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tunnels to connect the east and west mines became obsolete with the <br />rehabilitation of the east mine portals. <br />The general direction of mining has been and will continue to be northward to <br />extract coal from the D seam. The coal will move from the mining face via a <br />continuous haulage system to a feeder-breaker and then out of the east mine <br />via conveyor belt to a surge bin and truck loading facility. The coal is then <br />trucked to storage silos and a railroad loadout facility where it is loaded <br />onto trains for shipment to market. <br />The predicted production rate for this five-year permit term is from 1 million <br />to 1.5 million tons per year. The mine utilizes the room and pillar mining <br />method of extracting coal. The current expected life of mine is 17 years. <br />Most of the surface facilities are existing structures that will remain in <br />their present state for the life of mine. The only major area of active, <br />ongoing, final reclamation will occur at the waste rock disposal area. As <br />portions of this pile are completed, final regrading, retopsoiling and <br />revegetation have occurred and will continue to occur. <br />At the conclusion of mining, the portals will be sealed, all surface <br />facilities will be removed, the mine benches will be recontoured, the loadout <br />will be regraded to approximate original contour, and alt areas will be <br />revegetated in accordance with the approved post-mining land use and <br />revegetation plan. <br />_19_ <br />