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Description of the Environment <br />General Area <br />The Northfield Mine is situated in the physiographic area known as the Canon City- <br />Florence Basin, a highland basin between the Wet Mountains to the west and the Great <br />Plains to the east. The topography of the area is characterized as high plains, <br />dissected with intermittent and ephemeral drainages bounding numerous mesas <br />dipping gently to the east-northeast. Climate is semi-arid with about 13 inches of <br />precipitation annually. Soils are generally thin and of poor quality and support plant life <br />indicative of a semi-arid region including pinion pine, cacti, and native warm season <br />grasses. Land uses are generally undeveloped rangeland with scattered ranchette <br />development. Coal mining has been conducted in the general area since the late <br />1800's. The Canon City USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle map depicts the permit and <br />adjacent area. <br />Permit Area <br />The permit area can generally be described, using known landmarks, as lands bounded <br />by County Road 79 on the east and south, County Road 77 on the west, and the town <br />of Brookside and Highway 115 on the north. It can also be described more precisely as <br />A TRACT OF LAND BEING IN SECTIONS 11, 12, 13, 14, 22, 23 AND 24, TOWNSHIP <br />19 SOUTH, RANGE 70 WEST OF THE 6th P.M., FREMONT COUNTY, COLORADO; <br />MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: <br />COMMENCING AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SAID SECTION 14, WHICH IS <br />THE TRUE POINT OF BEGINNING OF THE HEREIN DESCRIBED TRACT OF LAND; <br />THENCE ON THE FOLLOWING 21 COURSES: <br />1) S 87°08'59"EON THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID SECTION 14 A DISTANCE OF <br />1322.63' TO THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SOUTHWEST'/4 OF THE <br />SOUTHWEST'/4 OF SAID SECTION 14; <br />2) THENCE N 0°07'53"WON THE NORTH-SOUTH CENTERLINE OF SAID <br />SECTION 14 A DISTANCE OF 2601.60' TO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF <br />THE SOUTHEAST'/4 OF THE NORTHWEST'/4 OF SAID SECTION 14; <br />3) THENCE S 88°07'11"EON THE WEST-EAST CENTERLINE OF SAID <br />SECTION 14 A DISTANCE OF 1312.65' TO THE CENTER THEREOF; <br />4) THENCE N 0°19'40"WON THE EAST LINE OF THE NORTHWEST'/4 OF <br />SAID SECTION 14 A DISTANCE OF 2624.34' TO INTERSECT THE NORTH <br />LINE OF SAID SECTION 14; <br />5) THENCE N 89°06'16"WON THE NORTH LINE OF SAID SECTION 14 A <br />DISTANCE OF 1303.05' TO THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE <br />SOUTHEAST'/4 OF THE SOUTHWEST'/4 OF SAID SECTION 11; <br />6) THENCE N 0°37'05"WON THE NORTH-SOUTH CENTERLINE OF SAID <br />SECTION 11 A DISTANCE OF 496.92'; <br />7) THENCE N 56°16'37" E A DISTANCE OF 2575.72'; <br />6 <br />