Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-02-03 | Page 28 | Mine Bureau Asked to Test Oil Shale

MINE BUREAU ASKED TO TEST OIL SHALE Will Make Examinations, With View of Eliminating Work on Worthless Deposits. The United States bnrcau of mines, which conducts an experiment station iu this city in co-operation with the University "of Utah, is receiving niany requests from all parts of the inter-mountain inter-mountain country for tests of oil shales. ' l'or the benefit of those who do not understand the purpose for which the bureau of mines was created, the local station has announced that it is not authorized to make analyses or assays for the sole benefit of private parties, its function being rather to investigate investi-gate problems of general interest and importance to the mining industry, and to publish the results of theso investigations investi-gations for the benefit of the industry and the general public. On account of the growing interest in the oil shale industry, and with a view to assisting prospectors and others oth-ers as much as possible, tho bureau lias adopted the policy of permitting the local station to make a superficial examination ex-amination of all shales submitted for test and advising the senders whether or not the samples show sufficient volatile vol-atile matter to warrant further consideration con-sideration of their possibilities as commercial com-mercial shales. In this manner a large number of worthless deposits can be eliminated from consideration and to those who submit samples of apparent value tho station sends a list of analysts who are equipped to make a proper analysis of their material. The local station, co-operating wjh the University of Utah, is now engaged en-gaged upon research work on a laboratory labora-tory basis, with different processes for extraction of the oil and by-products from shales. Tho results of this research re-search work will be published at a later date.