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to be mined would be redisturbed in the future to recover deeper seams. The closest coal seam below <br />the Wadge seam is the' Wolf Creek seam with.an interburden thickness of approximately 150 feet. <br />There is no equipment suited to the terrain in the Seneca II-W area that could economically remove <br />interburden to such depths. <br />Operation Description -General <br />The mining plan for~Seneca II-W was developed in conjunction with the Seneca II and Yoast mining <br />plans and is based on standard mining practices, feasibility studies, and balancing production between <br />both mines. As shown on Exhibits 12-2 and 12-3, the mining reserves at the Seneca II-W Mine lie in <br />three distinct areas within the permit boundary. These areas will be mined from cropline to the 100 foot <br />recovery line. The Wadge Coal seam generally crops at the ridge top on the east side of the permit <br />boundary; an exception to this is the internal cropline upstream of Pond 006. <br />A box cut is normally initiated in a location where overburden depth is minimal. This allows the <br />dragline sufficient room to spoil the overburden adjacent to the box cut and also reduces the volume of <br />material that will require rehandle when the mining progression changes direction. <br />Mining will have to be conducted concurrently in two or more pits over much of the mine life. This is <br />necessitated by fairly ~ short, deep pits preventing drilling, shooting, overburden removal and coal <br />removal operations to proceed in a single pit in a timely manner. The dragline will move between pits <br />• ~as needed to facilitate concurrent operations. <br />Operation Description -Permit Area <br />The proposed Seneca II-W permit area, which includes the life-of-operations area, is located in portions <br />of Sections 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16. 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 34, and 35, T5N, R88W. Exhibits 12-2 and <br />12-3, Operations Plan, illustrate the proposed permit area as well as the projected areas from which <br />coal will be removed. Exhibits 19-1 and 19-1 A, Reclamation Plan, illustrates the anticipated sequence <br />of reclamation operations throughout the life-of-operations. <br />Mining operations will be conducted for 'recovery of the Wadge seam in the SE'/. Section 10, SW y. <br />Section 14, E''h Section 15, N y~~ Section 22, Section 23, W'h Section 26, W %, Section 35, and N'/, <br />Section 34, T5N, R88W. There are currently no plans for recovery of the Lennox seam or the Wolf <br />Creek seam in the permit area. <br />Lower Block. In accordance with the Operations Plan, Exhibit 12-2, a box cut was opened in August <br />1990 near the center of the mining block INEY, of Section 221. The dragline proceeded from the <br />erection site to the box cut area by way of Road F., Road F was constructed of sufficient width to <br />allow the dragline to deadhead to the box cut pit area. the orientation of the box cut is roughly <br />• perpendicular to the strike of the surface slope. Succeeding cuts were approximately parallel to the <br />5 ~ ~ ~ Revised 1/99 <br />