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Show May 19, 1969 OIL & MINING JOURNAL Testimony al Hearings MCUEs Vital minerals locked up in monuments The director of the Utah Geological Survey testified last week that field examinations In Garfield County indicate there are potentially important oil and uranium deposits In the expanded Capitol Reef National Monument area. The statement came during the opening session of three days of hearings on the expansion of Capitol Reef and Arches National Monuments.' Hearings are held by the Parks and Recreation subcommittee of the Senate Interior Committee. continued 9 at at a.m. the Sevier Friday in Richfield Courthouse County and on Saturday, at 9 a.m. at the Grand County Courthouse In The hearings Moab. In gross figures, said Wil- liam P. Hewitt, UGS director, 700,000 barrels of tar have been locked Into the Capitol Reef National Monument by the 1969 acreage addition. Utah geological and mineral survey field parties have also recognized areas that should be Ideal for petroleum chairSen. AlanBlble,D-Nev- ., man of the subcommittee, is pre- siding over the hearings, held in the State Office Building Auditorium. elusion of some of the Capitol Reef acreage expansion, would reduce the loss figure to 400,000 barrels of tar. Coal and gypsum deposits likewise occur In the Capitol Reef expansion, Hewitt said. In todays market, no no of these represents a commercial deposit; yet, the growing pres- sure on our known resources insures that any or all of them will become significant in the future, he added. Hewitt said he hopes final determination on the park status He noted that SB 531, lntor-duccould in some way allow oil by Sen. Frank E Moss, field testing within the monument which provides for ex- - area. ed . D-Ut- ah, There should be some provision for some oil field exploration. This should be written into the bill without a particular exclusion being defined, he said. Hewitt said that he was speaking specifically of the Big Bend area. In the event of a national emergency threatening the oil reserves of the nation, there would not be time to explore potential oil producing areas, such as those in Capitol Reef, he pointed re oil reserves, out. Our he said, would be sitting ducks for enemy attack in the event off-sho- of war. Hewitt said that information on mineral deposits in Arches National Monument is more difficult to obtain because no field work has been done in the region. information is However, available on the results of oil tests in nearby areas, and some data is available from privileged sources, he said. These have been drawn together and the picture is one of a mineral-ric- h area that is almost totally unprospected. Former Utah Congressman M. Blaine Peterson also testified during the morning session. He strongly supported the expanislon of the two Utah monuments, saying this would prove a continuing boon to state tourism BuMines publishes users guide to explosives has not been available from any WASHINGTON-- A unique users guide to commercial explosives and blasting agents for mining and other industrial g jobs has been U.S. Bureau of the published by single source. Explosives encyclopedias may be filled with chemical reactions that take replaced inert fillers with active place in explosives. Powder ingredients in their products. companies handbooks and data Detonationvelocity is the most sheets, though useful, usually importance single property to cover only the manufacturers consider in selecting explosives, own products. They may also be according to the Bureau. This characterized by nondescriptive property determines whether the trade names, a lack of uniform explosive will give a sudden, shattering energy blast or a slower, heaving surge of force. standards for measuring and Mines. The publication is designed to aid in selecting the right explosives for almost any industrial blasting operation. It explains general characteristics of all conventional explosives and blasting agents available commercially and identifies the specific properties that determine the usefulness of a a properties of describing and given DETONATION VELOCITY the use of is given in the Bureaus terms like strength, guidebook for each type of leaving the man in the field blasting agent and explosive explosives, ed UNTIL NOW, the Bureau said, this kind of information wondering Oil reserves at low levels Domestic crude oil reserves have dropped t o their lowest level in 11 years. Only five states managed to increase their reserves last year and these gains were quickly offset by record' domestic production and by declines in re- serves in 19 other states. The year end estimate of proved crude reserves of 30.7 billion barrels represents a net characteristics as detonation pressure, density, fume class, and water resistance. All of these The Bureaus says technical information of no traditional strength guide for properties, and descriptions of ratings immediate use to the man in the explosives have been outmoded ingredients used in the field, such as data on the ever since powder companies explosives, are keyed to the rock-breakin- compound in application. chosen the right explosive for his work. ' whether he has along with such other important 11-ye- ar completed in 1968. Potential Prudhoe Bay reserves have been estimated at to 10 billion barrels but sufficient development of the area had not been completed by the end of the year to permit any meaningful estimate to be included in the institutes 1968 report. A dozen or so companies are seeking to define the limits of the reservoir by drilland wildcat ing development wells. decline of 669 millio barrels for the year. The record production in excess of 3.1 billion dropto their Ironically, Alaska slipped in total reserves ped 1968 from the No. 8 spot to the the 30.5 lowest level since 9 No. position among the nabillion barrel estimate at the end tions leading crude oil reof 1958. serves states. T his brought at The new reserves report releast a temporary end to a specleased by the American Petroltacular jump that had seen eum Institute includes no estimate of potential production Alaska climb from No. 19 to from the Prudhoe Bay area of No. 8 since the states reAlaskas Arctic Slope, where two serves first attained significant major discovery wells were proportion. manufacturers strength rating, this rating while misleading by total cost of excavating rock, the report says, it is possible sometimes to use a higher cost explosive, carefully chosen to bring down costs of drilling, loading, hauling and crushing rock. Information Circular 8405, "Factors in Selecting and itself, serves as a handy means of Applying Commercial Explosives identifying a given explosive and Blasting Agents, by mining since all explosives carry such engineer Richard A. Dick, can be rating. Although blasters will Superintendent of Documents, naturally want to use the U.S. Government Printing cheapest explosive that will do a Office, Washington D.C. good job, the report for 40 cents a copy. 20402, Orders recommends against cutting should specify the complete title costs on explosives at the and the Catalog Number expense of efficiency in over-al-l 128.27:8405. The publication is operations. Since the cost of not for sale by the Bureau of explosives is a minor part of the Mines. ordered from the Mill will serve two uranium mines EDGEMONT, S.D.-T- he Susquehanna Corp. announces that it will place its uranium extracting mill at Edgemont into full operation by August to process ore from new uranium mines it is developing in that area. In recent years, the mill, which has a nominal capacity of 650 tons of ore per day, has Mir tits FarAlllftn Of Mlstai, amuT taunytaf opera! ed at less than 20 per cent of capacity under a contract with limited-productio- n the Atomic Energy Commission. operation is made FULL-SCAL- E possible by discovery of new uranium deposits that can be economically mined for commercial sale. Two new mines at separate locations within McFarland - Hullinger "FET" MV-532W7- S UTAHS FIRST HELICOPTER reasonable proximity to the mill are being developed. The full extent of these deposits is not yet known and an extensive program of further test drilling in these areas will be necessary to more accurately assess their ultimate scope, according to the announcement. McFarland MININS CONTRACTORS Latest, Most Modern Equipment SERVICE Sid Hullinger - ORE HAULING Dependable. Service 915 No. Main St. CLEAN P.O. CORPORATE SHELL Box 238, Tooele, Utah 84074 For Sale No Assets - No liabilities Write to: Code M-5- 1 0. Box 19243 Salt lake City, Utah 84119 P. KELSEY-ELLI- S Sail Laka Airport . . 359-20- 85 Free Dialing from Salt Lake: Long Distance: Dial: Tooele 363-168- 3 882-010- 3 |