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Revised <br />October 16, 1981 <br />2.05.3 O peration Plan - Permit Area <br /> <br />Production Methods and Eq uipment <br />The Viking Coal Company has selected its mining procedures so that the <br />overall operation plan is designed to flow logically from topsoil <br />removal through contemporaneous reclamation, refer to Illustration No. 1. <br />The first stage of the operation will be the removal of both topsoil and <br />subsoil. A large-capacity rubber-tired wheel scraper will remove, in <br />separate layers, the topsoil and subsoil, where possible. The <br />large-capacity scraper will clear topsoil from areas ahead of the mining <br />operations so that the actual overburden removal will not interfere with <br />the topsoil removal. Topsoil and subsoil will either be redistributed <br />onto regraded areas or, if such areas are unavailable, be placed in <br />separate stockpiles. These stockpiles will be strategically located in <br />stable areas to avoid both wind and water erosion, disturbance, <br />unnecessary compaction, and contamination. In addition, they will be <br />marked in the field with conspicuous signs made of durable material. To <br />further prevent erosion, seeding of soil stockpiles will be performed <br />with rapidly growing grain species as required by the Colorado Mined <br />Land Reclamation Division. <br />Following the removal of topsoil and subsoil, the next step will be the <br />drilling and blasting of overburden material. A rotary drill will be <br />used for penetrating the overburden material. <br />Dozers will be used to construct a drill bench, a level area for the <br />drill to work on. The overburden drill will then drill a pattern of <br />holes to a depth just above the top of the coal seam. The spacing of <br />the holes will dependupon the overburden thickness. The holes will be <br />loaded with either ANFO or a waterproof slurry, if the holes are wet, to <br />a typical powder factor of between 0.3 and 0.6 pounds per bank cubic <br />yard. The hole will then be stemmed and blasted in accordance with the <br />detailed descriptions given under Section 2.05.3~~D~Overburden. <br />.op .r... .NGi:~~y~ <br />