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• iiiiiiiiiiiuiuiii ~ <br />~~CA7i JI'~- ~n-L ~'a~vcZ ~~o vt~ bctC /CS'~:~•~~i Ce •2R <br />b° G ~ N`ew` e ' ~~~~ ~ l ~~~ INTRODUCTION ~~ Sc ~~ ~~ °"~ <br />American Soda, L.L.P. (American Soda) proposes to develop and operate a <br />commercial nahcolite solution mining operation near Meeker, Colorado, with <br />associated processing facilities near Parachute, Colorado. The proposed Yankee <br />Gulch Sodium Minerals Project (Yankee Gulch Project) involves a mining <br />operation with vertical solution mining wells to extract bedded and disseminated <br />nahcolite. The primary purposes of the Yankee Gulch Project are to recover the <br />sodium resource from naturally occurring nahcolite deposits in the Piceance <br />Creek Basin under the Yankee Gulch Joint Venture Leases (U.S. Sodium Lease <br />Nos. C-0118328 and C-0118329) and produce sodium products at a profit. The <br />principal products to be produced are sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and <br />sodium carbonate (soda ash). <br />BACKGROUND <br />American Soda is currently conducting limited exploration drilling and <br />experimental solution mining activities in the Piceance Creek Basin under two <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (CDMG) Notices of Intent to <br />Conduct Prospecting Operations (NOIs). On November 22, 1996, the first NOI <br />(CDMG File P-96-034) was submitted for exploration activities, which included <br />drilling as many as 15 wells. The second NOI (CDMG File P-97-003) was <br />submitted on January 24, 1997, and proposed experimental test mining activities <br />for two solution mining wells. Authorizations to Proceed were issued for these <br />two NOIs on December 13, 1996, and Apri130, 1997. A third NOI was submitted <br />on December 18, 1998, proposing the operation of one additional test solution <br />mining well. <br />An Exploration Plan and an Experimental Test Mine Plan, which included the <br />same activities as the first two NOIs, were previously submitted to the Bureau of <br />Land Management (BLM) by American Soda. The Exploration Plan was <br />approved in December 1996, and the Test Mine Plan was approved in May 1997. <br />These programs have been providing American Soda with site-specific data on <br />the nahcolite resource and information regarding the feasibility of solution <br />mining. <br />i <br />