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Show Page 2 WESTERN MINERAL Causes Boom New Methods Described In Domestic Oil Production In Mine Bureau Report Suez SURVEY LORIIAINI MIH II NEWS - CIRCULATION 421 Church Street Phone EM 2402 Curtis St., Denver ALplne 38 ADVERTISING Sox 2608 2402 EM 49 Salt Lake City, Utah Curtis St., Denver ALplne 38 Entered as second class matter at Salt Lake City, Utah, under Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription rates: for one year. 13.00 85.00 for two years; Please mention Western Mineral Survey when writino to advertisers. Advertising rates on application. L. M. HILL Editor Tie-u- p Domestic oil operations have changed considerably since the Middle East cricis halted Suez Canal traffic the last week in Oct. United States crude oil production was at its lowest level in 10 months the week ships were wrecked in the Suez and pipeline traffic to eastern Mediterranean ports disrupted. Imported crude products being recieved at United States, however, where just short e of the record level. Highlights of changes in domestic operations since that final week in October: 1. Domestic crude production all-tim- All news Friday. February 1, 1957 THE WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY appearing In the Western toeril Survey Is obtained from sources believed to bo reliable but no responsibility Is assumed for accuracy of statements. Reproduction of any material from thi publication must have written permission from the publisher. : has increased 449,000 barrels a day. 2. Crude output in four states Louisiana, Texas, Okahoma and New Mexico has increased 413,-.55- 0 barrels daily. Texas and Louisiana have authorized further increases for February. 3. December import of crude and petroleum products were only 40.900 barrels below the daily average for October. American Petroleum Institutes crude output report for the week ending Jan. 18 estimated daily production at 7,431,000 barrels a new record. Production the week ending Nov. 2 the week French and British bombs fell in the canal area had only a 6,981,100 daily average, the lowest since Dec. 16, Continental Ships 4,500 Tons A for the Month From San Juan Property riodImports ending Dec. 1955. four-wee- k pe- 28 averagedl,402-00- In a letter to shareholders signed by Gerald Gidwitz, Chicago, board chairman, he said that Continental Uranium, Inc., has had shipments from its open cut No. 1 mine near La Sal, San Jaun County at the rate of 4,500 tons monthly and would be increased to 5,000 to 6,000 tons by spring. For the three months ended Dec. 31, 1956, Continental achieved a new record of uranium ore shipments worth the December rate at 5,418 tons monthly. Despite severe weather conditions, we anticipate that ton- Rat-tlsesna- New Uranium Mill To Be ' Erected Soon ke ' Ray-nold- s, SANTA FE, N. M., .Tan. 25 Acording to Rineharts Uranium Digest, published weekly in Dallas, Texas,' construction work on the new uranium processing mill for Homestake-NeMexico Partners, wiil comence within the w next 45 days. Contract for engineering work and construction of the mill is held by Western Knapp Construction Co., San Francisco. AEC recently approved con- struction of the uranium processing mill which will be located on a 406 acre tract on the San Mateo road west of Grants and just north of the present ore buying station. The mill site has already been surveyed and levelled and Western Knapp plans completion of the work in 10 months. Another development in connection with the Homestake New Mexico Partners development is begining on January 15 of a shaft on United Western Minerals Co.s Section 32, 14 N, in the Ambrosia Lake area. Contract for sinking the shaft was awarded to Centennial Development Co., of Eureka, Utah. It is expected that the shaft will intercept the ore bodies at the 750 foot level. Ore mined from section 32 is dedicated to the Homestake-NeMexico Partners mill . w WASHINGTON'S mineral output la3t year was valued at about $450,000 over 1955, on the basis of preliminary annual figures of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. . . . FOR THE UNITED STATES, mineral production in 1956 climbed to a new record high of $17,300,000,000. Metals gain, prinregistered a 9 per-ceto due greater output of cipally lead zinc. and copper, $67,-587,66- nt nage will be steadly increased until spring. With advent of better weather, we will be able to expand mining activities much more rapidly, he said. The stockholders report said that operations in the Crooks Gap uranium fields had been suspended temporarily because of weather, however. It is still too early to determine the full extent of the (Crooks Gap) ore body, but the amount already blocked out is well in excess of the minimum required to operate the property profitable, Mr. Gidwitz said. During the year, Continental divirsified its activities into the building and related building industry field and intensified its examination of 'uranium properties. More than 300 such (uranium) investigations were made during the year. he said, Herbert former general mine superintendent, is in charge of this work, replacing the late Robert Pruess, Grand Junction. Our decision to diversify into these (unrelated uranium) fields was influenced by the many basic similarities between their operations and uranium mining, Mr. Gidwitz said. These will enable us to make maximum use of our management knowhow and technical staff. 8, Plan Crude Oil Pipeline Start Shell Oil Co. and Standard Oil Company of California are expected to announce the start of construction of their huge crude oil line from Los Angeles Basin to the Four Comers area within the next couple of weeks. As previously confirmed by T. S. Petersen, Stancal president, four or five other companies will join Shell and Standard on the huge project. Initial deliveries of crude from the Pardox and San Juan Basin of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Niew Mexico are placed at 50,000 barrels daily. Shell Standard are said to have obtained allocations at mills for rolling of steel pipe for the project. x The three-warace ;to build crude facilities into the basin is heightened by the apparent determination of Shell - Standard to actually commit funds and pipe to construction. Texas-NeMexico Pipeline Production CoVs Northwest Pipeline Co. have announced plans to build into Jal N.M., and Salt Lake City, y w 0 barrels daily, compared to 1,4- 42.900 for the similar period ending Nov. 2. The sharpest decline in imports for any week since the Middle East emergency began was reported this week by API. The daily average for the week ending Jan. 18 was only 1.028,900 barrels, compaired to 1,683,900 for Jan. 11 and 1,515,100 for Jan. 4. The daily average for the four-wee- k period ending Jan. 4 was 1,360,000. Successful use of a rotary drill rig, common in oil fields but rare in mining areas, to explore an ore deposit 2,000 feet below the earths surface is described in a Bureau of Mines technical report released today by the Department of the Interior. The Eureka Corp. decided to use such equipment on its property at Eureka, Nev:, because the softness and friability. of a formation made it to obtain core, samples impossible: the report by. diamond " drilling,' expains. Another unusual feature was complete control over the direction of the drill accomplished by using a device called a whipstock and directional surveying instruments. The whipstock, anchored part way down a completed ver-ticl- e hole, deflected the drill at a predetermined angle and the instruments permitted guidance along a specific compass bearing. This, the report notes, made it possible to obtain ore samples from any specific point within a 200-foradius of the bottom of the original single hole without starting new holes from the surface. The illustrated report was written by Russell R. Trengove and A. C. Johnson, mining engineers at the Bureaus Reno, Nev., station, with the cooperation of ld . ot Rising Prices Makes Oil Smart Stock To Purchase George iMtchell and other officials of the Eureka Corp. It is one of a series on mining methods and casts designed to help the industry .keep abreast of novel and improved methods. Besides describing in detail the equipment and techniques used, the publication gives rates of advance in the various types of ma- terial and presents sessential information on costs. A copy of I. C. 7768, Sompling Deep Ore Deposits by Rotary Drilling and Methods of Surveying and Controlling the Direction of Drill Holes, can be obtained from the Bureau of Mines, Publics Section, 4800 Forbes St., iPttsburgh 13, Pa. It should be identified by number and title. tions-Diseributio- n' Inventory of Stored Petroleum Gas Charted In Report Underground stocks of lique-fied-petroleu- m gases on November 30 totaled 532 million gallons, a of 33 million gallons during the month, acording to the Bureau of Mines, U. S. Department of the Interior. decrease Of the total, 436 million gallons were concentrated in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, and the rest was distributed through New York, Illinois, Kansas, Ohlahoma, and Montana. Underground stocks of propane a dethought that 97 cents a barrel oil totaled 3897 million gallons, buBy Harry C. France million gallons, would be $3.25 22 years later. And crease of Domestic crude oil prices have who can guess where crude oil tane 128 million gallons a degone up again. A leading pro- will be selling in 1967 and 1977? crease of 25 million gallons, mixture 15 million ducer has recently boosted prices Oil is a value to buy and hold ' 35 cents a barrel from $2.90 to gallons, showing no change. for income for appreciation. $3.25. Doubtless the Suez situation sparked this advance. Crude oiIprices have been very, prophetic for 20 years, rising prices reflect the world inflation. Wages, taxes and cost combine to force them up. No value more Value of minerals produced in Friday mines increased substantiquickley responds to these int fluences than oil. ally while sizeable decreases Idaho last year was up 7 Bunker The. trend of crude prices since to $72,818,175 despite a sub- were reported for the mines. Summit Silver Hill and zinc production 1935 can quickly and easily bs stantial drop in seen by examining the average and decreases in the output of The states 1956 silver output was annual prices per barrel in the lead and silver, the bureau of 13,016.280 ounces. STRIKE IS FACTOR mines reported this week. United States. to the Commodities Lead cents 97 a were contributing output dropped 2 per1935 In they co- cent from 1955 and totaled 62,699 and are 1956 increase 1945 copper in 1.22; barrel; in 1940, 1.02; in 1950, 251; and last year, around balt with increased output at the tons. A contributing factor was $2.95. Thus, in 20 years, domestic Calera Mining Company Black- the prolonged strike extending crude oil prices have advanced bird mine and higher copper into 1956 which curtailed output at a number of properties. from a little less than a dollar prices. DOWN ZINC OUTPUT The bureau said lead producto more than three dollars. Zinc production was down 15 tion at the Bunker Hill and Star When will crude oil prices stop to 46,483 tons, lowest sin- mines decreased last year algoing up? Nobody knows. Certain per-ceit is that if costs and wages and ce 1939. The Star mine continued though the mines were not aftaxes still advance in the years to be the largest producer in the fected by the strike. Among the state despite a sizeable drop in strike-bounmines, the Page ahead, oil will go higher. a bureau decrease substantial showed the from .1955, output RISKS NECESSARY showed Frisco a slight zinc in while Ranked the second prosaid. Inflation has made a monkey duction was the Bunker Hill mine were Increases gain. reported by of conservation. And inflation where a was reported. Day Mines, Inc., and Sidney gain slight has made heroes and heroines of Other important producers were Mining company. risk takers! What an economic the Ore reserves at the Lucky FriPage, Sidney, Frisco, Triumph world! and Morning mines. day mine continued to improve And today, I think the increase The bureau said silver produc- with depth, the bureau said, thus in crude prices is prophetic. If t assuring its place as the newest I were a widow with $25,000 tion in Idaho dropped 6 from 1955. Bulk of the metal came major producer in the Coeur d (more or less), needing fair inAlene district. come and protection against fui from Sunshine Mining Co., the Production records revealed a ther inflation, would I buy $5,0-0- Galena property of American and Refining Company, steadily increasing trend in copper or $10,000 of the best oil stock Smelting Hill Bunker mine and Polaris output for Idaho. The 1956 tonin the world? Mining companys Silver Summit nage of the metal was nearly 20 Indeed, I would, mine. Deep development at the above the previous year. .Oil has become a most impor- Lucky Friday mine resulted in Copper-cobal- t ore at the Blacktant world commodity. If world its emerging as an important pro- bird mine accounted for .almost currencies continue to deterio- ducer. half of the states output. Subrate as it seems they will crude In comparison with 1955, in- stantial tonnages also were reprices will go higher and higher. dividual output of silver from covered at the Galena, Sunshine In 1935, no one would have even the Sunshine, Galena and Lucky and Silver Summit mines. but-anepropa- ne , Value of 56 Idaho Mineral Production Shows Increase per-cen- . nt d - per-cen- 0 ; . per-ce- nt . . |