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Exhibit D: <br />Mining Plan <br />This particular mining operation has been properly permitted and operating for <br />some thirty years as what is now termed as a Limited Impact Operation. The project is a <br />sand and gravel mining operation using the method of hydro dredging. The Owners <br />created a small pond with normal excavation techniques and then place upon the pond a <br />floating dredge of sufficient size and capacity to pump the volume of material (sands and <br />gravels) needed to serve the product demands. The dredge floats within the pond, slowly <br />increasing the pond size in terms of area and depth as dredging operations progress. The <br />dredged materials are pumped over a series of screens to size and separate the various <br />materials into the desired gradations. Waste materials are collected off the screens and are <br />allowed to flow back into the pond, behind the dredge. This process slowly refills the <br />pond and the pond location is then made mobile by this process and the finite area of the <br />pond does not change. Mined products are stored on-site in various piles by gradation. <br />This allows the piles to naturally de-water with the return flows draining back into the <br />pond. <br />Given the location f the operation adjacent to the South Platte River, the pond has <br />the potential of being refilled by the river during flood events. Typically, this results in <br />more waste material than in good mining product, but it does prevent silt materials from <br />continuing downstream, so there is some benefit. <br />There are no direct water diversions, but the Operators maintain and are under the <br />restrictions of a State issued Gravel Well Permit # AD-13082. <br />The mining operation is a part-time operation; that is, it operates only on the <br />demand for materials, typically May to late September. The Company is small, with few <br />employees (only one part-time dredge operator), so it is not feasible to operate year <br />round. The weather also prevents year round operation. The pond tends to ice over during <br />the winter months and equipment ices over. Once materials have been stockpiled and de- <br />watered, they are used on-demand and when the stockpiles are low dredging operations <br />are re-started. <br />The operation is a continual process, that is, the in are pumped to series of <br />sieves. The wetted materials flow over the sieves and are separated into several piles by <br />size. The excess materials or materials that are not retained on the sieves are returned <br />back to the rear of the pond. The pond is slowly filled less the 6% of the desired materials <br />that are removed. This way the pond slowly moves around the permitted area until all <br />desired materials are mined.