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Show . t , 'St, ' ' ' . s. ? .. ' ' -v W . '; , I .. v - ' ' K ' ' 1 ,Ji ; - , ' " ' T v . J I ' . : ''-. I..'. t ' ' ' ",: ' ' ' 1 t - s ii ?t if, s.i I - i ; 1 p; - - s j ', . 'lit . s ir ' ' ' ' !- ' M . ! n H J V J : f li " i " ; ik i f ,.v .s . r , r s , -if- C I - 1 1 s V v A w v a 1 I.1 -1 )'',Y ( : -.:H, ; : " V i ' -- " j l I .t ,A , .: ' i . ) ! -- P J : I , ! " - ' i Blue Mountain Ski Area whenejihe Moabites brush shoulders with the happy skiers" of Monticello. Winter Win-ter fun cn the' Blue Mountain slopes will 'be on the. agenda for many weeks to' come' due to the three- Surface exploration and development de-velopment drilling by the U. S. uranium mining industry totaled ' 10,764,000 feet in 1967 and set an all-time high for the industry, according to a summary report made public Wednesday by ( the Grand Junction Office of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. The previous drilling high was a decade ago in 1957, when the industry drilled 9,200,000 feet. According to information supplied to AEC by uranium companies active throughout the West, the surface drilling figures for 1967 were: First quarter, 1,321,000 feet; second quarter, 2,444,000 feet; third quarter, 3,410,000 feet; and fourth quarter, 3,589,000 feet. From the previous high of 9.200,000 feet of drilling n 1957, the industry's exploration explora-tion and development effort declined steadily to slightly over 2,000,000 feet in 1965, the lowest year since 1952. Total surface drilling in 1966 was 4,200,000 feet. The rapid acceleration in drilling since 1965 to increase uranium ore reserves was sparked by the fast-growing nuclear power industry and the forecast of rising needs for uranium as fuel. The rats of orders for nuclear plants continued to increase in 1966 and 1967, and the uranium uran-ium industry moved into widely spread areas in the western United States in search of additional ore reserves. re-serves. The AEC's report shows that 2,577,000 feet, or nearly 25 per cent of the drilling, was in the areas more than 50 miles away from existing milling facilities. Of the 10,764,000 feet of surface drilling in 1967, approximately ap-proximately 51 per cent, or 5,435,000 feet, was exploratory drilling in the search for new deposits. The remaining 49 per cent, or 5,329,000 feet, was development drilling which foot depth of hard-packed snow. Blue Mountain is a fine place to exchange intercommunity greetings between Moab and Montdoello. (Story Page Bl) .1967; BradEts-. All. Prior iecrds -For Uranium Ore. Drilling."' provides the information for mine layout. The industry's drilling by states was as follows: fol-lows: Colorado, 752,000; New Mexico, Mex-ico, 2,520,000; Texas, 620,000; Utah, 606,030; Wyoming, 5,-888,000; 5,-888,000; and others, 378,000. The AEC reports that 1967 showed an increase in ore reserves of 7,000 tons of U3-08 U3-08 after shipments to the mills of ore containing 10,- 700 tons of U308. This was the first year since 1959 in which there has been a net gain after production. Estimated Esti-mated ore reserves exploitable exploit-able at $8 per pound of U303 stood at 148,000 tons of U303 at the end of the year. During 1968, the AEC plans to announce periodically the current status of exploration and development activity. |