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there is definitively no need for additional support methods other than designed and presented <br /> pillars herein. <br /> Conclusions <br /> Minor exfoliation fractures along the surface of the highwall are observable and small scale <br /> debris liberated from such areas as the result of freeze and thaw of winter precipitation is <br /> routinely scaled from the highwall each spring. Debris from freeze thaw conditions does not pose <br /> a threat as it is managed annually by the Operator and is continually assessed. Exfoliation <br /> fractures are annually monitored and have been in existence on site since the beginning of <br /> mining as declared by the Operator based on family oral tradition. A lack of movement over a <br /> nearly 100-year period of continuous mining lends to the interpretation that exfoliation fractures <br /> are structurally sound contingent on an absence of drill and blast mining techniques along the <br /> underground mining and processing areas. <br /> Additional fractures within the underground workings as well as along the exposed highwall also <br /> do not pose a threat of collapse for multiple reasons. The fractures are oriented such that in the <br /> very unlikely case that failure would occur, wedges of rock bodies would move `into' the rock <br /> mass as fracture dips are oriented towards one another and not away. A wedge that tapers down <br /> would be the result of movement and would fit snugly within the intact Silver Plume granitic <br /> batholith of the hill being quarried. <br /> Fractures and joints also do not show significant water seepage with the exception of the <br /> fractures that extend to the exposed face of the highwall where precipitation events readily wet <br /> these day-lighted surface fractures. The orientation of surface highwall fractures are dominantly <br /> north-south or sub to such orientations and are perpendicular to the direction of opening and are <br /> of high angles. If failure along these surface fractures was to occur, liberated rock masses would <br /> experience minimal to no actual movement as masses settled into a new subsided position <br /> parallel to the fracture orientation. Lastly, the dominantly exclusive majority of fractures seen <br /> along the underground workings highwall do not penetrate further than 20 feet into the <br /> underground workings of the mine and do not appear to extend upwards towards the top of the <br /> mined hill. Therefore, especially when considering drill and blast mining, increased fracturing <br /> Rose Red Quarry Geotechnical Report 19 t"M I „„k,and As­W,,,PIA <br />