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Show 3-R Mining Minerals In Alvey Wash On GSENM Robert Reeves, general manager mana-ger of Utah-based 3-R Minerals announced today that mining is underway in a remote section of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument despite the signing recently by President Clinton of a bill authorizing a trade of monument properties for Utah School Trust Lands. Reeves pointed out that an important part of the trade agreement agree-ment between the federal government gov-ernment and the state of Utah was that all valid existing rights are to be honored by the parties to the agreement. According to Reeves, 3-R Minerals has sought and obtained mining permits from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Minerals and from State Institutional and .Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) for mining on trust lands, even though some of those lands are inside the GSENM. , The mining company's primary pri-mary business is the extraction of titanium and zirconium from crus-taceous crus-taceous sandstone. Starting in the first week of November, crusta-ceous crusta-ceous sandstone was being excavated exca-vated and processed at the mine site. For the past two weeks the company has been processing ore at the site, a state section in the Alvey Wash area near Escalante. Workers are developing an out line for future operations at the site as they use a spiral, a 15-foot high apparatus that is approximately approx-imately two feet across, to separate sep-arate zirconium and titanium from the sands. A mixture of water and sand runs through the spiral from the top, spiraling down to separate sep-arate the heavier metals from the sands. The mineral company's Springville attorney Allen Young, with the firm of young and Kester, said Tuesday that 3-R Minerals anticipates locating some 30 to 40 spirals at the site. He said that the company has approved and valid existing water rights to drill a well at the location and expects that those rights will be honored. . The value of the zirconium and titanium "could be in the billions of dollars," Young said. In Calf Canyon, only three miles from the Alvey Wash site where the company is currently working, and where 3-R also has owned mining rights is possibly the world's richest deposit of titanium and zirconium. "My clients are internationally recognized recog-nized experts in their field," Young said. Currently, the company has an appeal filed with the Department of the Interior's Board of Land Appeals. President Clinton specifically speci-fically said that there would be no mining in the monument and the Calf Canyon claim is not located on state sections but on Bureau of Land Management public lands. The most metal-saturated deposits de-posits in that canyon are located on the old seashore in beach sand several billions of years old according to Young. Sediment from the top runs down, depos iting the rich valuable sands. Deposits in the Alvey Wash, where the company is currently working, while not quite as rich as Calf Canyon, are nevertheless extremely valuable, Young said. Samples have been sent to a Florida laboratory for analysis, and 3-R is encouraged because titanium and zirconium are running run-ning very high in the samples. The 3-R operation is a surface one, probably disturbing that surface no more than seven or eight feet deep. Each time it rains. Young said, more valuable sands are deposited, which will, in turn be worked. Zirconium is currently selling for $500 a ton, and titanium at $100, while the sand sells for $2 a ton. He said there are no tailings involved with the operation. The company anticipates extracting several million tons a year and will use belly dumps, at 20 to 30 (See 3-R MINERALS Page 5A) 3-R MINERALS From Front Page tons a unit, to transport it, probably to railheads in Cedar City although other alternatives are under discussion. He said there is a strong demand for zirconium which is used in aerospace, in bulk in the manufacture of fine china, and in nuclear warheads. Titanium is used in white paint pigment, replacing the lead that was formerly used for that purpose. The strong, light metal is also being used increasingly in the manufacture of golf clubs and bicycles. When it had expected to mine its Calf Canyon holdings, 3-R had a signed agreement with Southern Mining Company in South Africa and planned for a mill in Escalante. When SRC learned that 3-R would not be able to utilize its Calf Canyon rights, the company backed out of the deal, Young said. "The creation of the monument monu-ment was all political," Young said. "I've personally seen communications com-munications between Secretary Bruce Babbitt and President Clinton's people about the creation cre-ation of the monument prior to its creation in 1996. "Utah gave up 200,000 acres for only $50 million." |
