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• <br />Tract Delineation Report - 2003 The MCC WFT LBA Paqe 4 <br />Mining at the West Elk mine, 1 to 3 miles to the S-S W of the tract, has encountered some rolls in the <br />coal seam as well as techtonic displacement faults. Rock spazs have also been found present in the <br />coal running at about a 30E angle to the strike of the structure. The WFT is expected to have four <br />fault zones about evenly spaced from north to south. The zones are labeled on the West Elk Mine <br />maps from north to south as: Un-named; Oliver #2; B East Mains; and 14HG. These zones have <br />exhibited themselves in the current mine workings as everything from fracture zones to having <br />several blades with vertical offsets ranging from a fraction of a foot to 21 feet. Heavy inflow of both <br />methane and warm water can occur in these zones when they are contacted by development mining <br />and extra ground control devices are necessary to counteract weaknesses due to fractured roof and <br />ribs. <br />The fault zone contact location will usually experience heavy initial flow of both methane and water <br />that eventually subsides, but must always be anticipated and alleviated. Methods now used to <br />alleviate the heavy flows (and deal with the residual flows) are expected to be employed on the WFT <br />wherever they become necessary. Mining through the zones on development or with the longwall <br />requires extra finesse so that the safety of men and equipment is maintained and the product~mined is <br />the best quality possible. <br />V. Coal Data The coal is ranked high-volatile B. The proximate as received Analysis for the B <br />• seams comes from the drill hole data of three holes influencing the area of the WF, and is as follows: <br />B seam Ash 9.78 % Sulphur 0.61% Water 6.56% BTU 12,368 <br />Because dilution is expected (due to the M2 parting) in the eastern extent of the longwall blocks, the <br />nm-of--mine quality from the WF is expected to be as follows: <br />B seam Ash 12.20 % Sulphur 0.60% Water 6.52% BTU 12,015 <br />Although this product is not up to contract specifications of less than 10.5% ash, there are some spot <br />mazkets that will buy it, and the rest can be blended down with better quality coal to meet contract <br />specifications. This option is better for MCC and the government rather than bypassing it. <br />Coal Quantity The following coal quantity determinations were calculated by the BLM mining <br />engineer (Uncompahgre Field Office) in September 2003, as part of the BLM Tract Delineation <br />report for the WFT application. Based on three different azeas of ash concentration (M2 influence) <br />for a projected longwall development and mining plan that takes advantage of the most encouraging <br />easterly trend of the M2 parting, the following B seam reserves were calculated (Table at the top of <br />the next page): <br /> <br />