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Show f wt i W 4 ? t 1 VoL 28; No. 27 , fc ''I tJ f i r . .H Salt Lake City, Utah, Friday, Aurust 30, 19! : 10 iWkait i,.4 Merger Creates Giant U.S. uranium Company IN i w MOAB CELEBRATION 8 Utah Beauties Selected Moabs eight contestants for Uranium Days Queen, after passing under the critical eyes of Moabitites during appearances at various group functions here, have been judged blue-ribb- testants will be awarded prizes, and the Queen and her attendants will be crowned at the giant Uranium Days dance planned for September 7. on Formation of the largest independent uranium mining company in the United States, with ihree million tons of reserves in Utah and New Mexico valued at 100 million dollars, was announced this week by financier Floyd B. Odium, president of Atlas Corp. Included in the merger plans are Hidden Splendor Mining Co., with, operating headquarters in Salt Lake City; Lisbon Uranium Corp., and Radorock Resources, Inc., both of Salt Lake City; Rio de Oro Uranium Mines, Inc., Albuquerque, N. M., and Mountain The contestants were first preto the public at a band sented For their various appearences, concert and ice cream social given the girls were given titles replast month. Since that time they Mesa Uranium Corp., Casper, resenting various Chamber of have been honored by the cham- Wyo. Commerce projects. They are; Officials of Federal Uranium commerce of ber general memLynda Gibbs, Miss Movies; bers. Corp., Salt Lake City, particiBarbara Martin, Miss Tourism; pated in merger discussions but Kathryn Barton, Miss Frontier rejected the terms on grounds asAirlines; Nancy Nault, Miss sets in Wyoming were not reflectIndustry; Hallene Thorne, Miss ed fully in the offer from Atlas-Hidde- n Oil; Ann West, Miss Potash; Splendor. The latter firm Chamelle McAllister, Miss Utah is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pass, and Carol Johnson, Miss Eisenhower Field. Final judging of the candidates will be near the last of August, The Davis Oil Co., Denver inChamber officials state. All con- dependent Wednesday announced location for a 7,100-fo- ot formation test of Paradox and Molas formations on the south rim of Paradox Basin in Utahs San Juan Some western copper producers, County. feeling the pinch of spiraling Paradox-Navajo . The, No. .L is prices, are beginning to demand apparently a farmout from El greater protection from imports Faso Natural Gas Co. It is spotted in this period of world oversup in the northeast quarter of the ply of the metal. And it is predicted in some WASHINGTON, A young Ne- northwest quarter of Section 2, vada mining executive was being Township 43 South and Range 25 quarters that unless there is a definite Strong appearance of deprominently mentioned here Wed. East. from the automobile indusmand for Assistant 'Secretary of the InThis the metal in the next few for also announced try company terior for Mineral Resources. two cents a pound location another of another well at White weeks, He is Royce Hardy, manager of domestic in Mest producer price (East Deseret Creek Field) drop Manganese, Inc., at Henderson, discovered earlier in 1957. The is around the comer. Nev. In recent months, whenever this would go to 5,800 A high government source said Navajo A Kenne-cot- t the candidates for the important feet in the northeast quarter of occurred, the big three Co. Anaconda Copper Corp., office have narrowed down from northwest quarter of Section 27, Phelphs-Dodge sliced Corp. a large field to Mr. Hardy and Township 41 South and Range and their quotations. 24 East. John Liebert, a career governCustom smelter prices, in turn, ment official and mining authornotiShell Co Oil reflect the invasion of the AmeriMeanwhile, ity. fied the Utah Oil and Gas Con- can market by Smith African ExThe source also said it appeared servation Commission of its in- change on spot basis is equivalent to drill three more de- to 25.35 cents a pound. unlikely that any action would be tention One spokesman for the industry taken before this weeks expected velopment wells between its Bluff Aneth Pool in the same freely predicts that it will take adjournment of Congress on the Pool andBurton 32-1- 2 is in SW only one more Mtwo cents a pound naming of a successor to Felix E. county. Burton 3, NE iolt in the domestic price to efWormser, who resigned six weeks NE fect curtailment of supplies from 2, Burton ago after four years as mineral NE domestic mines. NW NE resources assistant secretary. Another price cut will hit hardest at the undergrounl properMr. Hardy was summoned to and other high-cos- t producties, confera Washington recently for ers. ence with Interior Secretary Fred But some of these properties A. Seaton and reportedly made a contracts stemming from the have fine impression. He operates the days when Washington was profamous Three Kids Mine, one of moting expansion of production the nations major manganese proand abroad by grants and here ducers. He is the son of Roy deals which will cushion the other The Grand Junction OperaHardy, Reno; a longtime leader on employment. shock tions Office of the Atomic Energy in western mining circles. Under these deals, the companCommission announced Wednes-de- y are assured of purchase by the ies Liebert became administration the end of its schedule of pay-m- et to federal Mr. Wormser in early assistant government of certain for copper contained in uraamounts of 1953 and is popular on Capitol nium ores copper at a fixed price purchased by the above domestic market auotations. hill where he has testified before agency. these firms will assumed It is congressional committees on nuthe civil market move sales from The schedule had applied to the merous occasions. to Sam. Uncle ores, containing copper, found in He also held key positions with the White and Red Canyon disBut for firms without such conthe Defense Minerals Production tricts of San Juan County and tracts and also beset by high costs Administration and its predeces- which were shipped to the gover- the picture is bleak at this time. sor, the Defense Minerals Admin- nment-owned mill at Monticello Such small independents as there istration. are left in the copper business in the same county. be squeezed into shutwill Lieber is a native of Kansas and AEC said the copper values downs. Even some big undera graduate of Creighton Univer- were to low to sustain such a purground operations may be greatly sity in Nebraska and the law chase program at Monticello. curtailed. school of Catholic University In White Pine County, Nevada, here. During World War II he In recent months, no copper-uraniu- m ores received had been chamber of commerce and in the the colonel of the rank attained added. ther.e it mines have urged the Nevada anyway, Army. holders. Davis Announces Formation Test Atlas and will become a publicly held corporation on completion of these transactions. The mergers scheduled to be completed before the end of this year are subject to shareholder approval of the various companies and to requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Kibbe, a Utah investment figure and native of Abbeville, La.,' will head the new Hidden Splendor Mining Co. as president, ficer. The merged firm will have its headquarters in Salt Lake City. Atlas will continue as a dominant stockholder in the new Hidden Splendor Mining Co. with 23,000 shareholders owning eight million shares outstanding, ore production of 35,000 tons monthly and a cash flow of 12 million dol-lor- s in 1958. Mr. Odiums investment firm 2-- 41-1- 3E; 31-1- 3E; 3E. AEC Official Halts Payments on Ore . den Splendor ownership. The new firm also would continue to hold 30 per cent interest Mr. Odium will be chairman of the board and chief executive of-i- n Uranium Reduction Co., operators of a big uranium mill at Moab. Other interests in a mill being built in the Ambrosia Lake district of New Mexico by Home-stak- e Mining Co. would be held Hidden Splendor. The comby has also plans for an addipany mill in the San Mateo area tional Ambrosia Lake district and of the in the Gas Hills district of Fremont County, Wyo., according to the announcement of the merger plan. Mr. Odium, whose Atlas Corp., entered the uranium picture in Salt Lake City during the 1954 boom, .said the merger aims to secure the stability, strength and operating efficiencies that would come with the combination of the many resources of these companies. Mr. Odium said the new company will have a balance between properties in producton, properties under development and properties still to be prospected. It will also be in a strong position to acquire and develop new properties and to support research in uranium and geology and exploramuch-discusse- Wests Copper Firms Fear New Price Cut Nevadan on List For Position as Minerals Official currently holds 73 per cent of Lisbon Uranium and 53 per cent of Rio de Oro, in addition to Hid- congressional delegation to impose a two-ceimport tax on copwhen the per price reaches 28 cents'a pound. At present" the tax would go on at 24 cents a pound. That level is regarded as too low for protection of domestic properties, however. Originally, the tax was a four cent one. But it was sliced in half as a result of tariff reduction negotiations of the State Department. At the spring meeting of the Western Governors Minerals Advisory Council, it was proposed that a four-cen- t import tax be im32 at a cent a pound level posed Arthur J. OConnor, vice president and general manager of Consolidated Coppermines Corp., with operations in White Pine County, warns that local industry may shut down if the copper prices continue their decline. He said that he was informed in conversations at New York that all the copper anyone might want could foe bought alongside railroad track at New York harbor for 26 cents a pound. The copper situation is as serious now for the United States as at any time since 1937, Mr. OConnor said. nt Solon Gains Okey For Cost Probe U. S. Sen. George Malone (R., Nev.) has gained approval for the U. S. Tariff Commission to launch d tion. have greater financial strength and the advantage of wider distribution of mining risks. It will bring together under a single management the technical and managerial ability of constituent It will, he continued, will-provid- companies. Under the merger, Atlas agrees to take stock in the merged company at $7.50 a share in exchange for some six million dollars of the 16 million dollars of present Hidden Splendor notes the investment concern now 'holds. The stock of the merged company then would be exchanged for shares held by present stockholders of Constituent companies on the following basis: One share of the new Hidden Splendor Mining Co. for one share of present Hidden Splendor. One share of new company for 12 shares of Rio de Oro. One share of new firm for 60 h shares of Mountain Mesa. comof a share of the new pany for one share of Radorock and 57100 of a share of new company for one share of Lisbon. Major deposits of ore of the companies participating in the merger include 12 ore bodies in the Big Indian uranium district of San Juan County, three ore bodies in the Ambrosia Lake district and an ore body in the Gas Hills area of Wyoming. These do not include a number of properties under exploration and deOne-sixt- an investigation into differences between domestic and foreign costs of producting tungsten ore velopment. Five operating mines in the and concentrates. A report on the deal include Hidden Splendors results is due by March 1958. Almar Mine, Radorocks Radon Meanwhile, U. S. Sen. Gordon Mine and Lisbons Ike and ColumAllott (R., Colo.) has introduced bia Mines, all in the Big Indian a bill to revive tungsten buying District and Rio De Oros Dysart for the U. S. stockpile from do- Mine in New Mexico. mestic producers at a price of $5f Role of Federal Uranium, which a unit (20 pounds). Up to 250,000 holds 52 per cent control of Radounits would be bought. A long rock Resources, in the negotiarange incentive plan for prospec- tions was explained in a joint tors with purchasing at $30 a unit statement from Mr. Odium and is included in his proposal. Mr. Neyman. v |