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EXPLORATION PLAN This Notice of Intent addresses one distinct exploration area. The Deer Creek area has surface lands managed by the Gunn;cnn National Forest and minerals administered by the Bureau of Land Management, (Federal Coal Lease No. C-1362). The proposed Deer Creek exploration area is located approximately 11 miles east of Paonia, Colorado and 6 miles southeast of the town of Somerset, Colorado. The area lies within a portion of T.14S. R90W, Section 32, 6~ Principle Meridian, Gunnison County, Colorado. The proposed exploration area is located south and east of the Monument Reservoir as shown in Figure lA. A legal description of the proposed area is presented within the license application Locations of the Shag Pad and proposed geotechnical and pilot holes are shown in Table 1 and Figure lA. The area applied for is in a crurent coal lease held by Mountain Coal Company (C-1362) The primary goal of Ure exploration activity is to further refine coal seam, coal quality, methane gas quantity, hydrology, and to test for the presence or absence of geologic discontinuities for shaft construction MCC initially permitted the Deer Creek Shaft project as Technical Revision No, 104. The USFS requested that MCC amend the project in Apri12006 to show that only the following could be constructed and approved by the USFS in 2006: • Construction of the road. • Construction of a less than 1.0 acre pad. • Install sediment control devices,i.e. silt fence, straw wattles, straw bales. • Construct a mudpit(s) with 2 ft of &ce-board. • Drill a 4-inch continuously~ored hole near the proposed shaft center. • Drill up to 4 each 5-inch open-augured geotecbnical holes to refusal. • Install access control fencing. • Perform interim reclamation on the pad outslopes and cut area, if any. Exploration drill holes from 1970's to the present exist within adjacem exploration areas that provide a preliminary evaluation of the geologic conditions. Additional data is required for detailed evaluation of shaft construction and the coal reserve. Surface Topograohv The elevation of the proposed Deer Creek exploration area ranges from 7450 ft. in the drainage of Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek near USFS Road 711 and increases southwestward to 7500 ft. on the upper end of the shaft pad. The terrsin is compiled of moderate slopes and benches within the Wasatch and Mesa Verde Formations and the colluvial soil slopes derived from a slide area south of the proposed exploration area. Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek forms the most conspicuous feature within the proposed exploration area. Deer Creek an ephemeral stream drains the area to the south and east of the proposed exploration area. Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek drains to the west and into Minnesota Reservoir just to the northwest of the proposed shaft 1~-