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2.05.3 <br />2.05.3 Operation Plan - Permit Area <br />(1) Production Methods and Equipment <br />Underground mining will be conducted at the mine in the Cameo Seam by <br />room and pillar mining techniques. Conventional room and pillar mining will <br />utilize continuous miners and shuttle cars with belt haulage. Newly exposed <br />roof will be supported according to an approved roof support plan that <br />recognizes full roof bolting and additional support materials as required due <br />to local conditions. Development mining will generally be in the upper 8 to 10 <br />feet of the seam. Rooms will be driven on retreat with extraction of room and <br />entry pillars. Up to 3 -feet of top coal may be left as a beam to support the <br />mudstones that may be located immediately above the coal roof. Where the <br />seam is thick enough, an additional two to four feet of bottom coal will be <br />mined during the retreat cycle of mining with the objective of extracting 10 <br />feet of the seam. Retreat mining is conducted to attain the maximum <br />recovery consistent with the safety and protection of mine personnel and <br />surface protection. <br />Coal will be loaded from the working face by the continuous miners utilizing <br />shuttle cars that transport the coal to the conveyor belt loading point. <br />Conveyor belts transport the coal to the surface. <br />Five to seven mainline entries will be developed to access the southern <br />reserve. Submains, typically consisting of five entries will then be driven to <br />access the areas where production panels will be developed. As areas of the <br />reserves are extracted, the submains and mains will be sealed as necessary <br />to minimize the amount of ventilation that is required for inactive areas of the <br />mine. <br />Dependent on mining conditions, the mainline entry and crosscut spacing as <br />well as those for the submains will vary from 75 feet to 200 feet. Entry width <br />will be from 16 feet to 20 feet. A typical cross section for the five entry <br />system is shown in Figure 2.1.2. <br />The production panels will be approximately 400 to 600 feet wide. Widths will <br />vary to allow for more efficient extraction of the irregularly shaped reserve <br />blocks. The length of the production panels will also vary to fit the outline of <br />the area to be mined. Production panels will be mined using room and pillar <br />PR -02 2.05-3- 10/12 <br />