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• DESIGNATED MINING OPERATION ENVIRONMENTAL <br />PROTECTION PLAN EXHIBIT T <br />1. General Plan <br />An Environmental Protection Plan and Monitoring Plan is being submitted because the project is <br />classified as a Designated Mining Operation by the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />(DBMS). This classification results from the current DBMS definition of Designated Mining <br />Operations that includes a "mining operation at which toxic or acid-forming materials will be exposed <br />or disturbed as a result of mining operations." The Whirlwind Project falls into this category because <br />mine water will be pumped to the surface intermittently where it will be treated and discharged. The <br />mine water contains elevated levels of radionuclides, uranium, and trace metals that could be <br />considered chronically toxic if ingested over an extended period of time. Additionally, some of the <br />• water treatment chemicals are strongly acidic and, in their undiluted form, could present a potential <br />threat to human health or the environment. <br />In preparing this Environmental Protection and Monitoring Plan, the proposed mine plan was <br />evaluated to determine what portions of the project could potentially generate "toxic" materials that <br />would require implementation of additional environmental controls. The following three aspects of the <br />mine plan were identified as having the greatest potential to impact the surrounding environment, <br />especially ground and surface water. <br />1) Mine Waste Disposal: Surface water runoff from the waste pile and infiltration of precipitation <br />through the waste material could potentially liberate radium, uranium, and other metals resulting in <br />impacts to ground water and/or surface water. Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP) <br />tests were conducted on representative waste rock samples to determine the waste's potential for <br />leaching radionuclides and metals. The test results, which are presented in Appendix A, indicate <br />that the waste rock has low leaching potential. The activity and concentration levels of all the <br />constituents in the leachate generated from the tests were below maximum state water quality <br />• limits. Based on these results, the waste pile was designed in accordance with standard mine <br />Whirlwind Mine 07 (rev. April 08) T-1 <br />