Preliminary mineral resource study of the Uintah and Ouray reservation, Utah

Development of known mineral resources on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation probably will be confined to expanded production of oil and gas by conventional methods and to extraction of modest amounts of sand and gravel. Oil shale may have some development potential provided exploration can prove sufficient reserves in the Avintaguin Canyon-Indian Canyon area. If an adequate reserve is confirmed a successful commercial process for production must be developed. Therefore, under the most favorable conditions, any development of an oil shale industry on the reservation likely will be several decades away. Although moderate coal resources exist on these Indian lands, the coal is low-Btu material that probably can be used only for conventional power generation. Because of the lack of a large resource, the absence of strippable reserves, the low-Btu value of the coal, the distance from adequate transportation facilities, and the large quantities of coal found in more accessible areas of Utah, it is doubtful that any significant development of coal on the reservation will occur in the near future. Bituminous sandstones on the reservation contain large quantities of oil, but there has been no serious attempt to recover the oil in other than small amounts for use as a natural asphalt paving material. The problem is the same as with coal; larger, richer deposits occur off the reservation which probably will be developed first. Until exploration more accurately determines the size, saturation, and depth of the Indian owned deposits, it is impossible either to plan development of the oil impregnated deposits or to accurately assess their value. Enough copper carbonate may exist on the reservation to sustain a small mining operation. An exploration program would be necessary to determine (1) the amount of resource present, (2) the location of the best material, and (3) the size of operation the resource would sustain. Recovery of the silver and uranium contained in the copper deposits probably is not economic at this time. Exploration to determine if minable gold placers exist on the reservation also would be useful for long-range planning. Phosphate resources within the reservation do not appear large or rich enough to warrant exploration. The construction materials, stone and sand and gravel, are widespread over the area and will be developed as needs arise. Other nonmetals such as trona, dawsonite and the zeolites may be present.