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• ~ ~ 10 <br />The analytical data on total sulfur content for the 37 selected samples do show that <br />approximately 70% of the samples are below 0.2% sulfur content. If these samples are in <br />fact representative of the Cresson overburden materials and if the mass distribution <br />represented by the samples corresponds to mass distribution in the deposit, then this <br />would imply that the deposit is primarily composed material with sulfur content below <br />0.2%. if heterogeneities on the deposited material occur, with "islands" of either higher or <br />lower sulfur content, then this could significantly impact the overall percentage of material <br />above and below the 0.2% sulfur level. <br />The predominance of sulfide sulfur in the higfier total sulfur materials appears to be <br />supported with a high confidence level (R2=0.984) while the correlations of total sulfur <br />with visible pyrite in 66 samples (R2=0.691) and for the entire database (R2=0.676) are <br />significantly lower. The data presented suggest that visual estimation of pyrite may be a <br />particularly useful tool for classifying material in the field as high or low sulfide material if <br />visual pyrite is 1% or higher while at lower levels the classification will be more <br />questionable. <br />The sulfur analytical data and assignment of sulfur species to pyrite appear to be <br />reasonable and suggest that the highest total sulfur materials will, in fact, have the <br />highest levels of pyrite and thus probably represent the highest acid generation <br />potential. These analyses, of course, are bulk analyses and do not account for <br />varying accessibility of pyrite to oxidation and of basic minerals for acid <br />neutralization and so, in themselves, the data do not serve as precise estimators of <br />acid generation potential. <br />The decreasing correlation of total sulfur with visible pyrite estimates at lower and <br />lower total sulfur levels suggests to me that classification of "high" or "low" pyrite <br />materials will be less reliable as pyrite levels decline below about 1%. <br />If the samples of material assayed for sulfur is representative of the composition of the <br />Cresson deposit, and if the mass of materials of varied sulfur content in that deposit can be <br />accurately estimated from these samples and other core log data, then the conclusion that <br />the Cresson overburden material is primarily low in sulfides is reasonable. <br />Modified AcidBase Accounting ("ABA") <br />The acid base accounting tests are primarily a convenient way to estimate, on a bulk <br />sample basis, and in a relatively short time, whether a given sample can be expected to <br />react as a net acid producer or net acid neutralizer. As such, the tests give a picture of <br />extreme condition behavior of the samples but do not necessarily tell us what to expect <br />from the materials in a more natural environment. This latter performance is better <br />addressed by the humidity cell testing discussed later in this report. <br />OMLR951DEH <br />