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Show 2 August 22, 1252 The Western Mineral Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah SHALE . . . 4 Continued from Page 1 the latest technical developments, Chapman said. Two refining plans were conidered, one using basic thermal cracking and the other a mild hydrogeneration process developed by the Union Oil Company of California. Based on a capitalization of 50 per cent equity and 50 per cent borrowed funds, and with all products selling at early 1D51 prices, the rate of return on equity capital after income taxes was estimated at 8.4 per cent for .thermal refining and 11.2 per cent for mild hydrogeneration. The estimate, computed on an industry-scal- e operation, includes the cost of a pipeline to the west coast. Although this return is less than the average return of the petroleum industry, as indicated by published figures, It is high enough to warrant serious attention, the report says. operations would not involve the exploration risks incident to petroleum production, the report adds. Moreover, the steel requirements for an industry-scale operation, including the pipeline and all plant facili ties, would total only about three tons per daily barrel of product. According to the report, this means that substantially less steel is required to produce fuels from oil shale than to establish new fuels production from petroleum, if exploration and drilling are included. The report reviews briefly the outstanding developments in mining, retorting, and refining that have elevated oil shale to a point where it now is ready for exploitation. Practical methods have been demonstrated for mining o; shale underground at a cost slightly less than 50 cents a ton. When this cost figure was established as a goal at the outset of the mining research program, few experts anticipated that it would be reached. It was attained, the report states, inflationary trend that has nearly doubled labor and material costs. Oil-sha- le . ed-spite.- an Salt Lake Unit Develops New Process Union Suspends Oil Exploration In Washington Olympia, Wash. Suspension of oil pospecting in Washington was announced here by Union DENVER, Colo Two meth- Oil Co. of California, which has ods for recovering thallium, a spent more than $3.5 mililon rare metallic element of increas-- in drilling some 67,000 feet of ing strategic and industrial im- test wells in the western part of the state. portance, were announced toJohn Sfoat, Unions exploraday by J. H. Ealt, Jr., regional tion West manager for director of the Bureau of Mines, We. still believe said: Coast, U. S. Department of the Intethat commercial oil or gas exists rior. in this state. But we also know Developed in the Bureaus In- it may not be found immediatetermountain Experiment Sta ly. We want to encouarge others tion at Salt Lake City, Utah, to explore. these processes yielded high rethe announcement, In coveries of pure thallium from the making offered drilling white arsenic and .from lead data company and other prospecting in-smelter flue dust. Both are de- formation to all compaiiie inter- scribed in a report released to- - ested. Forty-eigh- t representaday in Washington, D. C. tives of 20 major oil companies, Although thallium is widely in addition to independent geodistributed, it is found In such logists and engineers were on minute quantities that it can hand to take immediate advanbe recovered only as a of the offer. in processing ores of other tage If another company strikes metals. During World War II Union will cash in because it was used in lenses of optical oil, instruments for secret signaling we still hold about 40,000 acres of prospective oil lands under by infrared light. ieases, a Union of cells including thallium long-tersaid. ficial compounds also proved valuable in war communications. In compounds, thallium is ued industrially in manufactur-i- n grodent poisons and insecticides, optical glass, and artificial gems. It also is ued in some alloys, such a lead and silver, and has a limited medicinal ues in the treatment of skin diseases, dysentery, and tuberculosis. Using smelter products proIron ore shipments out of vided by the American Smelting Lovelock, Nev., territory are s and Refining CO., Bureau creeping up to 50 carloads a were able to retain in a day. Most of this ore is desresidue more than 99 per cent alinated to the Pacific of the thallium from a white where it is placed aboard-shiarenic containg 96 per cent arfor. Japan. senic trioxide and 0.21 per cent Top shippers are the Dodge thallium. From the smelter flue Construction Company and the dust, 90 per cent of the thallium Minerals Materials Company, wa recovered in thallous chlorof which are locatboth mines ide crstals .which were readily, ed about 18 miles southeast of purified into a final product of Lovelock. They are averaging more than 99 per cent purity. 20 carloads a day, and the mines Over-al- l recovery of thallium in are workin gon a week. the refined crystals exceeded 85 Dodge Brothers properties are pr cnt. located on the north side of the The methqds employed were while Mineral Materials ridge, volatilization for the white ar- are on the opposite senic and cylic leaching for the side operating of the hilltop. At both lead smelter flue dust. properties power shovels and drills are used to break down the ore, and trucks haul it to the railroad about four miles east of town. Already many thousand of tons of this material has been mined from this area and he outlook for the future seems bight for iron ore shipments. Another company, the Apier-- ! ican Ore Corporation, is getting out about two carloads a day, and this is being loaded at Ore-anaccording to the Lovelock Review Miner. American Ores product goes to Chicago and Detroit for American use. The stefel strike which is now on has not affected the iron ore production. H. S. Thomas and Roy Blair, doing business as the Nevada Iron Ore Company, are getting out three carloads every two days. They are selecting their grade and this ore is reported to be of a high grade quality. or war it FORD CO. PROJECT Another project of some significance in the neighborhood been too of the Blair Thomas operation is the (diamond drilling work late. being carried on by the Ford Motor Company. This drilling exploration is being conducted to determine the extent of the & underground ore bodies in the vicinity. This operation is located about two miles from the Blair and Thomas workings. te . by-produ- ct Photo-sensitiv- e m Iron Ore Show Increase metal-lurgit- coas-ports- , p six-da- y . i a, In peace has never little, too l 4 UTAH POWER LIGHT CO. ; i increased cost of production and development work together with a weakening of metal price structures is resulting in an increasingly greater burden on operating mines. Many mportant producers have either curtailed operations or have closed down entirely. While demand for metals is brisk, the condition is being caused by excessive purchase of foreign ores as well as the unworkable margin between costs and selling prices. U. S. Violates Howe Sound Of IMC Right Gets Higli Cost Contract Participation Despite congressional action of an contract between Howe Sound mateCompany and the defense rials procurement agency covering' production of nearly 9, y 000,000 pounds of electrolytical-lrefined copper from ores at the company's Holden mine in Washington, Chelan County, yras-- announced last week by Jess Larson, administrator of the government agency. Terms of the contract guarantee the Howe Sound firm a suba sidy of 4.7 cents a pound for elecof total of 8,834,000 pounds trolytic copper from ores which could not be economically mined under the present price ceiling of 24.2 cents a pound, f.o.b. custom smelter. This is said to be equivalent of one years production rom the Holden mine. The new agreement, without which the mine could not stay in operation, is the sixth of its kind thus far negotiated by DMPA and is in line with Larsons policy statement of last December that, where neces-harthe government would over-al- l subsidies in order grant to assure continued supply of needed copper. The subsidy contracts may be canceled by either party on 60 days written notice and terminate automatically in the event price ceilings on copper are reConclusion over-ceilin- g . y, moved. Announcement was also made last week of an agreement with a Canadian producer of copper designed to channel its production to American industry. The DMPA has contracted to purchase about 32,500 tons of cop- per which the Campbell Ghi-bougam- au Mines, Ltd., will produce from its mines on Merrill Island, Dore Lake, Quebec.' The government may, at its option, buy any or all of the oopper at the market price, or 24 cents, whichever is the higher, and the company is required to offer American indust-trany output which the U. S. government does not take under its operation. to retrict the participation of the United State in the internaconference tional. materials the defense production (IMC)' adminitration has accepted the third quarter allocation of free world copper, Senator Henry declares in Dworhsak a press release this week. U. S. delegates to the IMC,. he says, have apparently ignored. the proviion in the state department appropriation bill which permits only observance of activities of this international copper cartel and par- ticipated fully in making Administration spokesmen. have contended that the United States wa given as much as 80 per cent of the world, copper- supplies, but our second quarter allocation was only 49 per cent, according to the (R.-Ida- .) allo-ation- si de-tio- n. It is ironical that foreign countries were enabled to pay from 50 to 60 cents per pound for copper in world markets, while the OPS ceiling prices were 24 cents for our domestic copper and .27 cents for Chilean copper sold here, until a few weeks ago," Sentaor Dworshak says. Then some concesions were made to permit purchase of foreign copper at much higher prices, with OPS ceilings reflecting 80 per cent of the additional cost. However, no increases were given to our domestic producers of ocfpper, he adds. He charges that the operations of the IMC copper cartel were lagely responsible for the copper hortage in this country which resulted in curtailment of production of civilian products such a sautomobiles, with widespread unemployment. "The IMC was never authorized by law, and the tate department participated in this cartel without safeguarding copper allocations for American reguire-men- t, the Idaho senator asserts. The OPS price regulations also drastically curtailed procesings, while other countries had every conceivable advantage under this program. .aductssertsnt ' |