New technical reportEW ELK COAL
41
January 25 2011
COMPANY
Kent Gorham
Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety ejjVID
1313 Sherman St Room 215
Denver CO 80203 JAS 2 J0AA
n
Technical Revision No 55
Bates Portal
Dear Mr Gorham
The New Elk Mine is proposing to develop new portals and slope declines to access
the Blue Seam The Blue Seam has been identified as a mineable metallurgical coal
reserve The reserve is located to the east and to the north of the mine plan area The
new portals will be referred to as the Bates Portals
Description of Revision
The Bates Portals will be located southeast of the silos The portal face up requires
about a 45 foot high cut Cut slopes in common material are excavated15HAV Cut
slopes in rock are excavated at a025HAV Rock bolts wire mesh and shotcrete will
be used as necessary to stabilize the cut slope Three declined slope entries will be
driven in an easterly direction approximately 425 feet to the Blue Seam Blue Seam
mining will be addressed in a separate permit revision
Storage Areas
The reclamation area located west of pond 1 will be used as a subsoil and topsoil
storage area Topsoil will be removed from the east side to the reclamation area and
stockpiled on the west site topsoil stockpile3 Subsoil will be stored in subsoil pile
1 Bedrock subsoil will be stored on the west side of the reclamation area in subsoil
pile 2
122 W First Street PHONE 719 0804950
Trinidad CO 81082 FAX 719 0804757
MenrL rconthomopson@mnewelkcoal
Page 2
Mine Water Inflow
As stated in section 01264 no significant aquifers were encountered during the
course of development and production at the New Elk Mine and none are expected in
the slopes to the Blue Seam Water from the slopes will be pumped to pond 1 as
provided for in the permit
Right of Entry
The new portals and slopes are all within the current and approved permit boundary
Disturbed Affected Area
Most of the area affected by the new portals is within areas classified as disturbed
The portal face up will disturb an additional 157 acres The slopes will affect 113
acres for a total affected area of27 acres A 120 foot section of the upper diversion
ditch D26 was moved about 10 feet to the southwest to provide room for portal
construction The flume located east of the proposed portals will be replaced with a
24 diameter culvert The existing concrete structures associated with the flume
installation will be reused
Drill Lo
A drill log from a hole drilled into the Bates Mine portal area1N06Eis enclosed
With regard to the slope entries this drill log provides the nature depth and thickness
of the coal seams to be mined any coal or rider seams above the seams to be mined
each stratum of the overburden and the stratum immediately below the lowest coal
seam to be mined Experience on site dictates that the makeup of these materials and
the analysis of the coal is not indicative of the components of that would potentially
lead to acidic runoff or adversely affect groundwater quality
Soils
Map 9 classifies the soil in the area as P3EVFDauarrengreoarl Complex
Vegetation
Map 10 classifies the vegetation south of the Bates Mine portal as PO Ponderosa Pine
Oak
Facilities
New facilities for the Bates Portals include beltlines transfer tower ventilation fan
access and light use roads retaining walls ditches and culverts Also included in this
technical revision are a power line and a replacement ventilation fan for the west portal
east portal intake air heaters with the associated propane tank portable truck scales
and a two mine dewatering pumps The temporary dispach building at the east portals
will be relocated to the mine entrance to serve as a guard house
Page 3
Bond
A reclamation bond estimate is included Exhibit 28 pages 157 169
If you require any further information please contact me
Sincerely
bL
Ronald Thompson
Mine Superintendent
Enclosures
Permit Pages0294 10
Permit Pages0425a5d 5e 6 6a 10 10ae 11 14 14a 23 24
0425646a 46e
Map 11 New Elk Mine Site Portal
Sheet 1 East Portal Roads Slope Track and Cut Areas
Sheet 2 East Portal Utilities
Sheet 3 East Portal Facilities
Map 12 New Elk Mine West Portal Site Area Roads Utilities and Facilities
Exhibit 28 Bond Calculations pages 15679
Exhibit 8 Geology and Hydrology Addendum 1N06E Core Log
Confidential
Exhibit 19 Exhibit 19 16 Protection of the Hydrologic Balance Bates Portal
and Subsoils Pile 2
Acrobat).