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4) Whether a mining method and extraction plan has ~ , <br />been developed. <br />5) Whether a corporate objective and plan of develop- <br />ment has been established. ' <br />6) Wbether significant legal and financial commit- <br />ments have been made for the entire operation. <br />Empire believes that an application of these indicia to the <br />Eagle Mining Complex demonstrate that the entire area and <br />operation are exempt. <br />Criteria I: Defined Lease Boundary <br />A defined lease boundary has been shown on Exhibit A hereto <br />and is specifically described in the summaries of lease <br />information set forth in Exhibit C. This lease boundary, <br />which encloses 9,145.65 contiguous acres, has also been <br />indicated on Exhibits I through M and was an integral part <br />of those maps at the time of completion, which was prior to <br />January 1, 1977. Since the entire Eagle Mining Complex was <br />within these lease areas in late 1976 and 1977 and this is <br />totally exempt. <br />Criteria 2: Delineated Size and Extent of Resource <br />An exploration drilling program was conducted in 1975 and ,`~ <br />1976 by Empire on the lease tract identified in Criteria 1 <br />and shown on Exhibit A. Said exgloration program delineated <br />multiple mineable coal seams within the property boundaries, <br />all seams of which outcropped along the southern exposures <br />of the tract and dipped northerly at a rate of 15 to 18 <br />per cent. Approximately 320 drill holes had been drilled on <br />the property, although most of the holes (270) were shallow. <br />Approximately 62,000 feet of drilling was conducted on a <br />total of 39 holes at a cost of approximately 51,000,000. <br />Thus, Empire clearly has conducted an eatensive drilling and <br />exploration program prior to 1977, which delineated the size <br />and extent of the coal seams on the tract. This program and <br />its results indicate that the entire leasehold area is <br />within the Eagle Mining Complex operations and is exempt. <br />Criteria 3: Empire Conducted Geological Evaluation of Pro ertY <br />After its field exploration program, Empire retained the <br />John T. Boyd Company to conduct a geological evaluation of <br />the subject lease tract. The objective of this study was to <br />quantify the seam thickness from geophysical logs and drill <br />core information, project the size and extent of the mine- <br />able coal seams, project the reserves in each seam, and <br />determine the quality of the coal deposits. • <br />9 <br />