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CHRISTIAN PIT AMENDMENT EXHIBIT D 4'~-~~'SS MINING PLAN INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY: The Christian Pits have had a long and involved permit history. The details of this history can be found in the annual reports submitted in 1982. Basically, the first permit, number 74-111, was for both pits and included • all the land the company felt would be mined through 1979. When the new law came into effect the permit was split into two permits, one for each pit and the total area permitted was reduced from the original permit. In 1979, a partial bond release was approved by the Board. Unfortunately, much of the land apparently released had not been under permit as it was mined prior to the ffective date of the I973 reclamation law. in early 1982, Schmidt-Tiago discovered they were beyond the permit boundaries of their most current permits but were within the boundaries of their 1974 permit. Schmidt-Tiago never received approved copies of their latest permit and apparently were operating accrording to a map included in the 1974 permit. After consideration of the matter, including permit boundary changes, bond • release on land that was never identified on a map and much of which may not have been bonded, it became apparent that the best approach would be to totally rewrite the main portions of the permit and acquire one permit for all the areas involved in the Christian Pit for the life of the mine and cover it a12 with one, adequate floating bond. MINING METHODS: The operation involves two operating pits. Pit 1 is Located in the northeast corner of the permit area. Pit 2 is located in the southwest corner of the permit area. In general, each pit will be mined toward each other and will more or less merge in the area of the north-south center line of the permit. More precisely, the eastern pit will mine out the eastern half of the permit area and the western pit will mine out the western half of the permit area. Each pit will have a depth of between 30 to 35 feet depending on the . location and the depth of the gravel at any particular place. • The general sequence of mining involves stripping the soil and overburden from an area ahead of the operation. This material is either stockpiled or immediately replaced on graded land. After stripping, the working face of the pit is mined to remove the gravels. These gravels are either processed at the site and stockpiled for removal as demand arises or hauled to the main plant on Delta Drive in Colorado Springs where it is processed and sold as demand dictates. It is hoped that eventually all processing will be done at the main plant in Colorado Springs thereby eliminating the need for stockpiling and processing at the pit. This would reduce the operational area, reduce the area included in moderate disturbance, and allow for more concurrent reclamation of affected Lands. In the course of one year, about four acres in each pit is • excavated. Therefore, a total of eight acres would be involved in mining at any one time. This includes the areas that are stripped prior to mining. Scrapers are used to remove soil and overburden and front-end loaders are used to remove the gravel. Material stockpiling occurs in mined out areas. WATER HANDLING: The undisturbed land is nearly level. It has a slight slope to ~ .1 .I~ _