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<br /> <br />dining Methods <br /> <br />EXHIBIT D - Mining Plan <br />The underground mining methods employed at the Schwartz~ialder Mine <br />have not in the past and will not, for the remaining life of the mine, <br />directly cause any surface disturbance (including subsidence) on the <br />affected land. All surface disturbances on the affected land are the <br />result of support facility construction and use. <br />For the purposes of general information, the mining methods employed <br /> <br />at the mine consist of two different but conventional hard rock under- <br />ground methods. These are shrinkage stoping, and room and pillar <br />mining. Each method is selected for application based upon the orien- <br />tation of the vein or deposit structure, which is determined by an on- <br />going underground drilling operation. <br />The shrinkage stoping method is most frequently employed in <br />irregularly shaped steeply dipping vein deposits where the walls <br />and ore body require little or no support. In general, the stoping <br />method of excavation is characterized by drilling and blasting the <br />ore body and removing it by gravity through a series of chui;es to <br />a haulage level below. Specifically, in shrinkage stoping, as the <br />mineral is blasted down, a sufficient volume of the ore bod~r is <br />"shrunk" or removed through chutes to allow miners access for drilling <br />and blasting the next section. (see Figure D-1). <br />Room and pillar mining is usually employed for mining •~n ore body <br />• <br />that occurs in a flat lying deposit of comparatively uniform grade and <br />thickness. This method requires mining of a grid of rooms separated <br />by pillars of uniform cross section. (see Figure G-2). <br />D-1 <br />