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(1) Production, Methods and Equipment <br />Mining is projected to commence in late 2010 and reach an annual rate of 500,000 tons <br />per year during the first year of mining. Two continuous miner sections will be <br />employed during the first year of production. Mining equipment will consist of a <br />continuous miner, diesel and/or electric shuttle car haulage to a feeder breaker placing <br />coal onto conveyor belt haulage in each section. Coal will be transported to the surface <br />by conveyor belt. <br />Production during the remainder of the permit term is scheduled to increase to a <br />maximum of three million tons per year. To reach this production level additional <br />continuous miner sections will be placed into service. <br />(2) Description of Surface Operations <br />The surface facilities associated with the New Elk Mine are shown on Map 11 <br />Surface facilities and Roads East Portal and Map 12 Surface Facilities and Roads <br />West Portal and Figure 2 -A. The surface disturbance boundary is also shown on <br />these maps. The New Elk mining operations began in 1952 and the majority of surface <br />facilities are built on development refuse used as fill in the River Valley. Construction <br />and placement of most of the surface facilities took place prior to August 3, 1977. <br />Major exceptions include the Preparation Plant and associated facilities, sediment <br />ponds and Apache Canyon Airshafts. Individual facilities are indicated on Table 19 <br />Surface Facilities List and shown on Maps 11 and 12. Reclamation of these facilities <br />is discussed in subsequent sections of this document. <br />Raw coal will be transported by conveyor belt to a raw coal stockpile. Raw coal will <br />either be loaded onto trucks or fed via conveyor belt into the preparation plant. Clean <br />coal will be transported from the plant to the clean coal storage stockpile via <br />conveyor belt. The raw or processed coal will be loaded onto trucks from the stockpile <br />using a front -end loader and shipped via Highway 12 to regional markets. Clean coal <br />may also be stored in the existing coal silos and loaded directly to trucks or with the <br />front -end loader. <br />The projected increase to one million tons scheduled for year 2 of mining will require <br />the reinstallation of rail to the mine site. A new unit train loadout will also be <br />constructed. These changes will not result in an increase in disturbed area and will be <br />addressed in a permit revision when rail installation is started. <br />During rehabilitation of the mine, a maximum of 10,000 cubic yards of development <br />waste material will be temporarily stored in the raw coal stockpile area as shown on <br />Map 11 Surface facilities and Roads East Portal. The timeframe for temporary <br />storage is 30 days from the first placement of development waste from underground <br />rehabilitation or the time required for approval of a permanent Development Waste <br />Disposal Area (DWDA) south of Highway 12. The waste at the raw coal pile will be <br />stored in no more than 2 — 4ft lifts. If a second lift is necessary the first lift will be <br />compacted using the rubber tired equipment traveling on the material to further <br />stabilize the temporary pile. The waste material is anticipated to be similar <br />TR -52 Page 2.05-4 Revised 4/20/2010 <br />