The Fish Creek EMRIA site, an area of about 3.7 square miles (9.6 km2), is located in the southeastern part of the Yampa coal field on the steep to gently dipping beds of the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation.
The Fish Creek coal bed within 200 feet (60 m) of the surface was evaluated by five core holes. Coal resources--measured, indicated, and inferred--within the site are 2,512,000 short tons, 7,970,000 short tons, and 507,000 short tons respectively.
The coal has an apparent rank of bituminous C. The average Btu value of three core samples from the site on the as-received basis is 10,790, average ash content is 11.1 percent, and average sulfur content is 1.9 percent.
A comparison of the analyses of samples from the Fish Creek coal bed with other Rocky Mountain province coal sample analyses shows that nitrogen, total sulfur, and pyritic and organic sulfur contents are noticeably higher in the Fish Creek coal bed samples. A comparison of other element analyses shows that the Fish Creek coal bed is noticeably higher in As, Cr, F, Fe, Hg, and Sr, and noticeably lower in Th.
