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INTRODUCTION <br />SECTION 2.04.9 <br />SOILS RESOURCE INFORMATION <br />Western Fuels Colorado, A Limited Liability Company, (WFC) is applying for a new <br />permit to mine the coal reserves in the proposed New Horizon North Mine area. This <br />proposed mine area, is located in the W '/2 of Section 25, Township 47 North, Range 16 <br />West of the New Mexico principal meridian. Approximately one third of this proposed <br />mine permit area corresponds to the original NH1 Mine area previously permitted by <br />Peabody Coal Company (PCC), in connection with a permit application submitted in <br />April 1980 and approved in May 1993 as Permit No. C- 008 -81. Other portions of the <br />proposed New Horizon North Mine permit area were permitted and mined prior to 1973 <br />as a portion of the Navajo and Nucla strip mines which were mined by the Edna Coal <br />Company starting in 1958 and subsequently by PCC until 1992, when WFC purchased <br />the property and renamed the operation the New Horizon Mine. WFC herein addresses <br />the requirements of Section 2.04.9 - Soils Resource Information by summarizing the <br />previously conducted soil resources surveys which have been conducted on and <br />immediately adjacent to the proposed New Horizon North Mine permit area. <br />In evaluating the soils resources of this area, WFC carefully reviewed the files of PCC <br />and made a formal request of the Norwood Office of the United States Department of <br />Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). Copies of <br />previously completed soil surveys of the area were obtained and their GIS database was <br />queried to determine the extent of all previously completed soils resources surveys <br />conducted within and adjacent to the proposed New Horizon North Mine permit area. <br />A total of at least three, formal soils resource investigations have been conducted on the <br />proposed New Horizon North Mine permit area. The extent of these investigations is <br />shown on Map 2.04.9, New Horizon North Mine - Soils Resource Map. A discussion of <br />each of these surveys follows. <br />1979 SURVEY <br />Western Soils Resource Management, Inc. performed the first important investigation of <br />the NH1 mine area in 1979. This formal survey was completed on what is now called the <br />Rice Tract and is shown as the area within the current NH1 Mine Permit area shown on <br />Map 2.04.9 -1, New Horizon North Mine - NRCS Soils Map. As shown on this map, <br />major portions of this survey area were performed on areas that were subsequently mined <br />and have been reclaimed This soils survey covered an area of approximately 116 acres <br />that now correspond to the southern one third of the proposed New Horizon North Mine <br />permit area. <br />Section 2.04.9 Page 1 November 2011 <br />