Need input-- using conveyor system to move material on reclaim jobs

Hopefully this is the right place to post. We do a lot of reclaim work, old coal pits that were stripped back in the 40's through the 60's or later. We generally do the larger jobs, 500,000 yards and up. The owner and I were kicking ideas around and he mentioned a conveyor system to move it from the various piles over the high wall into the pit. It would take various lengths depending on how it was stripped. He figures longest run 600'. Currently we use scrapers and dozers depending on length of push etc. It's primarily clay, shale or similar. My question is this, what do you start the entire process with? I assume you'd need a grizzly bar setup of some sort to knock the material down to the desired size for whatever conveyor setup you chose and to keep trash out of it etc. If not that some sort of a crusher or mixer like machine? Forgive my explanations, I know very little about this sort of operation. I'm sure there would be some excavating here and there to set the operation up but I can see where this might save some time and cut down on machinery size.

Give me thoughts on sizes of conveyors, pros and cons of them, screening process from cut to conveyor, I assume we will need several generators, wiring etc. I am by no means hell bent on the idea so any feedback, good or bad, is welcome. I can see this working me hard keeping up with bearings, belting, wiring etc etc.

Thanks in advance for you help!

Junkyard

Need input-- using conveyor system to move material on reclaim jobs