methane gas. <br /> Two general types of underground mining methods are utilized to produce coal <br /> at Coal Basin. They are the room and pillar and the longwall methods. All <br /> coal is transported from the mining section to the surface via belt conveyors <br /> and placed in temporary storage bins of up to 1 ,000 tons capacity near the <br /> mine portals. Men and materials are transported into and out of the mines via <br /> slope hoists and/or self-propelled mantrip vehicles. Each mine is ventilated <br /> with a separate split of air. Roof control is accomplished principally with <br /> roof bolts; however, other means, including posts, cribs and arches, are <br /> used. In pillar sections and longwall panels, the roof is allowed to cave <br /> after mining. <br /> The run-of-mine coal is transported from the mine portal bins to the <br /> preparation plant in off-highway diesel powered trucks. Each of the mines is <br /> located approximately 4 miles from the preparation plant. At the preparation <br /> plant, rock and refuse materials are removed from the coal by gravity <br /> separation methods and froth flotation. After cleaning, the coal is thermally <br /> dried and placed in clean coal storage bins. From there, it is transported <br /> approximately 22 miles to the unit train load-out station at Carbondale by <br /> semi-trucks. Rock and refuse materials removed from the coal at the <br /> preparation plant is to be transported to the new refuse pile by conveyors. <br /> The new refuse pile is located approximately 1/4 mile from the preparation <br /> plant. <br /> Mid-Continent plans to mine between 800,000 and 1 ,300,000 tons of coal per <br /> year from its Coal Basin Mines for the next 40 years. It is estimated that <br /> there are at least 40,000,000 tons of recoverable coal in the two minable <br /> seams within the Federal coal leases and privately owned lands available to <br /> the company in the mine plan area. Mining operations will be conducted in the <br /> two commercially minable coal seams of the Mesaverde Group located in Coal <br /> Basin. These seams are the Coal Basin seam, or "B" bed, and the Dutch Creek <br /> seam, or "Middle" bed. The "Middle" bed overlies the "B" bed <br /> stratigraphically by about 450 feet. There are no other known commercially <br /> minable coal seams in Coal Basin. The coal seams outcrop along the sides of <br /> the Basin at elevations ranging from approximately 9,500 feet to 10,700 feet. <br />