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<br />Mountain Coal Company <br />West Elk Mine <br />Deer Creek Shaft Project Plan <br />GEOLOGY <br />The proposed project would include initial drilling and shaft construction along the <br />southeastern edge of the Piceance Basin within the Somerset Coal Field, occumng on the <br />Somerset U.S.G.S. 7 1/2-minute quadrangle map. <br />Initial geological work, in this area 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, Wazd 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 further described the <br />geology of the Minnesota Creek area in USBM Technical Paper 721. More recently, in <br />1989, C. IL Dunmd compiled a wal 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 3~". <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 />Mesa Verde, rocks of the Wasatch Formation are exposed. The Upper and Lower Coal <br />Members of the Mesa Verde Formation are the major coal-bearing units in the area The <br />A (King), B (Somerset), and C (Bear) coal beds of the Lower Coal Member and the D <br />(Oliver), E (Hawks blest), and the F-Seam coal beds of the Upper Coal Member have all <br />been mined within the North Fork Valley. <br />General dip in the project area is 3 to 4 degrees to the northeast Stratigraphic <br />displacements and faults aze known to occur in West Elk Mine. Known geologic data <br />does not indicate that these faults aze locatable on the surface. <br />WATER RESOURCES <br />The town of Paonia is situated about 10 miles west of the area and receives an average of <br />approximately 15 inches of precipitation annually. Given that precipitation increases as <br />elevation increases, the annual precipitation of the Deer Creek Shaft project area would <br />be expected to be somewhat greater than 15-inches. An estimated 73% of the annual <br />precipitation occurs during late winter and early spring, mostly as snowfall. June, July, <br />and August are often the driest months. <br />Drainage from the light-use road and pad for the proposed Deer Creek Shag project <br />enters Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek to the north. Ultimately this drainage reports to <br />Minnesota Reservoir. The watercourses in the project area are intermittent/ephemeral in <br />nature and do not flow yeaz-round <br />Page 5 of 13 <br />