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and distributed it to the parties. The Board adopted the prehearing order at the March 25, <br /> 2015 hearing. <br /> 7. At its March 25, 2015 hearing, the Board convened a hearing on the <br /> Application. Objectors Dr. Greg Arehart and Charles Clemen, PE testified at the hearing. <br /> Based on evidence and testimony presented,the Board approved the Application over <br /> objections. The Board issued a written order approving the Application, effective April 20, <br /> 2015 ("April 2015 Order"). <br /> 8. The Application describes a proposed surface mining operation that entails <br /> removing the overburden,mining Mancos Shale,and on-site processing of the shale to <br /> include screening and vat-leaching of mined materials with water for the purpose of <br /> producing an organic food-grade mineral product. The mining operation will be located on <br /> 34.11 acres and the Applicant estimates that the mining operation will disturb <br /> approximately eight(8) acres. Development of the site,as described in the Application,will <br /> entail improvement of an existing dirt access road to a twenty-four foot (24') wide concrete <br /> road and construction of two (2) identical side-by-side steel buildings, each to be one <br /> hundred twenty feet(120') long, seventy-four feet(74`)wide,with twenty-three foot(23') <br /> sidewalls. The Applicant intends to use the steel buildings to house eighteen (18) 6,000- <br /> gallon food-grade storage tanks. The Applicant estimates that up to 465,000 cubic yards of <br /> minable Mancos Shale exists on the site and will be extracted over the 40-year projected <br /> life of the mine. <br /> 9. As described in the mining plan in the Application, excavated Mancos Shale <br /> will be screened,transported to the leach building, and dumped into below-floor level leach <br /> pits that will be ten feet (10') wide, six feet (6) deep, and sixty feet(60') long. The fines <br /> from the screening process will be bagged and stored on-site before being shipped off the <br /> property and sold as fertilizer. When the leach pits are full,the Applicant intends to add <br /> water to the material. The Applicant will collect the leach water and store it in the 6,000- <br /> gallon storage tanks. <br /> 10. As described in the Application,toxic or acidic chemicals used in extractive <br /> metallurgical processing will not be used or present on-site, acid- or toxic-forming <br /> materials will not be exposed or disturbed by the mining operation,and the mining <br /> operation will not develop or extract uranium. The proposed mining operation,as <br /> described in the Application and by the Applicant's testimony at the hearing,will not <br /> expose or disturb acid- or toxic-forming materials; or develop or extract uranium. <br /> 11. As described in the reclamation plan in the Application,Applicant will lower <br /> the high part of the mesa within the property boundary,raise the lower flanks of the mesa, <br /> and level as much of the land as possible. The leached shale will be collected and used for <br /> backfill and leveling at the site. The Applicant will reclaim the affected land concurrently <br /> with mining operations such that no more than three (3) acres will not be reclaimed at any <br /> given time. The reclamation plan in the Application states,the Applicant testified at the <br /> hearing, that the reclaimed land will be a relatively flat area suitable for eventual residential <br /> Magzuma Minerals,LLC <br /> Magzuma Minerals Mine/M-2014-065 2 <br />