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4.3 Coal Resources to be Mined <br />Eight major coal seams are mined (or have been mined) in the East Pit, West Pit and Section 16 <br />Pit at the Mine. These are the "Y ", "X," "A ", "B ", "C, "D ", "E" and "F" seams. The seams vary <br />in thickness from 2.5 to 15 feet, and overburden thickness varies as a function of structural <br />geology and topography. <br />In the South Taylor Mining area, 17 seam and sub -seam complexes will be mined. The seams <br />are the "A ", `B ", "C, "D ", "E ", F" and "G" seams and their seam complexes (for example, the <br />G -Seam is separated into G7, G8 and G9 in the South Taylor Area). The seams vary in thickness <br />from 1.5 feet to 17 feet and the overburden and interburden thicknesses vary, on average, from 2 <br />feet to 65 feet. Figure 2.04.6 -313 in the PAP contains a generalized diagram of the seams to be <br />mined as well as the overburden and interburden. <br />4.4 Topography <br />The East Pit, West Pit and Section 16 Pit mining sites lie just west of the northward flowing <br />Good Spring (also referred to as Good Spring) Creek, which is paralleled by Colorado Highway <br />13. The area is a gently sloping upland ranging from about 7,640 feet near the southwest corner <br />to 6,560 feet near the northeast corner of the permit area. Valleys that cut into the upland surface <br />are generally narrow (V- shaped) and about 250 to 500 feet deep. The topographic surface north <br />of the proposed East Pit, West Pit and Section 16 Pit mining sites is dominated by two ridges <br />about two miles long, trending north - northeast, bounded by Good Spring, Taylor and Wilson <br />Creeks. <br />The South Taylor Mining area lies north and west of the northward flowing Good Spring Creek <br />and south - southwest of the other pits. The area is also just south of the northeastward flowing <br />Taylor Creek, which runs adjacent to the Section 16 and West Pits. Much of the area was gently <br />sloping upland rangeland, but the valleys were steeply sloping, with slopes in excess of 20 <br />percent in some places. <br />4.5 Geology <br />Geologic information is found in Sections 2.04.6, Maps 7 through 9A, and Exhibit 6 of the PAP. <br />The permit area lies about six miles south of the axis of the Axial Basin Anticline, a large <br />northwest- trending fold found in the southern Uinta region of the Piceance Basin. The anticline <br />structure and corresponding syncline (Collom Syncline) to the south consist of thousands of feet <br />of marine - deposited sediments of Cretaceous age. <br />To the south of the anticline, the axis of the Collom Syncline, a downward fold, passes directly <br />through the permit area, trending north 70 degrees west and plunging from 0 to 20 degrees to the <br />Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance January 2012 <br />Permit Renewal 06 Page 113 <br />