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Show Solution Mining Tests Encourage Texas Gulf Sulphur Officers "Studies in solution mini up, cf poia.-h cco-lnuc to be- en-((Uirng.n;;," en-((Uirng.n;;," stati d Texas Guif Su'phur U',:.rd Chairman L'lnide O. Stephens in his report at 'he annujl meeting meet-ing of str dividers recently. recent-ly. The possibility cf development develop-ment of the solution technique tech-nique at tne Cane Creek M:ne as a less cosi'ly way of mining min-ing potash was discussed this wfi:-k by Bill Bossinger. gem r; 1 manager, with Grand Ju-iK-t cn Daily Sentinel re-pnrter re-pnrter Gaylord K.rkham. lOkhr-m notes from the firm's i-er-era'ly releasnd an-mnl an-mnl report, "The most ad-va:rod ad-va:rod und -rgi-cund nr'ning mc'ihr:ds and machinery have be--l unable to overcome the problems crc.ted by un-du'ations un-du'ations in the ore body . . . In spito of the most strenuous stren-uous efforts to improve efficiency, ef-ficiency, costs are still not competitive." Kirkhnm repejrted that hi Vs interview, Bessinger illustrated il-lustrated the unpredictability of the crebody by waddrig up a sheet of paper, then ttraightening it out. "That's wh'it it looks like, only I didn't wad it t;ght enough. It just goes any and every cirection," he said. Temperatures at the mine faces are about IK) degrees. 7-.i's and the underground rolling is "extremely rough cn equ'pmrnt. If you have a brake fa;lure, all you can do is run it into something." Pessirrgcr said. Add'tionajly, the Cajic Creek Mine is the only gassy po'ash nvne in North America, recjuiring extensive ex-tensive and expensive ventilation. ventila-tion. In considering solution mi ning as a lrss costly alternative, alter-native, the Cane Creek location loca-tion has bath advantages and disadvantages. The dry, desert des-ert location is an important j.dvantage because solar ev-rpcration ev-rpcration is planned as the means of concentrating and prei'pitatir.g the salts from the brine. The disadvantage, is the confinement in a rough, narrow nar-row canyon, and the proximity proxim-ity to the Colorado River, where special precautions will have to be taken against pcllut'rg the river with brine. In add'it'rn to the pollution aspect, Bcss'-ger printed out that any lors cf the brine sol-ut'en sol-ut'en through seepage cr any other mrrns "wou'd be ex-f ex-f i ::ive. It represents dollars. iWe den't want ito lose it." A mesa two miles down-s'Team down-s'Team from the plant is the location for two evaporation pends, each divided into two compartments. Currently investigation in-vestigation is being done on types of linings and evaporation evapor-ation rates in the ponds and in smaller tanks nearer the mine. A beginning concern about the solution mining and solar sol-ar evaporation method was that the product would be f.ner than a readily marketable market-able size crystal. However, tests have found that smaller crystals re-dissolve during lie heat of the day which results in larger crystals growing, the most. . This spring, said Bessing-er, Bessing-er, there will be more small ponds built to confirm evaporation evap-oration rates. 'Then, unless some unf'.reseen event occurs, oc-curs, we'll be ready to recommend rec-ommend f.nal ng,r.cer,ng," he said. This final englneer- VI pre grim i.s a detailed '-j-dy cf investment required and re-turns expected. The TGS Board of Droctors will make the final decision on whether wheth-er to convert to solution m-ning, he concluded, but added that it is still too early to estimate what production pro-duction and employment f g-ures g-ures would be if conversion is rr,3de. |