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Description of the Environment <br />Location of Permit Area <br />The Deserado Mine is located in Rio Blanco County, Colorado on lands within: <br />Township 2 North, Range 101 West of the 6th Principal Meridian <br />Portions of Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, and 12 <br />Township 3 North, Range 101 West of the 6th Principal Meridian <br />Portions of Sections 1, 4, and 5 <br />All of Sections 2 and 3 <br />Township 6 North, Range 90 West <br />Portions of Sections 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, and <br />36 <br />All of Sections 22, 29, 32, and 33 <br />Phigraphic Setting <br />The elevations at the Deserado Mine site range between 5,300 ft. and 5,900 ft. The permit area <br />and adjacent areas are characterized by gently rolling to moderately steep landforms. Slopes <br />range from 0 to 6 percent in the valleys and level uplands and up to 50 percent on drainage <br />sideslopes. <br />Geologic Setting <br />The bedrock at the ground surface in the Deserado permit area is contained within the Mesaverde <br />Group of Upper Cretaceous age. These sedimentary beds are well exposed as a southwest facing <br />escarpment along the flank of the Rangely anticline and along the course of Scullion Gulch and <br />its tributaries. Throughout much of northwest Colorado, the Mesaverde Group has been divided <br />into the basal Iles Formation, and the overlaying Williams Fork Formation, with the contact lying <br />atop the Trout Creek Sandstone Member of the Iles Formation. The strata exposed in the mine <br />permit area have been subdivided into three zones. In ascending order the three zones are the Iles <br />Formation, the Lower Williams Fork Formation, and the Upper Williams Fork Formation. <br />Coal Seam Stratigraphy <br />All mining and related mining activity associated with the Deserado Mine is performed within or <br />upon rocks of the Mesaverde Group. The carbonaceous zone containing the coal beds of interest <br />occupies the basal 200 to 300 feet of the Lower Williams Fork Formation. The B and D coal <br />seams are contained in a 25 to 70-foot interval occurring 10 to 40 foot above the top of the B <br />horizon sandstone. Although coals are prevalent throughout the rest of the carbonaceous zone, <br />the coals are commonly too thin or of too little lateral extent to be considered mineable. <br />Deserado Mine 7 September 19, 2008