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(b) earthmoving; <br />Process and Load out Operations <br />3 <br />After blasting, rock is bulldozed off the high wall contact to a muck pile directly below the working <br />face, then picked up with a front end loader and carried to the nearby crushing and screening <br />systems, located at the pit floor elevation 5660'. Material will be conveyed to various -sized <br />aggregate material stockpiles located at the pit floor /truck load -out area. <br />No soils exist on the surface for removal prior to mining, and no waste is encountered during mining <br />operations. However, fines materials (- 3 /4 ") may be stored on site and used for planting medium <br />during final reclamation <br />Rock crushing, screening, sizing, and stockpiling circuits will not change to any significant degree <br />over time from the present configuration, although the plant may be moved to closer proximity to the <br />toe of the highwall system as well as relocated at a lower final elevation, projected to be <br />approximately 5550' at lowest pit elevation. Mining activities below 5650' elevation will be limited <br />to areas outside the existing storm water flow path system, which presently directs storm runoff to <br />existing retention ponds. Eventually (estimated within 20 — 30 years from present), storm water <br />detention ponds will be relocated, as shown on Exhibit F Reclamation Map, to facilitate natural <br />drainage from pit floor to eastern permit boundary. <br />This plant will continue to be fed for the most part by Front End Loader muck - and -carry from the <br />muckpile created along the toe of the highwall by blasting and push off; or, alternatively, trucks may <br />be loaded at the muckpile for direct dumping into the crusher feeder. <br />Mining operations including drilling, blasting, crushing, and truck loading are normally scheduled for <br />5AM to 9PM six days per week. <br />(c) all water diversions and impoundments; and <br />Stormwater Controls <br />As part of the 1997 amendment conditions, the site was reconfigured to direct storm - related surface <br />runoff areas above and west of the mine site from its former southerly flow path towards Tunnel <br />Drive and the Arkansas River. The reconfigured flow path conveys the surface flows across the pit <br />floor, along the base of the highwall north and east towards a series of storm water detention ponds <br />constructed along the eastern portions of the permit boundary. These storm water control structures <br />have been in place since late 1997 and have successfully operated to keep surface runoff directed <br />away from residential areas along Tunnel Drive as well as the Canon City Hydraulic Ditch <br />paralleling the Union Pacific railroad tracks running along the north bank of the Arkansas River. The <br />detention ponds will be maintained as is to handle storm flows that may enter the pit floor area as <br />well as surface runoff delivered from undisturbed terrain west and above the mining site. Drainage <br />patterns along the base of highwall system and product stockpile area must be maintained to allow <br />storm - derived surface flows to cross the pit floor unimpeded towards the storm flow channel <br />excavated at the northeast corner of the mine site which feeds the detention ponds. These structures <br />will be maintained and kept operational through the life of mine. This amended acreage and <br />increased life of mine will not necessitate change to the stormwater control system as it currently <br />