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MMRR Quarry, M-2004-067 Response to Jan. 21 Adequacy Review March 23, 2005 Page 20 site. The blasting plan will conform to DMG standards regarding peak particle velocity. 2.) The project engineer's attached memorandum notes that plans have been revised to include benching in the noted entry drive and processing areas. 3.) The applicant shares the DMG's concern that bonding must be adequate to fulfill the applicant's commitment to bench the quarry walls to a stable configuration when reclaimed. The applicant also shares the DMG's belief that benches at the perimeter of the proposed ten- year mining area are the best estimate of the maximum extent of mining and reclamation that must be examined for the purposes of bonding. We believe that forfeiture of the bond at this quarry should not necessarily require the DMG to implement the final benching configuration shown topographically on the Reclamation Plan Map, Exhibit F. For example, if the bond were to forfeit after only five years of operation, the area of disturbance and/or depth of mine are likely to be substantially less than the extent of impact accounted for on the Reclamation Pian Map. Practically speaking, the DMG would be forced to act as an agent of additional land disturbance and sell or otherwise remove large quantities of rock from the site to implement benches in the exact Exhibit F configuration. This is contrary to the intent of the Reclamation Act and this specific Reclamation Plan, which is to restore the site to a condition as viable wildlife habitat as soon as possible after the cessation of mining. It should therefore be allowable to reclaim slopes and highwalls to a stable configuration as close as possible to the limits of disturbance at any stage of mining. A note has been added to Exhibit F to reflect this understanding of necessary flexibility in the Reclamation Plan. In terms of reclamation costs for highwall areas, at no time will highwalls exceed the stable configuration noted in the report of Dr. John Abel, P.E. and carried through in the Mining and Reclamation Plan Maps for this proposal. The mining plan involves blasting benches to a stable configuration as each face is worked. Drilling and blasting work on each face of rock will be complete once the area is mined, and reclamation will involve replacement of subsoil (fines) and topsoil and establishment of vegetation. As suggested in the adequacy comment, the applicant therefore commits to operating the quarry such that final reclamation benching for each aspect of the