Mining Project Experience
Yankee Gulch Sodium Minerals Project
Steigers Corporation managed the entire environmental and permitting program for American Soda's new solution mining operation located on BLM and private lands in Colorado. The project includes a 5,000-acre mine site, dual 44-mile-long solution pipelines, processing plants, rail spur, transmission lines, and gas supply pipeline. All necessary permits were obtained and the Environmental Impact Statement process completed for the Yankee Gulch solution mining project in less than 18 months, despite appeals and intense opposition to the project.
From exploration through test phases to construction of the commercial facility, Steigers provided the leadership and commitment to get this project permitted and into construction on time. We developed the mine plan and obtained more than 50 federal, state, and county permits and approvals. These approvals included Prevention of Significant Deterioration air quality permits, underground injection permits, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Statement, a state mining and reclamation permit, county special use permits, and a host of others. We managed the environmental field study programs, including cultural resources, wildlife, wetlands, groundwater quality, and threatened and endangered species, among many others. We also designed, negotiated, and prepared an array of mitigation and monitoring plans from wildlife mitigation to reclamation to emergency response planning.
If the target date for start of production had slipped, an entire year of product sales could have been lost. Although there were many difficult issues, including subsidence, groundwater impacts, and air quality impacts, we got the issues resolved and the problems solved to the satisfaction of our client and the agencies.
Despite substantial opposition and permit appeals, our dedication, experience, and solid relationships with the agencies ultimately allowed us to complete the complicated environmental program so that construction could begin in time to meet the target production date.West Elk Mine
Possible wetland mitigation site for the West Elk Mine
Our staff was responsible for two major permitting efforts at the West Elk Mine in Somerset, Colorado. The first involved construction of new coal mine support facilities, including roads, a large substation, a 115-kV transmission line, and three large ventilation shafts. The second permitting effort entailed adding approximately 1,200 acres of U.S. Bureau of Land Management coal leases to the existing permit area. Steigers Corporation staff managed the collection of baseline studies of soils, vegetation, hydrology, wildlife, archaeology, and wetlands for the permits. Significant revision to the state mining and reclamation permit, county permits, air permits, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System amendments, and Section 404 permits were necessary for the surface facilities project. Some of the same permits were also required for the addition of the new mining area. In addition, because these were federal lands, mine plan approvals were also needed from the Office of Surface Mining, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service. Much of the review for the permits for the addition of the new mining area focused on subsidence and its potential impact on hydrology, soils, vegetation, and wildlife. Because the environmental studies and permit applications were so thorough, all permits were obtained and construction began as scheduled.
Usibelli Coal Mine
Coal is moved across the Nenana River to the tipple loadout for rail transport.
We conducted a feasibility analysis for the construction and operation of a coal processing/beneficiation plant to improve combustion and export characteristics of sub-bituminous coal from the Usibelli Coal Mine in Alaska. This process involved assessing emissions and modeling potential air quality impacts. Of particular concern was the project's close proximity to Denali National Park and Preserve, a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Class I area. Steigers Corporation assessed the emissions and analyzed the air quality impacts from a coal/diesel-fired boiler and a coal-handling system. The project investigated the feasibility of siting and permitting the facility at various locations at or near the mine property.
