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unable to lease a single ton of federal coal. The following summary <br />• will highlight some of the principal frustrations that Energy Fuels <br />encountered while attempting to lease additional federal coal reserves. <br />Preference Right Coal Lease No. C-0128433. Energy Fuels' predecessor in <br />interest (Morgan Coal Company) received Prospecting Permit No. C-0128433 <br />on September 1, 1966, covering approximately 474 acres adjacent to the <br />Energy Mine No. 2. Coal was proven in commercial quantities, and the <br />first application to lease C-0128433 was filed on June 18, 1970. As <br />mining progressed north and east toward the Federal Coal covered by <br />Prospecting Permit No. C-0128433, Energy Fuels requested the issuance of <br />Lease No. C-0128433 on the grounds that all of the conditions of the <br />Prospecting Permit had been satisfied. Finally, on June 6, 1975, almost <br />nine years after the application was filed, [he Washington, D.C. Office <br />of Interior advised Energy Fuels that Lease No. C-0128433 would issue. <br />The Lea=e was signed on June 11, 1975. Mining on Lease No. C-0128433 <br />started on August 1, 1975; and all of the reserves within the Lease were <br />depleted thirteen months later. Reclamation of the surface area was <br />• initiated in October of 1976 when the area was retopsoiled, leveled, <br />disked and drill seeded. <br />Federal Coal Lease Application No. C-20900. Federal Coal Lease Appli- <br />cation No. C-20900 covered an approximate total of 420 acres in two <br />separate parcels (i.e., 296 acres in Section 19, Township 5 North, Range <br />86 West; and 124 acres in Section 25, Township 5 North, Range 87 West). <br />These parcels overlie approximately 149 acres of Federal Coal Reserves <br />deposited in the relatively thin (three to four feet) Fish Creek Coal <br />Seam. As early as October 11, 1972, Energy Fuels' predecessor in interest <br />attempted to amend Prospecting Permit No. C-0128433 to include the two <br />parcels that make up Lease Application No. C-20900 on the grounds that <br />the reserves contained in the parcels amounted to not more than a six <br />month supply for an electric utility. However, on September 19, 1973, <br />Interior refused to include the C-20900 acreage with the acreage con- <br />tained in C-0128433 for the following reasons: <br />• "Records and information show that coal in workable quantity and <br />quality exists in the lands above described. It has been determined <br />-15- <br />