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• 2.05.2 Operation Plan: General Requirements Blue Ribbon currently has no market for its coal. Because of this, no projection can be made as to when the remaining phases of mining will take place. If a market for the coal is found it would take approximately two years to exhaust the coal reserves. When in operation the mining is being carried out by continuous mining equipment. All mining shall be done underground. Atypical rate of production is 16,000 tons per month with a potential annual capacity of 240,000 tons per year. The total mining, processing and coal handling activity is typically conducted on two separate parcels of land. All direct coal mining activities are located about 3 miles up Hubbard Creek as can be seen on Plat 1. A small area located along the highway to Paonia is sometimes used for the weighing of coal trucks. The underground mine is developed form the portal bench area via three parallel main entries driven east. The remaining reserves will be mined primarily • by four panels driven north from the East Mains. Due to poor roof conditions, the First North panel was stopped short of the property line. The coal left in- place north of the First North section will be recovered by driving an east sub- main from the Second North Section (See Exhibits C and S). The East Mains consists of three parallel entries 18 feet wide on 80 foot centers, leaving pillars of about 60 feet x 60 feet square. Crosscuts were driven between the entries at 90 degrees on regular intervals of 80 feet unless a local mining condition in ground control dictated variation. The 1st North panel was driven due north with a five entry system until poor roof conditions halted progress approximately 1,)50 feet north of the East Mains. Rooms were driven east from the First North section on 100 foot centers leaving pillars of 80 feet by 80 feet. The poor roof conditions seem to be due to slicken-sided joints which would not allow the roof to remain in place long enough after mining to be bolted. Pillar crushing has not been a problem and as shown on Plate l5, the 80- • foot centers leave blocks which are more than adequate to control the pressures generated during the mining life of Blue Ribbon where overburden will reach 1,450 feet. 98 (Rev. 8/30/85)