Show i ta k e S N PV P le LT n 41 4 alt on he r 19 70 w the on loul q 11 ne ao e w 44 fr e 4 k P A 9 01 A Z S W 4 ba we ses tv he 0 tie ge ts 4 11 41 4 r ac t sr oje S f x ir ite L od green river journal photo al hii NOLEN of green river is shown with the sacks of ore he P a 1 has ready to be taken to the assayers mr air nolen is engaged in I 1 ti 1 exploratory and core drilling for uranium he ile is with mith the me kiei myers exploration company which is doing contract drilling rog for the four corners uranium corp near green river utah jim nolen explains exploratory drilling at camp near green river both actual uranium mm min ing and exploratory drilling are being carried on simultaneously by the four corners corp here within a few hundred yards of producing mines a couple of thun dering exploratory drilling rigs are thrusting their metallic finger fingerr far under ground in a never ending search for more ore in previous articles the mining operations at incline no 5 oper abed by the drift mining co and incline no 2 operated by gilbert and samuel mcdougall were de scribed and pictured several other producing mines are located with in a stone stones s throw of these all of course are four corners pro berties today s story concerns the drilling operation of myers ex co and cline and co for four corners at the same location it is known that uranium miner aliza tion occurs only in certain rock strata ol 01 or layers and that within these I 1 layers ayers is re stricter strict ed to old stream channels in certain areas within the cha channel anel is found in highly concentrate concen trat trai ed amounts while other areas the same channel are barren nearly so the geologist can tell quite ac curatelo cura tely that a known ore forma tion is or is not present and he can tell at about what depth it should be found but he cannot predict the presence or absence a channel that might be ore bear ing in the formation therefore it is necessary to engage in explore tory drilling to find the channels and to find the ore bearing areas areis in the channels at this location the ore is found in the morrison formation the ore bearing sand is found in the salt wash old channel about to feet underground it is the business of the drillers to find the locations where the ore is concen colleen rated enough to justify mining jim nolen field manager for the myers exploration co was most helpful in explaining the drilling process he lie said that in this area all t the h e drilling was through solid rock which requires rock bit adril ling he ile uses on the average of two new bits on each hole du dug the bits he said cost ao 50 00 each 11 this means that he is spending about 00 for bits only on every exploratory hole since last novem ber her mr air nolen has drilled holes for four corners here multiply holes by spent for bits on each hole and you find that he has spent for the purchase of bits to dig these holes the rotary drilling rig is power ed by butane gas and nolen uses approximately 88 83 gallons of gas every day on drilling operations the 88 83 gallon tank is attached to the truck and is refilled daily from a gallon tank that is kept nearby the butane gas is deliver ed to nolen on the field every week by the eastern utah gas co of price in gallon lots the gas costs about 16 cents per gal ion or 80 00 per week for fi ft el with which to drill gasoline and oil to keep the truck moving from hole to hole and when necessary from town to field id is another expense broken parts and the working time lost by them and the cost of hiring labor to help in the drilling were ere expense items not mentioned d but abich have to be carefully con in estimating the cost of drilling operations exploratory holes are drilled in a pattern about every feet apart except where the ore ap pears to be rich then holes are put down much closer together at the time your reporter visited the myers drilling rig mr air nolen was drilling holes about 25 feet apart as they seemed to have struck a rich vein or pocket of ore mr air nolen said that his average was about 2 holes a day when they were feet of or less their rotary drill he continued as a inch stem and drills a hole 43 inches in diameter it is capable of drilling to a depth of 1500 feet mr air nolan has added an interest ing p ece of equipment to the drill ing rig he is operating he de signed and built a large wooden platform which is attached to the top of the truck in front it extends out over the motor ard in back of the cab it covers the air corn he said that he was con berned b by the air compressor get ting choked choked up by the dust from the drilling operations the au dust is discharged into the air from a stack between the mast and the air compressor his platform keeps the dust from settling directly onto the compressor so it doesn doean t choke up nearly so often shade from the blistering sun offered by the plat form keeps the engines much cooler which also cuts down on repair and operating expenses |