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OPERATION PLAN <br />Introduction <br />This section describes the details of the mining plan which is to be used from 2012-2020. The <br />mining methods, including overburden and coal removal, coal supply agreement, and mining <br />equipment are described. The total disturbance area is approximately 279 acres out of the entire <br />328 acre permit area. <br />2.05.3(1) Production Methods and Equipment <br />The New Horizon North Mine will be a surface coal mine with truck -shovel operation. Table <br />2.05.3-1 gives a list of major equipment to be employed for mining activities. Table 2.05.3-2 <br />gives estimates of annual acres mined, coal and overburden removed and virgin ratios. <br />2.05.3(2) Detailed Operation Description <br />Mining at the New Horizon North (NHN) Mine will occur by surface mining methods. The <br />primary coal seam to be recovered is the Lower Dakota seam; however, the Upper Dakota seam <br />will be recovered if it is thick enough and of sufficient quality. Maximum overburden depth will <br />approach 100 feet. Mining cuts will have a generally east -west orientation and will progress <br />northward. <br />Mining activities are estimated to begin in mid -2013. Excavation for coal mining will be <br />performed by dozers, trucks and one shovel. The mine sequence is to first remove the topsoil <br />with dozers, shovels and loaders loading trucks which take the material to designated stockpiles <br />or to the regraded area behind the pit for reclamation. A haul road around the pit is used for this <br />operation. Soft upper overburden may be removed by shovels and trucks and taken to the back of <br />the pit for backfilling using the same loop road. This road moves exactly as the pit moves. <br />Lower overburden is usually blasted and loaded with a shovel and placed behind the pit for <br />backfilling. At the back of the pit, large dozers re -grade the spoil overburden from the shovels <br />and the trucks to the approximate original contour. The exposed coal is loaded with a rubber <br />tired front end loader into over the highway haul trucks which take the coal to the nearby power <br />plant in Nucla operated by Tri-State. The anticipated mining schedule for each area where <br />mining will occur is graphically shown on Map 2.05.2-1. Dates for actual mine progress and <br />termination are based on many variables and the progress shown on Map 2.05.2-1 is only <br />approximate. A cross section of the typical pit is shown on Map 2.05.3-1. <br />Mining will begin along the northern boundary of the currently reclaimed New Horizon 1 Mine <br />area and a panel mining method will be used to develop the pits (see Map 2.05.2-1). The panels <br />(cuts) will vary in length and width according to conditions. Panel lengths will approach 2,200 <br />feet and the panel width will vary from 100 to 120 feet. A bottom pit width of 120 feet is the <br />Section 2.05.3 Page 1 August 2015 (MR -15) <br />