| Description |
The bituminous sandstone deposits near Sunnysida, Utah, are the largest known deposits of this material in the United States. They offer the basis for a large scale operation designed to produce petroleum products and petro chemicals. The deposits are situated near the top of the Book Cliffs, a southwestward facing escarpment on the southern margin of the Uintah Basin. They lie between 9,000 and 10,000 feet in elevation and are seven miles by road from the terminus of the spur of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad which serves the coal mines operated by the Geneva Steel Division of U, S, Steel Corporation and by Kaiser Steel Company, The bituminous sandstone occurs in beds ranging in thickness from 10 to 350 feet within a zone approximately 1,000 feet thick and several square miles In lateral extent, The U, S, Geological Survey estimates that the deposits contain one billion six hundred million cubic yards of bituminous sandstone and that half of this total will contain at least 9% bitumen by weight. The Geological Survey further estimates that a cubic yard of material containing 9% bitumen contains 38,2 gallons of bitumen making a total of seven hundred twenty eight million barrels of bitumen exclusive of that contained in material assumed to average less than 9% bitumen by weight. This is equivalent to the reserves of several major oil fields, Combined Metals Reduction Company and Mr, DeWitt Van Evera of Salt Lake City, Utah, own fee title to a 600 acre tract of land covering the most accessible and best exposed portions of the bituminous sandstone deposits. This tract is estimated to contain over five hundred million tons of bituminous sandstone most of which is favorably situated for large scale open pit mining, In addition to the bituminous sandstone deposits, the property contains extensions of the coal measures now being mined by U, S, Steel and Kaiser Steel to the south and there is some possibility of obtaining oil production from deeper horizons underlying the property, The U, S, Bureau of Miners studies on the separation and utilization of bitumen from the sandstone indicate that a separation can be made using hot water, alkali and a diluent. The resulting product is a high grade asphalt, very low in sulphur and susceptible to further processing to produce a vide range of petroleum and petro chemical products,; In excess of 300,000 tons of bituminous sandstone or "Rock Asphalt", have been quarried from the deposit for use as street and highway paving material. For this use the natural product is mined, crushed, spread and rollod without further processing or the additions of other materials. It is a superior product, but the market is limited by the high cost of transporting to places of use. |
