Show mills dont keep up with growing uranium piles expansion of uranium ore processing mills mil I 1 9 on the colorado plateau has haq been unable to keep pace wi with t h the terrific rate of discovery and to date rock is literally piling up at existing mills efforts expended by the atomic c energy to expand capacity is reflected in the experience 0 of E 0 crabtree deputy manager of 0 the grand junction office who Is working overtime with potential operators and on one occasion was carrying on negotiations with three parties almost simultaneously despite the expansion of mill capacity planned or underway it if discoveries continue to be made at the present rate ore will continue to 8 swamp w amp the mills a condition not without its comforts current pressure for additional mills is attracting many competent firms to the colorado plateau but not everyone may build a mill there is no point in building a mill if 11 the concentrates cannot be sold so as the only market for the concentrates cen the effectively deides decides c who will build a mill and where considered first by the Is the ore supply and it insists that a supply for the proposed plant be tied up securely for five years such a requirement safeguards compa companies ales that invested money in new plants at the invitation of the when mills were even more sorely needed by deterring cutthroat bidding for ores the A EC encourages potential mill operators to think in terms of a ton per day mill as the minimum practical size although this is byno by no means a limit merely advice based on experience what it means to the operator is that half of the required five rive years reserve for a ton mill amounts to about tons of ore in the ground the also insists that prospective mill operators demon demonstrate s their technical knowledge M millers illers may use any process they desire in the proposed plant to produce a suitable uranium concentrate but reco recovery ery and costs s m must be e cost in line experience exper iene a at t existing exi mills and in pilot plants processes d developed ev loped by the or its contractors can be made available then the prospective mill operator must submit a fir firm m proposal giving details on c cost prot of F plant I 1 t c cost at of operation and metallurgical lurg u r al ical al data all this may sound like red tape to the average reader but these are figures that any mill man would put together anyhow costs of erecting uranium mills in terms of unit capacities are not available but uranium mills are said to come higher than comparable plan plants is treating other minerals er Is A good guess would be to t per ton per day the final step Is 1 negotiation of a contract which calls for the to purchase concentrates for a given period usually five years at a fixed price the price is dependent mainly on operating costs here the treads the narrow path of seeing to it that the taxpayers dollars buy as much as possible while ensuring that the mill man gets a fair return on his investment W anat aaa Is a fair return this figure is never revealed but an unofficial estimate places it beaw between et 10 per cent and IS 15 per cent |