Show Alu ina recovery with oil shale possibilities p es told fold in an Colorado Northwestern Colorados Colorado's Basin contains vast ast of recoverable which can be produced simultaneously sly with oil from deeply buried shale deposits two researchers reported April 17 at the Oil Shale SymposIum Sym Sym- possum in Golden Colorado TIIE TE is In a mineral called which must be mined and processed along with the oil till shale hale to be recovered said Frank C. C Haas of the Oil Shale Corporation TOSCO He lie said the Basin deposits may be be- greater In size than the total known mown US U.S. reserves of bauxite the current major raw material used for making aluminum metal Haas a group leader here at TOSCO's Research Center l laboratories delivered a technical paper coauthored coauthored co- co coauthored authored with Dr Mark T T. T who is manager of he company's labs Their report described methods of evaluating the daws deposits rough assays and the technology for recovering from them ONE ESTIMATE based on a drilling sample taken in the northern part of the basin puts the potential reserves of at 42 million tons of per square mile Haas said And geologists who studied the Green River Formation For Fore mation mallon which underlies the whole region figure just one of its layers the Parachute Creek member may contain about 6 05 5 billion tons Currently the United States produces about a million tons of bauxite a year for use In manufacturing aluminum but has to import an additional 12 million tons a year to meet its full production needs Haas who holds patents on several recovery techniques for said determining whether Colorados Colorado's reserves can an be recovered economically first requires precise evaluation of drilling samples IN ADDITION to a workable assay procedure he added three other major technological requirements must be met The recovery process itself has to work on shale residues after the oil has been removed the raw produced must be able to meet the rigid specifications of aluminum manufacturers and the whole commercial plant must be environmentally sound LABORATORY tests show that over 95 per cent of the available can be recovered from shale after the rock has been retorted to produce shale oil Haas reported He also said the process he has researched which Involves leaching the processed shale with a water water caustic austic solution is compatible with recovery of all oil in the rock However Haas pointed out because most of the lies deeper than the layer of richest oil shale it isn't likely to tobe tobe tobe be mined and processed by the first commercial shale plants now on the drawing boards They a are e expected x-pe x t d to to io concentrate concentrate concentrate con con- on mining the richest oil contained in what is called the Mahogany Zone The Colorado School of Mines sponsored the Oil Shale Symposium held on its campus just west of Denver n f I UTAH l 1 e 0 tjI 15 MAR 1975 1 I V FI F j i F Percentage of the 1958 7 Average 1 GREAT N P I Native al NOAA Weather Service lake Olty Utah I I. I I l lI P I ERN hi h I II LAKE N j 1 l j s I P Rk I I. I TA I 1 a aI I F FI a I I r 1 t RI N 14 I i 1 l I MOAB I i L Au 1 i iI 1 I GREATER 1 N T j I II I CEDAR CITY AN ao I II I I 1 1 Boy 1 L SAN m Ply i yr x WE I 51 GEORG |