AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF AN OIL SHALE, NAHCOLITE, DAWSONITE COMPLEX IN COLORADO, OPTION II, CIRCA 1971

Option II concerns mining and processing a nahcolite deposit in the Piceance Creek basin, Colorado, plus an underlying measure of oil shale containing about 25 percent nahcolite and 9 percent dawsonite to yield soda ash, alumina, and shale oil as principal products. Coke, sulfur, and amonia are also byproducts. A two-level shaft mining operation, rotorting, partial refining, and a minerals processing plant requires a capital investment of $605,947,700 in 1971 dollars to process 8,000 tons per calendar day of nahcolite ore and 60,000 tons of the mineral containing oil shale. An income of $268,283,000 requires $143,188,700 in annual expenditures including labor, materials, maintenance, taxes, insurance, overhead, and depreciation. The discounted cash flow rate of return is 17.20 percent based on a weighted average depreciation life of 13.99 years. This option differs from Option III in depth of the shale bed mined and analysis of the peposit.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This article was prepared by the Staff of the Bureau of Mines. Notification appeared in the Bureau of Mines--New Publications, October 1972, Monthly List 690.
• Corporate Authors:

  Bureau of Mines

  College Park Research Center
  College Park, MD  United States  20742
• Publication Date: 1972-7

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 175 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commodities
• Old TRIS Terms: Nahcolite traffic
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00040975
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Mines
• Report/Paper Numbers: BuMines OFR 32-72
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 2 1974 12:00AM