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Coal production from Energy Mine Nos. 1 and 2 is crushed, processed and loaded through a plant located at the end of the 12-mile rail spur, • while coal production from the Energy Mine No. 3 is loaded through a second plant located about seven miles northeast along the same spur. • • The largest facility, located at the end of the 12-mile spur at Energy Piine No. 1, is a two stage plant capable of crushing coal at rates of 1,700 tons per hour. The crushed coal, after sampling for quality, is conveyed to a 100,000-ton stockpile over the railroad tracks. The 100- ton rail cars are flood loaded as they pass beneath the stockpile. The crushing and loading plant at Energy Mine No. 3 can crush approxi- mately 500 tons of coal per hour. The crushed coal is then stockpiled and conveyed to overhead bins above the railroad tracks. As rail cars pass beneath, the coal can be loaded at rates of 2,000 tons per hour. Unit train loading enables the customers of Energy Fuels to obtain lower freight rates than would be possible with individual train movements. A third loading facility is located along the spur at Energy Mine No. 1 just north of the shop/warehouse complex. This facility was the origi- nal crushing and load-out plant and was used from 1962 until 1974 when the loading facility was completed at the end of the 12-mile rail spur. Although this third facility is presently dormant, it has been main- tained as a standby plant to be used as needed. Mine Development and The Cause of The Present Emergency Energy Fuels has not ignored its need for additional coal reserves. Throughout the course of its expansion program, Energy Fuels made numerous attempts to lease federal coal reserves which either adjoined, were surrounded or were being bypassed by Energy Fuels' existing oper- ations. The federal coal deposits are made up of the same coal seams that Energy Fuels has been mining and are natural and logical extensions of Energy Fuels' existing operations. Efforts to lease these adjacent reserves date back to 1970. Until recently, Energy Fuels has been -14-