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Within the halite facies, the Boies Bed is considerably thicker, averaging <br />1 between 67 and 69 feet. Stratigraphic characteristics of the halite facies <br />are similar to those in the nahcolite facies. The halite contains numerous <br />thin horizons of oil shale, nahcolite oil shale, and halitic oil shale, <br />including the previously described oil shale marker bed. Commonly, halite <br />is coarsely crystalline and translucent. Nahcolite consists of thin laminae <br />and stringers of both microcrystalline and granular types that are often <br />disrupted, discontinuous, or brecciated. <br />It should be mentioned that, to the southwest of the nahcolite facies, the <br />Dissolution Surface penetrates progressively deeper into the Boies Bed <br />(between core holes MMC-IRI-2 and MMC-IRI-9) until the entire interval <br />(Boies Bed) is eliminated by the process of dissolution. This transition <br />has been termed thie "truncation zone". The truncation zone was not <br />penetrated by any of the core holes presently on or near the lease area, but <br />is inferred from the drilling. <br />C• As previously stated, the Boies Bed has been selected as the target interval <br />for IRI's proposed Pilot Plant. The Pilot Plant operation will be conducted <br />in the nahcolite facies near existing core hole MMC-IRI-3 where the Boies <br />Bed is 31.3-feet thick. This site was selected because it is near the <br />centroid of the Boies Bed nahcolite facies on the IRI Lease area, and <br />because the Boies Bed is about 30 feet below the overlying Dissolution <br />Surface at this site. <br />G.1.5 Presence of Other Mineral Resources <br />G.1.5.1 Mineral Resources <br />Nahcolite is the sodium mineral of primary interest in the mining, and its <br />most significant occurrence is in the Saline Zone, occurring as distinct <br />beds, random rosettes, and course crystals in the oil shale. Dawsonite is <br />found in the Saline Zone, and occurs as microscopic crystals finely <br />disseminated throughout the oil shale and as thin laminae along bedding <br />• planes. Correlatable oil-shale zones have been differentiated on the basis <br />of their high shale-•oil content. The Mahogany Zone, and the R-6 and R-4 <br />G-20 <br />