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• SCC will mine the Wadge, Sage Creek, and Wolf Creek seams wherever possible in the South Block. The Sage Creek seam is present in only portions of the South Block and will be potentially highwall mined only in those areas where surface mining of the Sage Creek seam has occurred. The Wadge and the Wolf Creek seams are the most prevalent and will be the seams concentrated on for highwall mining operations. The mining areas are shown on Exhibit 123, Operations Plan (Combined Mine Plan) and separately on Exhibit 12-3a, Operations Plan (Wadge Seam and Highwall Miner) and Exhibit 12-3b, Operations Plan (Sage Creek/Wolf Creek and Highwall Minerl. The highwall miner operation is further discussed in Attachment 12-4, Highwall Mining. Initially, coal will be hauled from the south block using Haul Road H, which will be extended from existing Haul Road A. As mining proceeds to the south, the haul road network will be extended with construction of additional Haul Roads, I, J, K and L. In order to minimize overall mining-related disturbance, new haul roads will be extended from existing roads with Haul Road I connecting to Haul Road H and Haul Road K connecting to Haul Road J as shown by Exhibit 72-3. An additional mining area in the South Block will allow recovery of the Sage Creek and Wolf Creek coal seams, which are located stratigraphically below the Wadge coal as shown on Exhibit 6-16, Site Specific Geology. The Sage Creek coal is present in only the extreme notthern and extreme southern portions of the overall area. • As mining has progressed south, SCC has gained additional experience in dealing with the ever- increasing steepness of the topography. This affect was not considered in the original timing and sequencing. The addition of the Sage CreeklWolf Creek mining areas has altered the original sequencing and timing coal removal and reclamation. The Wolf Creek mining block began by opening a box cut with initial pre-stripping by scrapers and them completing the box cut with the dragline (see Exhibit 123, Combined Mine Planl. The coal removal is a complex operation involving: 1) sufficient room for coal trucks to enter the pit; 2) removing the upper portion of the Wolf Creek seam; 31 removing and disposing of the rock parting; 41 removing the lower portion of the Wolf Creek seam. The short pies in the Sage CreeklWolf Creek mining block further complicates the coal removal, the dragline needs Yo complete the entire length of pit prior to coal removal. The reason for having to open an entire pit length before coal removal can begin is also due to the extreme grade within the pit. Haul trucks cannot negotiate up the steep pit grade, therefore, they must enter the pit from the upper end and exit from the lower end. Once sufficient coal is removed, the dragline proceeds to strip the next adjacent pit, spoiling the overburden into the box cut. The sequence will repeat until the dragline is scheduled to move to a Wadge pit to open another section of pit, The dragline is currently scheduled to move back and forth between the Wadge area and the Sage Creek/Wolf Creek areas during years 2005 and 2006, and then • remain in the northern Sage Creek/Wolf Creek area until mining is finished. As the dragline proceeds northward in the Wolf Creek area it will require proportionately more time to complete each pit and to remove the coal. Just prior to the dragline reaching the edge of the northern PR04 9 Revised 04/04