2012-10-04_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981022

• Permit No: C1981022
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 10/4/2012
• Doc Name: Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance ‎(PR-7)‎
• From: DRMS
• To: Oxbow Mining, LLC
• Permit Index Doc Type: Findings
• Email Name: BFB
• Email Name: SB1
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

C- 1981 -022
PR -7 Findings
October 4, 2012
Management.
Surface facilities are located in the Elk Creek, Bear Creek, Hubbard Creek and Sanborn Creek
drainages on the north side of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Mining areas include
workings under the Hubbard, Elk, Bear Creek and Coal Gulch drainages. Proposed workings in
the Sanborn Creek East Tract have undermined A, B, C and Hoopla Gulches, Bardine Canyon,
Hawk's Nest Creek and an unnamed tributary of Thompson Creek. Hubbard Creek is a perennial
tributary of the North Fork and provides both domestic and agricultural supplies of water. Bear
Creek, Elk Creek and Sanborn Creek are intermittent streams. Coal Gulch, the unnamed
drainage, A, B and C Gulches, Hawk's Nest Creek, Hoopla Gulch, Bardine Canyon and
Thompson Creek are all ephemeral drainages that flow to the North Fork.
The North Fork River Basin contains a developed water supply providing agricultural water to
the fruit growing region of the North Fork Valley. The North Fork River enters the main stem of
the Gunnison River approximately 30 miles southwest of the Somerset Mine. The drainage
basin of the North Fork is mountainous, bounded to the west by the Raggeds, the Ruby Range, to
the east by the Huntsman Ridge, to the South by the West Elk Mountains, and to the North by
Grand Mesa. Elevations in the basin range from 13,058 feet atop Mt. Owen in the Ruby Range,
to 5,100 feet at the confluence of the North Fork with the Gunnison River. The town of
Somerset, Colorado, immediately adjacent to the Somerset Mine site, is at an elevation of 6,045
feet.
Ground reconnaissance during 1978, 1979 and 1980 identified Elk No. 1 Spring as the only
location with ground water surfacing within the original Somerset permit area, and this had a
flow rate of less than one gallon per minute. It is concluded that there is no large ground water
reservoir in the area.
Western Slope Carbon identified and monitored 11 springs within or adjacent to the Sanborn
East Tract. Monitoring records are available from 1983 through 1987. Somerset Mining
Company, now Oxbow Mining, LLC, resumed monitoring these springs in July 1992. Springs 1
through 6 are located along the north boundary of the Sanborn East Tract in the northern portion
of Section 2. Springs 7 through 11 are located along the southern boundary of the new tract.
The locations of the springs are shown on Map 2.04 -M5.
With Permit Revision No. 5 (PR -05), Oxbow Mining LLC undertook a new survey of surface
water resources in the Elk Creek Mine tract. While there are no adjudicated water resources in
that tract, the USFS and USBLM requested that OMLLC inventory the resources. Resources
identified were added to Map 2.04 -M5.
The topography of the region is characterized by steep canyons cut by the North Fork of the
Gunnison River and its tributaries, with several remnant alluvial terraces above the valley of the
North Fork. Proceeding downstream below Somerset, Colorado, the canyon widens. At Paonia,
Colorado, the canyon has given way to a broad alluvial plain with interspersed remnant alluvial
terraces. The coal to be mined is located in the Somerset Coal Field. The strata exposed in the
Ge