Evaluation of the Utah oil sand resource

The three largest oil sand deposits in Utah, namely, the Tar Sand Triangle, the P.R. Spring, and the Sunnyside deposits, have been studied to contribute data relative to the surface and insitu mining of these deposits and to recommend research that should be conducted to develop the Utah oil sand resource. The Sunnyside and Tar Sand Triangle deposits are ranked first and second in desirability for large scale surface mining. Although some surface minable areas in these two deposits are identified in a general way, specific surface minable areas could not be identified due to a dearth of core drilling and other geologic data. Much more data was found on the P.R. Spring oil sand deposit and specific surface minable areas are identified. About 182 of the 270 square miles of the P.R. Spring deposit are covered with less than 120 feet of overburden. The percentage of minable areas of each of 508 square mile sections has been calculated. Some of the pay zones are too deep for surface mining; consequently, only 17.4 feet of the 33.9 foot total average pay thickness is surface minable. The minable ore reserve is 3260 million cubic yards containing 1550 million barrels of oil (34.5 percent of the total P.R. Spring oil reserve).