Cost study on underground mining of oil shale by the room and pillar method based upon research carried out during stage II

Abstract

The United States Bureau of Mines facility at Anvil Points, near Rifle, Colorado, was reactivated starting in May 1964 and was operated during 1965, 1966, and 1967. A research and development program was conducted to investigate the technical feasibility of room-and-pillar mining with explosives, crushing and Gas-Combustion Retorting techniques for oil shale. Mobil Oil Corporation acted as Project Manager for the cooperative industry group at Rifle which included Continental Oil Company, Humble Oil and Refining Company, Pan American Petroleum Corporation, Phillips Petroleum Company, and Sinclair Research, Inc. as Participating Parties. The primary object of the Anvil Points Oil Shale Research Center Technical memorandum is to advise authorized personnel employed by the Participating Parties that various activities are in progress or that certain significant data have been obtained within the Research Center. Costs of the Rifle operation were shared equally by the six participants. Each Participating Party was represented by personnel on the technical staff. The Colorado School of Mines Research Foundation, Inc. acted as lessor-of-record and supplied nontechnical personnel for administrative and logistic support. The conclusions drawn by project personnel are tentative and may be subject to change as work progresses. The Technical Memoranda have not been edited in detail.