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Three Geo[echnical Drill Holes at Deer Creek Shaft Project Plan <br />Minor Revision 338 <br />Page 2 of 9 <br />PROJECT DESCRIPTION <br />The proposed project consists of drilling three geotechnical drill holes to facilitate <br />additional study of the colluvium and strata overlying the E Seam at the Deer Creek Shaft <br />Pad. These geotechnical drill holes will be used to further evaluate the potential for <br />adverse conditions, such as faults, fractures, water inflows and formation anomalies that <br />may impact pending construction of the Deer Creek shafts. The proposed holes will be <br />drilled on the existing pad in Section 32, of T.13S., R.90W., 6~h Principal Meridian, <br />Gunnison County, Colorado. The proposed project is within the current permitted coal <br />mining area (Permit Number C-80-007, PR-10) and on lands managed by the United <br />States Forest Service. The holes will be located on Federal Coal (BLM) Lease C-1362. <br />Access to the pad is off USFS Road 711, east of Minnesota Reservoir. No additional area <br />disturbance is required for the drilling of these geotechnical drill holes. <br />Attached are a schematic and a map, depicting the general location of the proposed drill <br />holes, associated mudpit, and orientation of the drilling on the pad. <br />SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY <br />Elevations of the proposed drill holes range from approximately 7490 ft. to 7500 ft. The <br />azea is comprised of the pad, stockpiled topsoil, and fencing. The principle drainage in <br />this area is an unnamed tributary to Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek. <br />GEOLOGY <br />The proposed Project would include drilling along the southeastern edge of the Piceance <br />Basin within the Somerset Coal Field, occurring on the Somerset U.S.G.S. 7 1/2-minute <br />quadrangle map. <br />Initial geological work, in this azea was, completed by W. T. Lee (1912), who reported <br />his findings in, "Coal Fields of Grand Mesa and the West Elk Mountains, Colorado" <br />(USGS Bulletin 510). Later in 1948, Ward H. Johnson published a USGS map of the <br />Paonia Coal Field incorporating drill hole data generated through a USGS and U.S. <br />Bureau of Mines drilling program. The following year Johnson fiu-ther described the <br />geology of the Minnesota Creek area in USBM Technical Paper 721. More recently, in <br />1989, C. R. Dunrud compiled a coal resources map of the region (USGS Map C-115). In <br />1998 the Colorado Geological Survey published, "Availability of Coal Resources in <br />Colorado: Somerset Quadrangle, West-Central Colorado (CGS Resource Series 36)". <br />The general stratigraphy of the area consists of members of the Mesa Verde Formation of <br />the Upper Cretaceous System underlying the Wasatch Formation of Tertiary Age. The <br />Barren Member of the Mesa Verde formation crops out lowest in the area with the <br />overlying Ohio Creek member exposed along many of the steeper slopes. Above the <br />