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MCC's Explosives Handling and Blasting Procedures are presented in Exhibit 41 of <br /> the permit document. Map 53 shows the location of the powder magazine. <br /> Limited application of explosives may be necessary for additional future surface <br /> construction. Pursuant to Rule 4.08.1(2), blasts that use more than five pounds of <br /> explosives or a blasting agent will be conducted according to the blasting schedule <br /> required by 4.08.3. As appropriate, a pre-blasting survey will be performed <br /> (4.08.2). <br /> VII. Disposal of Excess Spoil <br /> 1. The West Elk Mine will not require a disposal area for excess spoil(4.09). <br /> VIII. Coal Mine Waste Banks <br /> The West Elk Mine is currently permitted for five refuse disposal areas—the Lower <br /> Refuse Pile (LRP), the Refuse Pile Expansion(RPE),the Refuse Pile Expansion East <br /> (RPEE), the Upper Refuse Pile and the Lone Pine Refuse Pile. The Upper Refuse Pile <br /> has not been constructed and is on indefinite hold. Specific information on that waste <br /> pile can be found in Exhibit 50 of the permit application package. Construction of the <br /> LRP is complete and a coal processing plant has been constructed on top of it. The <br /> design for the LRP, RPE and RPEE are contained in Exhibits 51, 70 and 82, <br /> respectively. As of 2020 refuse is being disposed of on the RPEE. <br /> The LRP is located adjacent to Highway 133, at the west side of the mouth of Sylvester <br /> Gulch. MCC initially proposed the disposal of waste rock within two waste piles in the <br /> original permit application. One pile, the "initial waste rock pile," would contain <br /> approximately 1.25 million cubic yards and would be located on the lower facilities <br /> bench(the current location of the shop). Subsequent to permit approval, this initial <br /> waste rock pile was deleted from MCC's permit. <br /> In the summer of 1985, MCC submitted an application for PR-3 requesting approval of <br /> a permanent lower waste pile to be located adjoining the mouth of Sylvester Gulch. <br /> This application originally requested approval to permanently dispose of 1.77 million <br /> tons of coal processing waste within the proposed structure. The original design phased <br /> the refuse pile into five specific design layouts (Phases I through V), including <br /> recompaction and reconfiguration of temporarily stored waste material. The pile was <br /> constructed according to this original phased design until the Phase IV configuration. <br /> TR-63 was submitted in November 1992, which eliminated Phase V and reduced the <br /> pile to 1.2 million tons. The proposed storage volume represents a 15.7 year life. The <br /> proposal included the combination of a 28,500 cubic yard topsoil pile during Phases I <br /> through III and a maximum of 45,000 cubic yards of non-toxic soil cover (subsoil) <br /> stockpile. Topsoil removed for Phase IV will be stored on the 50-foot bench <br /> constructed in Phase III. In addition, an access road was constructed in Phase III and a <br /> portion of the Sylvester Gulch access road to the main fan portal was relocated. <br /> Underdrains have been constructed beneath the pile. Piezometric groundwater <br /> monitoring will be conducted. Slopes of the pile will be maintained at 2.5H:IV. <br /> 50 <br />