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After removal of overburden an area 60 feet in width and 60 feet in length by 40 feet <br />deep will be mined in each mining cycle. Drilling and blasting will be contracted and an <br />air track drill and blasting agents will be brought to site as needed so no explosives or <br />detonators will be stored on site. Each mining sequence will require drilling downward <br />vertical 3 inch diameter holes on a rectangular pattern with 4 foot hole spacing to a <br />depth of 40 feet. Each hole will be charged with Ammonium Nitrate and Diesel Fuel <br />(ANFO) and primed with delay timed shock tube detonators. Timed sequencing of the <br />detonators will control the blast to minimize scatter and cast blast from the southern <br />exposed face toward the overburden backfill. Each mining cycle will produce <br />approximately 8,600 ton of oil shale. The rubblized shale will be loaded by excavator <br />onto trucks for delivery to the offsite test facility where it will be crushed and screened to <br />a controlled size in preparation for testing. The crushing of this material reduces <br />approximately 12 % percent of the oil shale to particles less than 1/2 inch in size which <br />will not be used for testing. The crushing of the shale does not alter the mechanical or <br />chemical characteristics of the oil shale so as part of the mining plan these small size <br />particles which will amount to approximately 1,000 cubic yards of material per mining <br />cycle will be returned to the mine site and placed as fill with the overburden. These <br />small particles of oil shale rock will be blended into the top layer of re- contoured <br />overburden and will be beneficial as they act as filler for the voids in the overburden and <br />will reduce loss of top soil to these voids during final reclamation and also help to <br />improve the retention of moisture in the top soil by limiting drainage of moisture into the <br />overburden. The volumes of overburden to be moved, material to be mined and top <br />soils to be reclaimed and imported during the 8 mining phases are tabulated in (Table <br />Cl) (Map E3). <br />The 2013 Phase 1 mining cycle (neap E4) will require the removal of overburden from an <br />area 100 feet in width by 100 feet in length. This area is part of the previously disturbed <br />acreage so no top soil will be salvaged from the 2013 mine area. The amount of <br />overburden that will be moved to expose the 2013 mine zone is 3,206 cubic yards in <br />place before removal, but after breaking and removal the overburden will occupy <br />approximately 5,770 cubic yards of space and is equivalent to 5,200 ton of rock. The <br />5,770 cubic yards of overburden removed from the area to be mined in 2013 and <br />overburden recovered from the previously disturbed area and broken overburden <br />removed to return the drainage channel to its original elevation and slope will be placed <br />to the south of the 2013 mining area as fill and will be contoured for the area being <br />reclaimed during 2013. After removal of the overburden an area 60 feet in length by 60 <br />feet in width will be drilled to a depth of 40 feet with 3 inch diameter holes on a <br />rectangular 4 foot pattern. The drilled holes will be charged with ANFO and delay timed <br />shock tube detonators and blasted to produce 8,600 ton of material which will be loaded <br />onto trucks and hauled off site to the Research and Development Facility for crushing <br />and testing. After removal of the rubblized material from the 2013 mine area, efforts will <br />be directed to furthering the reclamation of the southeastern portion of the affected land <br />and preparing for the 2014 mining cycle. The woody vegetation and top soil from an <br />area of 24,000 square feet which covers all of the overburden removal area for areas to <br />3 <br />