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<br />Section 780.18 (bl Continued. <br />existing equipment fleet was to be committed to reclamation operations. The Kerr <br />equipment fleet was approaching the end of its economic life upon completion of <br />mining in pit 1. If market conditions had improved and Kerr had been able to secure <br />the coal contracts necessary to justify development of Pit 2 and continued mining, <br />new equipment would have been purchased or leased for ongoing development and <br />mining, and existing equipment would have been utilized exclusively for reclamation of <br />the existing disturbance. <br />In developing its plan for backfilling and grading, Kerr has identified and considered the <br />following objectives: <br />1. Reclamation of all existing disturbance in a timely and logical manner whether <br />or not mining proceeds beyond Pit 1; and <br /> <br />2. Maximizing the effectiveness of short term reclamation activities while <br />preserving the opportunity for development of further reserves if market <br />conditions warrant. <br />The backfilling and grading plan was divided into two 121 periods of time. Period One <br />is [he period of time needed to mine out Pit 1. Period Two is the period of time <br />subsequent tc completion of mining in Pit 1. <br />PERIOD ONE: One basic element of the backfilling and grading plan during this period <br />of time was the continuation of overburden movement tram the existing stockpile to <br />the 720 Pit. Based on expectations of sales of coal, Kerr estimated that the remaining <br />reserve of 200,000 tons of coal in Pit 1 would be mined out in 3.0 to 3.5 years. <br />During this period of time, an annual backfilling goal was established of at least <br />300,000 cy of material from the existing overburden stockpile into the 720 Pit. <br />Accordingly, by the time the reserves in Pit 1 were mined out, some 900,000 to <br />1,100,000 additional yards of overburden would have been backfilled into the 720 Pit. <br />The mining operations in Pit 1 to recover the remaining coal reserve resulted in <br />removal of approximately 600,000 cy of overburden. A second basic element of the <br />backfilling and grading plan was placement of this overburden to facilitate final <br />reclamation. <br />TR-19 <br />780-68a <br />Revised 11 /98 <br /> <br />