Piceance Creek Basin Saline Deposits

The Piceance Creek Basin Saline Deposits is a calcium and sodium mine located in Rio Blanco county, Colorado at an elevation of 6,460 feet.

About the MRDS Data:

All mine locations were obtained from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System. The locations and other information in this database have not been verified for accuracy. It should be assumed that all mines are on private property.

Mine Info

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Site Name

Primary: Piceance Creek Basin Saline Deposits
Secondary: Piceance Creek Basin Nahcolite and Dawsonite Deposits
Secondary: Piceance Basin Saline Beds
Secondary: Natural Soda Inc. (Natural Resources USA Corp)

Commodity

Primary: Calcium
Primary: Sodium
Tertiary: Halite
Tertiary: Aluminum

Location

State: Colorado
County: Rio Blanco
District: Piceance Creek Basin

Land Status

Land ownership: Federal
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.

Holdings

Not available

Workings

Not available

Ownership

Owner Name: Natural Soda Inc.
Info Year: 2011

Owner Name: White River Nahcolite Minerals (Owned By Natec Resources Inc. (50%) North American Chemical Co. (50

Production

Not available

Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Operation Type: Unknown
Discovery Year: 1947
Discovery Method: Ore-Mineral In Place
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: N
Deposit Size: L

Physiography

General Physiographic Area: Intermontane Plateaus
Physiographic Province: Colorado Plateaus
Physiographic Section: Uinta Basin

Mineral Deposit Model

Not available

Orebody

Form: IRREGULAR

Form: IRREGULAR

Form: IRREGULAR

Structure

Type: R
Description: Piceance Creek Basin, White River Uplift

Type: L
Description: Piceance Creek Dome, Red Wash Syncline, Hunter Creek Syncline

Alterations

Not available

Rocks

Name: Oil Shale
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Eocene

Name: Oil Shale
Role: Host
Age Type: Host Rock Unit
Age Young: Eocene

Analytical Data

Not available

Materials

Ore: Dawsonite
Ore: Nahcolite
Gangue: Halite

Comments

Comment (Location): IN PICEANCE CREEK AND YELLOW CREEK DRAINAGES IN AND AROUND CENTER OF PICEANCE CREEK BASIN. TOWNSHIPS LISTED ARE FOR THICKEST KNOWN INTERVALS OF NAHCOLITE- AND DAWSONITE-BEARING ROCKS. DEPOSITS ALSO EXTEND INTO TIN/R97W, TIN/R99W, TIS/R99W, T2S/R96W, T2S/R97W, T2S/R96W, T3S/R97W, T3S/R98W. ELEV AND LAT-LONG GIVEN ARE FOR APPROXIMATE THICKEST PARTS OF DEPOSIT IN C E2 T1S, R98W. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1976

Comment (Development): SMALL AMOUNT OF-NAHCOLITE PRODUCED IN 1970S FOR EXPERIMENTAL TESTING AND DEMONSTRATION SO2 CONTROL AT COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT. NA PREFERENCE-RIGHT LEASES FIRST REQUESTED IN 1966 BY KAISER ALUMINUM, BUT WAS DENIED AND VENTURE DROPPED. SIMILAR RESULTS FOR YANKEE GULCH JOINT VENTURE(NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL AND CLEVELAN CLIFFS IRON CO.). MORE RECENT VENTURES THAT FAILED EITHER TO GOVT NONACTION OR GENERAL ECONOMIC PROBLEMS WITH OIL SHALE INDUSTRY INCLUDED SUPERIOR OIL, MULTI-MINERAL CO. SUBSIDIARY OF CHARTER OIL). LATEST EXPL/DEVEL. VENTURES INCLUDE NATRONA RESOURCES/MULTI-MINERAL. DENVER (1983) AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES. INC., LAKEWOOD (1983). PRINCIPAL NAHCOLITE USES INCLUDE SO2 POLLUTION CONTROL, SODA ASH FOR CONTAINER GLASS AND INSULATING BUILDING MATERIALS. PRINCIPAL DAWSONITE USE IS DOMESTIC SOURCE OF ALUMINA. ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF EITHER OR BOTH SALINES MAY DEPEND ON COPRODUCT SHALE OIL RECOVERY. DEPOSITS CONSTITUTE WORLD'S LARGEST AND RICHEST SUCH SALINE RESOURCES.

Comment (Deposit): NAHCOLITE, DAWSONITE, AND HALITE OCCUR IN THICK INTERVAL IN LOWER PARACHUTE CREEK MEMBER OF GREEN RIVER FM. DAWSONITE INTERVAL THICKER AND MORE LATERALLY EXTENSIVE THAN NAHCOLITE AND CONSISTS OF MINUTE CRYSTALS DISSEMINATED IN OIL SHALE MATRIX, COMPRISING UP TO 25% OF DEPOSIT. CENTRAL THICKEST PART OF INTERVAL ESTIMATED TO CONTAIN AT LEAST 5 WT%. DAWSONITE HAS APPARENTLY NOT BEEN EXTENSIVELY DISSOLVED BY GROUND WATER, AND PRESENT EXTENT REPRESENTS ORIGINAL DEPOSITIONAL PATTERN. TOP OF ABUNDANT DAWSONITE ZONE MARKED BY UPPER HALITE. NAHCOLITE INTERVAL THINS AWAY FROM BASIN DEPOSITIONAL CENTER DUE TO DEPOSITIONAL THINNING AND TO POST-DEPOSITIONAL LEACHING. OVERLYING NAHCOLITE SECTION IS LEACHED ZONE CHARACTERIZED BY SOLUTION CAVITIES, OPEN FRACTURES, BRECCIA ZONES, POROUS AND EARTHY MARLSTONE. LEACHED ZONE IS STRATIGRAPHICALLY HIGHEST AT BASIN DEPOSITONAL CENTER. IN LOWER PARACHUTE CREEK MBR NAHCOLITE OCCURS AS NODULES AND RADIATING MASSES SURROUNDED BY OIL SHALE. BEDDED FORMS INCLUDE

Comment (Workings): CORE HOLES; ACCESS VIA USBM DEEP SHAFT

Comment (Deposit): 1) WHITE COARSE CRYSTALLINE VARIETY; 2) BROWN MICROCRYSTALLINE TYPE; 3) CRYSTAL MUSH, UP TO 0.5-INCH CRYSTALS IN OIL SHALE MATRIX. INTERVAL CONTAINS SEVERAL THICK UNITS OF INTERBEDDED NAHCOLITE AND HALITE. THICKNESS AND DEPTHS REPORTED ABOVE APPROXIMATED FROM BEARD AND OTHER' (1974) CROSS-SECTION. MAXIMUM LENGTH AND WIDTH APPROXIMATED FROM BEARD AND OTHERS' (1974) ISOPACH MAP OF DAWSONITE-BEARING INTERVAL (300-FT)CONTOUR ON SOUTH TO 500-FT CONTOUR ON NORTH; 300-FT CONTOUR ON WEST TO 60-FT CONTOUR ON WEST TO 600-FT CONTOUR LIMIT OF RESOURCE EVALUATION ON EAST.

Comment (Analytical Data): From 10119432 (from MAS 0081030001): "COM.7 IS KEROGEN LISTED UNDER OILSHALE. 75% EST. & ANALYSIS AFTER NIELSEN, 1969, BASED ON SALINE BED 50% EST. & GRADE AFTER BEARD, ETC BASED ON PARACHUTE CREEK M 4.7% DAWSONITE ENTERED AS 1.6% AL203 IN GRADE-QUANTITY MATRI"

Comment (Reference): Deleted duplicate record 10119432 (MAS 0081030001) gave additional 3 references [commas added by ABW for clarity]: NIELSON, PICEANCE MINERAL SUITE, EMJ 1/69 SMITH, OIL SHALE MINING, MINING ENGINEERING 10/74 SMITH, RELATIONSHIP BET. DENSITY & OIL YIELD FOR OIL SHALES.

Comment (Location): Deleted duplicate record 10119432 (MAS 0081030001) gave location as 01S, 98W, Sec. 4. WGS84 coordinates as 39.99917, -108.39958.

Comment (Commodity): Deleted duplicate record 10119432 (MAS 0081030001) listed ONLY Tertiary commodities: Aluminum, Calcium, Feldspar, Oil Shale, Silica, Sodium, Dolomite. Presence of Co (Cobalt) is unlikely. This was probably a typo and was intended to be Ca (Calcium).

References

Reference (Deposit): The Denver Post, 2011, Colo. baking soda maker doubling its capacity: Denver Post, Sept. 6, 2011.

Reference (Deposit): FARRIS, C.B., 1980, MARKET POTENTIAL OF THE GREEN RIVER NAHCOLITE/DAWSONITE IN COLORADO, IN SCHWOCHOW, S.D., ED., PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH FORUM ON GEOLOGY OF INDUSTRIAL MINERALS: CGS RESOURCE SER. 8, P. 96-104.

Reference (Deposit): DYNI, J.R., 1974, STRATIGRAPHY AND NAHCOLITE RESOURCES OF THE SALINE FACIES OF THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION IN NORTHWEST COLORADO, IN MURRAY, D.K., ED., ENERGY RESOURCES OF THE PICEANCE CREEK BASIN, COLORADO: RMAG 25TH FIELD CONF. GUIDEBOOK, P. 111-122.

Reference (Deposit): BEARD, T.N., AND OTHERS, 1974, NAHCOLITE AND DAWSONITE RESOURCES IN THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION, PICEANCE CREEK BASIN, COLORADO, IN MURRAY, D.K., ED., ENERGY RESOURCES OF THE PICEANCE CREEK BASIN, COLORADO: RMAG 25TH FIELD CONF. GUIDEBOOK, P. 101-109.

Reference (Deposit): INDUSTRIAL MINERALS, 1993, WORLD OF MINERALS- USA: NO. 304, P. 17.

Reference (Reserve-Resource): FARRIS, 1980; BEARD AND OTHERS, 1974; INDUSTRIAL MINERALS, 1993.

Reference (Deposit): ROWLEY, P.D., AND OTHERS, 1979, GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE VERNAL 1X2 QUADRANGLE, COLORADO, UTAH, AND WYOMING, USGS MAP MF-1163.

Reference (Deposit): CASHION, W.B., 1973, GEOLOGIC AND STRUCTURE MAP OF THE GRAND JUNCTION QUADRANGLE, COLORADO AND UTAH: USGS MAP I-736.

Reference (Deposit): YOUNG, N.B., AND SMITH, J.W., 1970, DAWSONITE AND NAHCOLITE ANALYSES OF GREEN RIVER FORMATION OIL-SHALE SECTION, PICEANCE CREEK BASIN, COLORADO: USBM RI-7445.

Reference (Deposit): SMITH, J.W., AND MILTON, C., 1966, DAWSONITE IN THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION OF COLORADO: ECON. GEOLOGY, V. 61, P.1029-1042.

Reference (Deposit): HITE, R.J., AND DYNI, J.R., 1967, POTENTIAL RESOURCES OF DAWSONITE AND NAHCOLITE IN THE PICEANCE CREEK BASIN, NORTHWEST COLORADO: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES QUART., V. 62, NO. 3, P. 25-38.

Reference (Deposit): NIELSEN, IRVIN, 1980, DEVELOPMENT OF NAHCOLITE-RICH OIL SHALES, IN SCHWOCHOW, S.D., ED., PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH FORUM ON GEOLOGY OF INDUSTRIAL MINERALS: CGS RESOURCE SER. 8, P. 89-95.

Reference (Deposit): FARRIS, C.B., AND MAINS, C.J., 1978, DAWSONITE AND NAHCOLITE SURVEY, VOLUME 1--RESERVES, TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND MARKET ASSESMENT: COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES RESEARCH INST. (DOE DIV. INDUS. ENERGY CONSERV. CONTRACT NO. EC-77-S-07-1683).

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