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Mining is planned to commence approximately August 1, 2014 and continue for approximately <br /> ten years. Existing roads will be used for mine access. No new road construction is planned. <br /> All surface disturbances will occur on leased patented mining claims. No Federal lands will be <br /> disturbed. New ground disturbance will be restricted to within the historic open pit and on the <br /> adjacent historic waste dump. Current planning indicates approximately 9.68 acres will <br /> eventually be disturbed, 5.8 acres in the open pit and 3.88 acres on the existing waste dump. <br /> Mining and Processing <br /> The ore at Crystal Hill occurs in an outcropping, cone shaped, mineralized and altered breccia <br /> pipe. The breccia pipe is exposed in the bottom and east sides of the existing open pit. The <br /> country rock surrounding the breccia pipe ranges from coarsely jointed, unaltered quartz latite <br /> on the eastern side to weakly consolidated, broken, flat-lying agglomerates on the western <br /> side. The more erosion resistant quartz latite forms the mass of Crystal Hill and much of the <br /> high wall of the open pit. No soil exists in the open pit or on the existing waste dumps. <br /> Approximately 100 feet of the breccia pipe will be mined from its present surface exposures, <br /> approximately 9,000 feet elevation, to approximately 8,900 feet elevation by conventional <br /> open pit methods. Less than 35,000 tons of material will be mined per year and mining will be <br /> occurring less than 180 days per year. Crawler type tractors will be used to break and move the <br /> ore.The fragmented ore will be screened on-site,the fines loaded with a front-end loader into <br /> trucks and transported to an off-site mill. All mining should be completed within ten years, <br /> however, this projected time frame is tentative and based only on projections from historic <br /> resource estimates. Due to the geologic character of the Crystal Hill ore body, additional <br /> precious metal bearing rock may be found below and adjacent to the planned pit floor. <br /> The historic open pit has been engineered with slopes consistent with modern safe mining <br /> practices. A geotechnical slope stability analysis is located at the end of this Exhibit. No <br /> subsurface water was encountered by previous operators while enlarging the open pit or in <br /> groundwater monitoring wells. The western side of the pit is day lighted and has topographic <br /> closure. This condition will continue to exist as the pit is deepened. No acid mine drainage <br /> exists, or emanates from the open pit inasmuch as the sulfide minerals and water necessary to <br /> produce acid effluent do not exist in the present ore zone at Crystal Hill. <br /> Any mine waste, overburden and below ore-grade mineralized rock, generated during mining <br /> operations, will be placed on the adjacent, existing mine waste disposal area. Waste material <br /> will be stacked at the angle of repose. The broken and angular nature of the rock will provide <br /> for maximum permeability providing good drainage of the waste dumps and minimum water <br /> retention. Elimination of water from the dump should provide for maximum stabilization. The <br /> waste disposal area will be maintained in accordance with good engineering practices and State <br /> laws. <br />