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Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br /> The current permit area covers 11,293.79 acres. This PR12 application will allow the company to <br /> continue mining and reclamation as currently approved. <br /> Mining Method <br /> Total cumulative coal production over the life of the Trapper mine is projected to be a maximum of <br /> 74 million tons. Coal mining occurs at the Trapper Mine using surface mining methods and auger <br /> mining. For surface mining, draglines remove overburden and interburden,while front-end loaders <br /> and haul trucks remove the coal seams. Trapper Mining, Inc. has historically oriented the pits north- <br /> south,parallel to the downhill dip of the coal seams. PR5 reoriented pits G,F and Z (East F-Pit) <br /> parallel with the strike of the coal seams in an east-west direction. Strike line pits progress from <br /> north to south. Each successive pit cut occurs next to and parallel to the previous cut. When more <br /> than one seam is recovered in a pit,partings are removed by dozer, or backhoe, or similar equipment <br /> if thin: or by dragline,if thick. <br /> The October 2006 landslide in the East Panel of Trapper Mine created a need for a change in mining <br /> methods for the East Panel area,resulting in Permit Revision PR6. The K-Pit and L-Pit <br /> (originally identified as G Pit)were originally planned as dragline pits, consistent with Trapper's <br /> historical mining method. <br /> Strip Pits <br /> Trapper mined or plans to mine coal from the following four pits during the 2023-2027 permit term: <br /> 1. Lancaster(L), Pit <br /> 2. Nighthawk(N)Pit <br /> 3. I Pits(East,Middle) <br /> 4. J Pit (West), and <br /> Pits advance generally southward. Individual cuts in pits are as much as 6,000 ft. long. The <br /> maximum width of a cut is 200 feet. In 2002, D-Pit progressed to the point that it merged with E-Pit. <br /> This combination D/E-Pit is approved for ash disposal,however TMI has backfilled this pit and has <br /> received Phase I reclamation on it as there was no longer a need to utilize the D and E Pits for ash <br /> disposal. A (Ashmore)pit remains open for ash disposal (see description of ash disposal below). <br /> Highwall mining in I Pit began in 2021. I and J Pits comprise single seam pits to the F and G2 <br /> seams. N Pit was opened in 2021 for highwall mining in the L,M and Q seams. C Pit mining, <br /> proposed in PR11 has since been removed from the mine plan. <br /> Auger/Higwall Mining <br /> Auger or"highwall mining"is conducted in the end walls of the C,I, J, L and N pits. The pits are <br /> developed in sections from west to east with contemporaneous backfilling minimizing the out-of-pit <br /> spoil placement. An HW N800 Addcar System is utilized. A launch vehicle platform, sitting on the <br /> boxcut floor controls the systems functions,rigid conveyor cars each fitted with a belt conveyor are <br /> fed by a remote controlled underground continuous miner. Real Time feedback to the outside <br /> operator from video cameras and a HORTS guidance system provides three dimensional locations. <br /> Gamma sensors in the cutting head provide the ability to sense roof and floor rock to maintain the <br /> miner in the coal seam. Auger depth of penetration and coal recovery vary depending on coal seam <br /> splitting,thinning or pinching, coal quality,roof and floor integrity,and machine limitations. <br /> 8 <br />