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Benson Brothers Pig Mesa Pit DMG 112 Application Exhibit D - Minine Plan The following narrative addresses the itemized requirements of Section 6.4.4 of the Rules a) Material will be mined using dozers, front-end loaders and/or excavators. Mined material will be loaded on trucks and transported to the process azea or hauled with Front-end loaders. There will be no explosives used in this operation. b) Topsoil and overburden will be removed from the deposit using scrapers, dozers, and/or front- end loaders. Overburden will be used to fill and level the upper end of the ravines that run from the mesa top to the Tongue Creek Valley, creating a level bench for a process and stockpile azea. Excess topsoil and overburden will be used to build a berm along the northeastern edge of the process azea. High-walls will be reduced using cut and fill technique and dozers and excavators. Topsoil and overburden will be replaced using dozers and scrapers. c) Water for gravel washing and dust control will be pumped from the North Delta Canal via pvc pipe to an existing underground storage tank on the property. The applicant has filed for a water right of 1 cfs to be taken from the Gunnison River via the North Delta Canal for this purpose. Water will be pumped from the tank to the process azea for gravel washing as needed. Two settling ponds approximately 30 feet by 50 feet will be excavated in the impermeable shale in the process azea and used to recycle wash water. There will be no dischazge of process water from this site. d) The initial process azea will be approximately 5 acres. Mining will proceed east to west to within 70 feet of the western boundary. We estimate a maximum of 1800 feet of un-reduced high wall when mining reaches the western limit. The northwest face of the mined azea will then be graded to a 3:1 slope, using cut and fill methods. Then mining will proceed north to south to within 70 feet of the southern boundary. There will be a maximum of 1200 feet of un- reduced high wall after the northwest slope is graded. Topsoil and overburden will be replaced to a depth of 4 to 8 inches when enough area has been mined and graded to allow it without interfering with ongoing operations. The operator will reclaim land concurrently with ongoing mining operations so that there will be no more than 18 acres of un-reclaimed disturbance, including the process azea, at any one time. e) The process azea will be established as soon as the permit is issued and will remain in place until all mining is complete. Mining the northern end of the property is expected to take 3 to 5 yeazs. The rest of the property is expected to take 10 to 12 yeazs to complete mining and reclamation, depending on market conditions. f) The deposit to be mined contains 20 to 30 feet of glacially deposited volcanic gravels from Grand Mesa. Lower layers may contain some alluvial gravel from the Gunnison River terraces as well. The gravel is covered by 0-16" of clay loam and 16-60" of gravelly clay loam overburden. The site is classified as Clayey Salt Desert with sparse vegetation. The stratum immediately below the gravel is shale. g) The primary commodity to be mined is sand and gravel for construction aggregate. h) Some of the lazger volcanic gravels may be suitable for landscape rock.