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via the adjacent Federal Lease which Energy Fuels was mining during 1977 <br />and 1978, and the only machine in the Energy Fuels' fleet that could <br />• recover all of that coal was the Marion 8050 Dragline. The dragline was <br />working in "windrow cuts" moving east to west and then west to east. <br />Each time the dragline approached the boundary of C-16284, it system- <br />atically turned around and proceeded in the opposite direction only to <br />return in 30 to 60 days. Each time the dragline retreated, it, in <br />effect, "painted C-16284 in the corner" and made the recovery of the <br />coal difficult and vastly more expensive if not impossible. <br />Energy Fuels, through its predecessor in interest (Morgan Coal Company) <br />first made application for Competitive Coal Lease No. C-16284 on May 9, <br />1972. Although Energy Fuels has made continued and repeated efforts to <br />lease this tract, the company experienced many of the same delays that <br />were encountered in attempting to Lease C-20900. Finally, on Piay 27, <br />1977, the Denver Office of the Bureau of Land Management published a <br />news release stating that Federal Coal Lease C-16284 would be offered <br />for sale at a public sale to be held on June 21, 1977. The high bid was <br />• submitted by a Mr. Hans von Mende who utterly failed to meet the emer- <br />gency leasing criteria. On August 11, 1977, 51 days after the lease <br />sale, the Denver Office of the Bureau of Land Management advised Energy <br />Fuels that Mr. von Mende had withdrawn his spurious bid and that Energy <br />Fuels, as the next highest bidder, was entitled to the lease. However, <br />the remainder of 1977 passed without issuance of the Lease from the <br />Bureau of Land Management. Meanwhile, the Marion 8050 Dragline regularly <br />moved to the edge of the C-16284 Lease and turned around. With each <br />pass of the dragline, the plans to be used in the eventual mining of the <br />C-16284 Lease were changing and consequently becoming more complex. <br />Finally, on July 1, 1978, the Department of Interior issued Federal Coal <br />Lease C-16284 to Energy Fuels. <br />Federal Coal Lease No. C-22644. Federal Coal Lease No. C-22644 covers <br />approximately 1,790 acres in an area known as Eckman Park within Sections <br />7, 8, 18, and 19 of Township 4 North, Range 87 West. The reserves avail- <br />able for mining consists of [dadge Coal. The acreage encompassed therein <br />• adjoins the western boundary of Energy Fuels' Federal Lease No. C-081330 <br />-17- <br />