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Show ftetoS etf iHcJt fyHificaHce in "The Oil OHtf i ! Volume 28 Number 41 Salt Lake City Utah, Friday, December For International Firm Formation of Vitro Interna, tional, a new Vitro operating company with headquarters in Switzerland, was announced today by J. Carlton Ward, Jr., president of Vitro Corporation of America. The new division will represent all Vitro operations overseas. Dr. Norman A. Spector, vice president of Vitro Corporation of America, wil, in addition, become president of Vitro International. He will retire as vice president of Vitro Engineering, a Vitro operating company, to devote full time to the new duties. Ralph L. Brown, former assistant sales manager of Vitro Engineering Company, will become vice president of the overseas company and will be based in Switzerland. Vitro is currently engaged in the design and construction of three major foreign projects. They include a nuclear test facility at Milan for the government of Italy, a giant heavy water-fertilizplant for the government of India at Nangal and a large nuclear power station for Silver Spring, Md.; Vitro Engineering Company, New York; Vitro Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Vitro Uranium Company, Salt Lake City, Utah; The Refinery Engineering Company, Tulsa, Okla.; Thiebolt Air- craft Company, Martinsburg, W. Va.; Vitro Rare Metals Company, Canonsburg, Pa.; and Nems-Clark- e Company, Silver Spring, Md. Subsidiary and associated companies include Berkshire Chemicals, Inc., New York; Vitro Minerals Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Heavy Minerals Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. OIL NEWS Continental OU Co. has spudded the important North Bluff at San Juan County location . . . Sun Oil Co. was reported preparing to plug and abandon its Ute Trail No. 2 wildcat, although official report is that it is running" an electric log check . . . Number of oil well rigs active in Utah increased to 56 for the week ended Dec. 2, compared with 55 for previous week, according to cor- American' Association df 'Oilwell SLMEA, a government-owneporation, near Rome, Italy. Drilling Contractors. This compares with a decline Vitro International, jhro Corporation of Americas ninth op- from 47 to 44 rigs in the state of erating division, will play 'a com- Colorado and a drop from 67 to prehensive role in Vitro opera- 65 in Wyoming . . . Shell Oil Co. located two more tions overseas. It will handle field North sales all for development wells operations; European promote licensing of Vitro tech- Desert Creek 24-- 1 and North at Rather-forniques by European companies; Desert Creek Field In San Juan County license European techniques for Vitro activities in the U.S. and . . . Standard Oil Company of 0 engage abroad in all activities California recovered 5,000 to becubic feet daily in test currently associated with Vitro 6 tween feet of its White These America. of Corporation will include nuclear energy, nu- River Unit No. 2 wildcat in clear materials, chemical, metal- Uintah County . . . Continental lurgical and petroleum processing Oil Co.s White Mesa Pool, Navajo faculties, mining, and extractive No. 9, field well flowed at rate of 69 barrels of oil daily on recent metallurgy. Other Vitro operating com- test of the San Juan County propanies are: Vitro Laboratories, ducer. , er - d 33-1- 1, d 10,-00- 3,985-4,08- AEC, Fremont Sign New Contract SALT LAKE CITY Big Horn Uranium Corp. and Gold Cloud Uranium Co., with a 40 per cent joint interest in 20,800 acres in the Uintah Basin, Utah, while pumping a reworked oil well, experienced an increased gas oil ration, during which an estimated 1,000,000 cubic feet of gas escaped in the less than two hours it took to get a shutoff. This tends to confirm a recent study of the property made by Stanley Bendorf of Dallas, Texas, which resulted in the decision to drill a gas well in the near future. Gas pressure during the breakthrough - amounted to 600-70- 0 pounds, which is greater than pipe line requirements. This development comes shortly after the decision of Pacific Northwest and $2 Pipe Line Corp. to $1 million. The well presently is pumping barrels per day of 32s gravity Location is Sec. oil, cutting Uintah County, Utah. Stanley Bendorf, petroleum engineer and consultant of Dallas, Texas and formerly with Cities Service Gas Co., Phillips Petroleum and De Golyer and recently made an exhaustive study of the acreage in which Big Horn and Gold Cloud are Involved. He reported (in view of the very thick sand' development which totals more than 86 net feet of pay) a potential recovery of 32 billion cubic feet of gas per 640 acre well location. n, Tariff Cut Backers Pin Hope On Pin Proponents of expanded tariff reductions in a period of world recession on prices of basic commodities are said to be pinning their hopes in Washington on a Pin. They are arguing, says the Journal of Commerce, that recent Increase allowed on tariffs on imports of safety pins proves" that the escape clause features of the Reciprocal Trades Acts is being responsibly administered. The safety pin tariff hike fol lowed shortly a similar hike on import duties of clothespins. It may be difficult for them to when closed installation will be relate the action on the pins to new the at ore buying facilities the wide problems of the domesmill commence operation. tic metal mining industry, howThe new mill will be equipped ever. to treat a wide range of different types of uranium ores offered for sale in the area, including both the limestone and sandstone types. This will provide a mar- For Wyoming Uranium Plant The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Fremont Minerals, Inc. of Denver, Colorado, today signed a contract for the sale of uranium concentrates (U308) to the Commission which will result in the construction and operation by Fremont of a new uranium processing mill at Riverton, Wyoming. The ntfll will have a capacity of about 500 tons of ore a day and the estimated cost is $3,500,000. It is expected to be completed in about 12 months. The mUl will serve as a custom milling facility for ores offered for sale by independent operators in the general Wyoming area. In addition, Fremont will pur-chas- e and process the Government stockpile of ore at Riverton. Beginning on February 1, Western Natl Gas Spots Wildcat ket for various types of ores which may be offered by independent producers. Western Natural Gas Co., an Fremont Minerals, Inc., is a sub- affiliate of El Paso Natural Gas sidiary of the Susquehanna Cor- Co., will drill a Devonian formaporation, of Chicago, which is tion wildcat at Boundary Buttes field in southern San Juan also the parent company of gas-oil Mines Development, Inc., operators of a uranium processing mill at Edgemont, South Dakota. Fremont began discussions with the Commission over a year ago con. the ceming a mill at Riverton. A 1958, Fremont wUl take over Government-owned formal proposal was submitted in operation of the Rivore buying station at June, 1957, and negotiations were this erton and purchase ores in substantially completed in July Wyoming area. The Government Of 1957. . County. The companys P. B. English No. 10 will be located in south- east quarter of the northeast quar. ter of Section 21, Township 43 South and Range 22 East. WNG estimates the Devonian is at 6,500 feet at Boundary Buttes. So far as it is known, this formation has not heretofore been tested. LIBRARY 10 CCTto 1L ,ien Refiery Bows To Rapid Price Plunge On Jan. 15, 1958, the only tungsten refinery in the Intermountain West will grind to a close at its Salt Lake location a final fatality in the once-gredrive of the United States government to achieve a degree of in the metal. The closure of the Salt Lake Tungsten Co. operation, said General Manager Blair T. Burwell Friday, results from the disastrous decline in world tungsten prices, accompanied by dumping of surpluses created in part by at self-sufficien- AEC Announces Colorado Shift 50 6-- 8. : A? FMEERiNG Utah Well Points To Increased Gas Vitro Announces Plans I -- Wctld" Allan E. Jones, Manager of the Grand Junctio nOperations Office, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, today announced the reorganization of the Grand Junction Operations Office at Grand Junction and its field activities, effective January 1, 1958. The reorganization primarily affects those units .responsible "for programs for the evaluation of source material resources, uranium ore procurement, mining incentives, and the acquisition and production of uranium concentrates. Two new organizational units, A Production Evaluation Division and a Source Materials Procurement Division, will be established to replace three present operat ing and technical divisions: the Mining, Exploration, and Concentrate Procurement Divisions. The Production Evaluation Division will direct the leasing and mining incentive and resource evaluation programs of the present Mining Division and the activities now carried out by the Exploration Division and the Denver and Salt Lake Area Offices which will become branch offices of the division. To better serve the large uranium producing areas, particularly in Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, there will be two additional branch offices at Casper, Wyoming, and Grants, New Mexico, and a Colorado Plateau Branch located in Grand Junction. The branches will carry out the field activities involved in the collection of ore reserve and ore production information, tiie appraisal of uranium resources, and related geologic activities. The new Source Materials Procurement Division will assume the ore purchase and sales functions presently assigned to the Mining Division, in addition to continuing the concentrate and production functions of the Concentrate Procurement Division. The changes, Mr. Jones points out, involve a realignment of the organization to serve better the current needs of the program. Announcement of Division Directors and other principal personnel in the revamped organization is expected before January 1, 1958. The reorganization will result in some reduction of total working force of the operations office. the federal governments foreign purchase program during the last several years. However, the western mining industry has proved conclusively that it can (and has) produced sufficient tungsten for domestic needs under the spur of good prices. Unfortunately, the Congress of the United States reneged on its commitment to provide funds for a tungsten program which would have provided a transition program for the domestic producers. In the throes of a political year, the Congress had authorized such a program. All tungsten mines are closed down in the western United States at this time. Some byproduct tungsten to molybdenum mining is being stockpiled at two operations. The government continues to buy foreign produced contracts at prices nearly triple the present world price. But at the same time, it is announced there is no reason for continuing purchase of domestic tungsten at lower prices. An application for tariff relief for the industry pends before the U.S. Tariff Commission in Washington, D.C. Unless there was strict import quota control on foreign imports of the metal, however, it seems doubtful in minds of some in the industry that any relief the agency could recommend would be of substantial value. Salt Lake Tungsten is a joint affiliate of Minerals Engineering Co. and Sylvania Electric Pro- ducts Corp., electronics manufacturing concern. Minerals closed its big Calvert Creek mine and mill near Glen, Mont., on Sept. 1. It recently closed a custom mill at Salt Lake City. Affected by the closure of the refinery on Jan. 15 are some 30 employes. The company previously had 50 on its payrolls. The refinery at 2160 Indiana Rd. was started in 1953. It aimed at production of high quality, machinery for this better grade tungsten was delivered at plant sit. It was not assembled nor production started because of the death of the tungsten program. The transitional price stage or sopping up of foreign surpluses was necessary as a breather for getting the new unit operative. Mr. Burwell in his farewell notice to employes said that he felt the government had wrongly used men of their talents and abilities in a strategic industry. . There are many mining engineers, metallurgical and chemical engineers who are having a hard time in the western states these para-tungstat- e; days, Mr. Burwell said. I cannot understand this talk about the need for scientists when the nation misuses its present as evidenced in the manpower case of the domestic metals industry. I trust the federal planners have a Merry Christmas this year. There are quite a few of the families of Salt Lake Tungsten Co. which will have none at all. |