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<br />Daub & Associates, Inc. Page 3-2 2015 NS Mine Plan Modification <br />1/5/2016 Section 3 General Site Conditions <br />3.2.2. Bulk Sampling Program <br />Permit applications to allow construction and operation of a three ton per day (tpy) <br />nahcolite bulk sampling facility were submitted on April 4, 1983. Approvals to begin <br />construction were granted by the BLM on May 26, 1983. Shortly thereafter, two <br />production wells and one monitoring well were drilled. In early November of 1983, <br />plant construction was completed and nahcolite bulk sampling by solution extraction <br />began. The facility operated from early November 1983 until mid-February 1984, <br />producing in excess of 165 tons of high purity sodium bicarbonate. <br />The Bulk Sampling Operation successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of <br />solution mining in extracting deep-bedded nahcolite resources. In addition, the <br />results of monitoring and pressurization tests proved that solution mining of the <br />Boies Bed (BB) could be conducted without impacting ground water present in the <br />Dissolution Surface (DS) Aquifer. The program also provided insight into the design <br />of an effective recrystallization flow sheet which was further refined into a future <br />solution mining program. <br />Wells constructed on the bulk sampling site have been converted to monitoring wells <br />or plugged and abandoned. The bulk sample site was re-contoured and <br />successfully vegetated. <br />3.2.3. Project Approval History <br />Permit applications to allow construction and operation of a three ton-per-hour TPH <br />pilot solution mining facility were submitted on October 4, 1983 and approved <br />February 9, 1984. On May 2, 1986 an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a six <br />TPH pilot-scale operation was approved by the BLM. On November 20, 1987 the <br />BLM approved the NaTec Mine Plan for a commercial-scale (125,000 tons per year) <br />nahcolite solution mine. Construction started in May of 1990 for the process <br />facilities. <br />On July 8, 2010, a Technical Revision (TR-30) application for Permit No. <br />M-1983-194 was submitted to the Colorado DRMS. The purpose of the TR-30 was