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Enhanced Oil Resources says its subsidiary Ridgeway Arizona Oil Corp. completed the sale of its St. Johns helium and CO2 field in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico to Kinder Morgan CO2 Company for .7 million.
The CO2 is intended to be piped to New Mexico and Texas for use in enhanced oil recovery projects.
Helium is in short supply globally and used in a variety of industrial applications.
The pace is slowing for new bills filed in the Arizona Legislature. The only one that caught my attention from this past week is Senate Concurrent Resolution 1043 "supporting the Rosemont copper mine in southern Arizona."
The resolution applauds the economic benefits of the proposed mine, and its conservation and water use reduction plans.
The resolution was introduced by Senators Melvin, Gray, and Griffin and Representatives Gowan and Pratt.
All of the Great ShakeOut scenarios are based on everything scientists think they know about the San Andreas Fault — a so-called strike-slip boundary between the North American and Pacific plates that, geologists assumed, is very near vertical. But what if it's not vertical? A team recently took a new look at the San Andreas Fault and found that its geometry isn't that simple.(LiveScience)
The University of Arizona Mineral Museum opened its special exhibit on "100 Years of Arizona?s Best: The Minerals That Made The State" last night with 300 invited guests attending the unveiling and hearing noted mineral expert Les Presmyk speak on the history of mineral collecting in Arizona. AZGS filmed his talk and will be sharing it with the museum and posting it on the Virtual Arizona Experience web site for the March theme of Mining and Mineral Resources.
Petrified Forest National Park Superintendent Brad Traver said today that he wished the Holbrook basin potash deposit was 20 miles away rather than much of it being centered under the Park but that given the reality of the situation, the Park will work with the mining companies to make a "win-win" situation. Brad gave the luncheon address at the 5th Annual Little Colorado River Resource Conservation & Development Winter Watershed Conference in Show Low.
The win-win situation he referred to is if the mining companies surface operations are outside the boundaries of the Park set by Congress and the park can acquire the the surface rights to private and State lands to infill to those boundaries. He said that a split estate of the land with the Park owning the surface rights and the companies owning the mineral rights, would allow mining underneath Park-owned lands and preserve the surface paleontological and archeological resources for the Park. He stated that "seems to be compatible" with their management of the Park. [Right, AZGS potash core hole viewer, showing park lands in purple, extended boundary in heavy line, and core holes as circles]
Brad said that American West Potash has made the commitment to put all their surface operations well outside the current Park extended boundary to the southeast. Passport Potash is not far enough along in their planning to know where their operations might be based. Ken Bond of Passport was in the audience and said he was confident that his company can "co-exist with Petrified Forest National Park."
No mining can take place under Park lands where the mineral rights are owned by the Park Service, under a 1977 federal law that applies to all parks.
The 5th Annual Lower Colorado River Resource Conservation & Development Winter Watershed Conference (wow, that's mouthful) wrapped up this afternoon in Show Low after significant discussions about development of potash resources in the Holbrook basin. [Right, potash thickness in Holbrook basin. AZGS report]
Pat Avery, President of American West Potash told the audience on Thursday that they are movin forward with plans for a 2 million tons of finished product per year underground mine, with a capital cost of about rdaddphp.4 billion. They hope to complete permitting in 1 - 1.5 years, followed by 1 year of construction. The two biggest challenges are permitting and raising the capital for construction.
The Denver-based company has 93,000 acres under lease or ownership. He said permits will be filed in Spring 2012, a mine plan completed in the first half of the year, and equipment ordered late in the year. That scale operation could generate rdaddphp billion per year revenue based on 0 per ton sale price for the potash. The USGS reported last week that U.S. produced potash was sold for 0 per ton on average in 2011.
Construction will employ 500 - 800 people but in staggered phases through that period. Once in operation, there will be 300-400 permanent jobs, for an operation that will run around the clock. Of those, about 80 will work each shift and another 40 will be in regular daily M-F schedules
Given the shallow depth of the potash (averaging 1200 feet), AWP proposes to build an inclined ramp from the surface rather than a vertical shaft.
AWP would build a processing plant using a simple flotation process, near the mine mouth to concentrate the mined salts from 8-20% potash to a 60-62% concentrate for sale. The flotation plant would use about 600 ac-ft of water per year of fresh water and 1365 ac-ft of brackish water, and recycle the latter resource.
The plants products will be red standard and granular potash. They predict 85% recovery using an underground room and pillar mining process. Significant amounts of salt will produced as a byproduct and will essentially be given away to any takers. Salt stored at the site will be in large piles on double liners to protect against it percolating in the ground.
The mine operation should cover no more than about 100 acres, but the area for storage domes for potash and the surface salt piles will eventually cover 300 acres.
Pat had to leave after his luncheon presentation to catch a plane for a trip to China to meet with investors there. He called the AWP project the lowest cost capital potash project in the world.
My calculation is that rdaddphp.4 billion cost with 2 MMt production, results in an average capital cost of 0 per tonne.
In contrast, an article on Mineweb.com a couple days ago described the capital cost of development projects in Saskatchewan - "the centre of the potash universe" as rdaddphp,081 per tonne.
If these numbers hold up, development of Arizona potash would be at a tremendous economic advantage - 30% lower than in Canada - in the competitive global marketplace.
To celebrate the three year anniversary of the release of the 3D Ocean in Google Earth, they've just released a major update to their bathymetry (underwater terrain) and it looks great!
Similar to their recent update "Pretty Earth" update, this one does quite a lot to help clean up stray artifacts and images visible in the ocean. A great example of that is Guam, seen here alongside the Marianas Trench, the deepest trench in the world:
Another noteworthy change is that "Atlantis" is now gone. A few years ago some people thought they had found the lost city of Atlantis, but it turned out to simply be sonar tracks from a ship. While that was a reasonable and accurate explanation, the sonar tracks were still pretty ugly on the surface of the ocean. They're now cleaned up as part of this update and the area looks as clear as it should:
To see more of what's changed, Google has created this short video to give you a tour:
Combined with the new patchless imagery, the earth is suddenly looking remarkably better all the way around. For more, check out this entry in the Google Lat Long Blog.
The report for the ADSC Southeast Chapter Lawrenceville, Georgia Test Site is complete and published (link below).
This is the second report from their research project on rock-socketed drilled shafts in the Southeast U.S. This report is from the Lawrenceville, Georgia test site where shafts constructed in metamorphic rock of the Piedmont geologic . . . → Read More: ADSC SE Chapter Lawrenceville Test Site Report Published
The eruption of some of the largest volcanoes on the planet could be predicted several decades before the event, according to researchers. Analysis of rock crystals from the Greek island of Santorini suggests eruptions are preceded by a fast build-up of magma underground, which might be detected using modern instrumentation.(BBC)
First released in 2007, the "Earth at Night" layer remains a very unique way to view the earth. Captured on the "dark side" of the planet, depending on the time of day, the images are a striking visual of the more urbanized areas of the planet.
However, the images were not easy to capture. For years, astronauts would try to capture the bright lights and only have blurry photographs to show for it, as the earth travels beneath them at 4.4 miles/second.
In 2003, Don Pettit developed an innovative system for capturing these images and he went on to capture over 2,500 photos, with thousands more captured in subsequent missions. You can read more about Don and his technique in this article at Air & Space Magazine.
To see the lights for yourself, simply click on the [Layers] in Google Earth, open [NASA], then [Earth City Lights] and click the button in there.. For the best results, disable your other layers and places to get a nice clean view of the earth. You should likely disable the atmosphere as well (under [View] --> [Atmosphere]), but I kind of like the glow it gives. It's a neat effect.
A big thanks to Don for pioneering this amazing technique, and hopefully as time goes on this imagery will become even higher-quality and more striking.
The Arizona SciTech Fest officially kicks off with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:00 at the Innovations in Bioscience event on Saturday. Here are some more of the week's events:
The Glendale Chocolate Affaire is being held Friday through Sunday and will offer musical performances, horse and carriage rides, chocolate factory tours, festival food, beer, wine and crafts... need we say more?
Check out the finest glass artists in the valley at A Glass Perpective on Friday evening from 6-10pm.
Stroll down to First Friday and experience where "Science meets The Arts" on Friday evening from 6-10pm.
Don't miss out on MCC's Astronomy Night on Friday from 6-10pm. You'll get to see the Planetarium shows and, if the weather permits, the Moon, planets and stars as well!
Saturday should be beautiful (71 degrees), so take your family on a walk around the Veterans Oasis Park for the Chandler Family Birdwalks event!
White chocolate really isn't chocolate. It's made from cocoa butter, the substance you get by pressing cocoa beans. Cocoa butter is absent of the cocoa solids used to make chocolate.
The Sky is the Limit for Arizona's A&D Industry The future looks bright for Arizona?s Aerospace and Defense Industry and the potential for its continued growth is great. Arizona is considered a natural environment for the Aerospace and Defense Industry.
Pinal County Innovates The Pinal Partnership was formed to bring together all the people and ideas that will ultimately lead Pinal County to its full potential.
Tucson Young Professionals Work to Increase Interest in Science Tucson Young Professionals (?TYP?) is a group of young business and community leaders who are working together to increase investment in Tucson by showcasing the city as a hub of growth and prosperity.
Scientists have known for decades that hidden under those impressive vistas at sites such as Death Valley and Yellowstone National Park are magma pools that under the right conditions can trigger explosive eruptions. Now, new research is changing scientists' understanding of the timing of those eruptions, and prompting them to call for greater monitoring of sites to help save lives when the next big volcano explodes.(USAToday)
A group of researchers is organizing a meeting on Volcanism in the American Southwest for October 18-20, 2012 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The email notice circulated today explains the reason for the conference:
Though volcanic eruptions are comparatively rare in the American Southwest, the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah host Holocene volcanic eruption deposits and are vulnerable to future volcanic activity. Subsurface magma bodies have been identified (e.g., near Socorro) and factor into the regional hazard. Compared with other parts of the western U.S., comparatively little research has been focused on this area, and eruption probabilities are poorly constrained. Monitoring infrastructure consists of a variety of local seismic networks, and ?backbone? geodetic networks with little integration. Emergency response planning for volcanic unrest has received minimal attention by either federal or state agencies. [Right, Sunset Crater, AZ, which last erupted about 1,000 years ago. Credit, National Park Service]
This meeting provides an opportunity for volcanologists, land managers, and emergency responders to meet, converse, and begin to plan protocols for any future activity. Geologists can contribute data on recent findings of eruptive ages, eruption probabilities, and hazards extents (plume heights, ash dispersal). Geophysicists can discuss evidence for magma intrusions from seismic, geodetic, and other geophysical techniques. Network operators can publicize their recent work and the relevance of their equipment to volcanic regions. Land managers and emergency responders can share their experiences with emergency planning for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Part of the meeting will be dedicated to initial planning for eruption response protocols. The agenda will consist both of invited talks, contributed talks, and dedicated poster sessions.
We anticipate a meeting of 50-90 geologists, geophysicists, land managers, and emergency responders. The two-day meeting will be held at the USGS offices in Flagstaff, AZ, followed by a 1-day field trip on Saturday October 20 to the San Francisco Peaks volcanic field. No registration fee will be required; however, meeting participants must cover their own travel and lodging expenses. Abstracts will be due August 1, 2012.
Interesting sidebar comment in an analysis of Passport Potash by Fundamental Research. Analyst Siddharth Rajeev said, "We believe Arizona is a favorable environment for mining, with generally positive land use policies and taxation structures." [Right, minerals of Arizona]
Southwest Oregon voters favor additional protections for the Rogue River according to a new poll by the public opinion research firm Moore Information.
GeoInstitute: A few sponsorship opp'ys left for DFI Grouting Conf (Feb 15-18, New Orleans) - http://t.co/7OZhFHnM // next opportunity won't be for 10 yrs!
GeoInstitute: RT @ASFE_TGBA: Proud to partner with @GeoInstitute's OMC on the #GeoCongress2012 session "Demonstrating the Value Geoprofessionals Provi ...
NASA calls the new composite view of the Earth the ?most amazing high definition image of Earth? ever.
It?s part of NASA?s Blue Marble series. It?s composite image that uses a number of swaths of the Earth?s surface taken on January 4, 2012.
[Right, this is a product of NASA's Blue Marble series, a composite made from multiple images acquired on January 4, 2012. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring]
Measure would authorize .35 billion a year through 2015 for Airport Improvement Program construction grants, the same amount already appropriated for 2012.
The USGS reports a magnitude 4.3 earthquake occurred at 11:25 PM local time last night, about 8 miles SSE of Winslow, Arizona. It is an area of minor historical seismicity. [Right, epicentral location map from USGS]
The bipartisan, 15-member presidential Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future issued its final report this past week, as part of its task "to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommend a new plan" [Right, nuclear fuel cycle from the report]
A policy alert from AAAS today summarized their three main recommendations: 1) establish a consent?based approach for future nuclear waste storage and disposal site locations, rather than "trying to force such facilities on unwilling states"; 2) transfer responsibility for the nation's nuclear waste management program to a new organization that is independent of DOE; and 3) create a new mechanism for paying fees into the Nuclear Waste Fund "to ensure they are being set aside and available for use as Congress initially intended." There is an excellent summary of the report on EnergyBiz.com, and some skepticism as to how Congress will deal with it.
AAAS also reports that the Commission's Co-chairs, former Congressman Lee Hamilton and Lt. General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Retired), will testify on the Commission's findings before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on Feb. 2.
Arizona State Senator Al Melvin (R-Marana) is pushing for Arizona to be a 'willing state' to accept nuclear waste and to host a recycling facility as well. His plan is to place the waste in underground man-made salt caverns.
DIANA is a multi-purpose finite element software package that is dedicated to a wide range of applications in Civil engineering including structural, geotechnical, tunnelling, earthquake, and oil & gas engineering. The aim of this sessions is to provide a general overview on the modelling and analysis capabilities of DIANA in conjunction with series of live demonstrations. Read more and Register...
We first showed you the Monster Milktruck API demo nearly four years ago, but thanks to a reminder from the Google Earth page on Google+, I went back and played it a bit more. What a fun little game!
If you're not familiar with it, it's difficult to call it a "game" because it's actually just a tech demo; there is no objective, no scoring, and no way to lose a life. That said, it's remarkably fun to drive around various places in the world with just a few presses of your keypad. As long as you have the Google Earth Plug-in installed (which you most likely do), you can play the game here.
If you enjoy driving around in the milktruck, you'll really enjoy Paul van Dinther's Drive the A-Team van" game from a few years ago. It's the same basic idea, but with 3D trees, collision detection on the buildings, and missions to accomplish.
This is one of the great things about Google Earth; old games/files will automatically improve over time as better imagery and new 3D buildings are released!
This online session, on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 (11:00AM - 12:00PM CET), gives a concise, but clear, overview on the different methods that DIANA offers to perform dynamic analysis of civil engineering structures, along with the possibilities to use viscous dampers in the models to successfully absorb the propagating waves at the boundaries. Read more and Register...
A further review of the role of quarrying in the Tumbi Quarry landslide, Papua New Guinea. An independent investigation is needed to explain the contradictions.
The February issue of National Geographic Magazine includes an article on Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in the Arizona-Utah border region.
In addition to the beautiful photos by Richard Barnes, there's a block diagram of the region. Take a look at the bottom left corner in tiny print: ?BLOCK DIAGRAM: CHUCK CARTER, SOURCES: BRIAN GOOTEE, ARIZONA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY; BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT; USGS?
It is unlikely that work will finish by March 1, the average date for Great Plains winter snowmelt to start showing up in the river where more than 500 miles of levees need repair.
We took our daughters (ages 5 and 8) on their first geocaching adventure this weekend and it was great! We used the very popular Geocaching.com website, which had quite a few Google Earth tools to make our adventure easier to plan.
In particular, they have a Geocache Google Earth Viewer that you can download and use. It's essentially a network link that shows all of their geocache locations in Google Earth -- over 1.6 million of them!
It was quite handy to fly around in Google Earth, find local caches, then click to see if they were worth checking out. We eventually stumbled upon a local "challenge" (10 locations to find, including this one) and had a good time.
While the icons are clickable, I would like to see them have a bit more info. In particular, the "last found" date would be helpful, so you could quickly see if a cache was likely to still be in place.
They also integrate Google Earth by allowing you to create "routes" that are generated by uploading KML files.
For all of you geocachers out there, what is your favorite way to search for new caches to find?
The Little Ice Age was caused by the cooling effect of massive volcanic eruptions, and sustained by changes in Arctic ice cover, scientists conclude.(BBC)
"The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010. The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was billion in 2011, up from billion in 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey?s annual release of mineral production statistics and summary of events and trends affecting domestic and global nonfuel minerals."
Arizona's mineral production surged 11.15%, reaching an all-time high of .25 billion, lead by copper, molybdenum concentrates, sand and gravel, silver, and cement. Arizona remained in the #2 position behind Nevada, at .4 billion, due largely to its gold production. Copper accounted for 27% of the nation's total mineral wealth, with moly at 10%. The USGS further reported that:
The metals sector was marked by higher prices for many domestically mined metals, resulting in a 23 percent increase in the value of domestic metal production. The non-metallic minerals sector increased by 3 percent, the first increase since 2007.
U.S. dependence on foreign sources for minerals increased, continuing a trend that has been evident for more than 30 years. The United States relied on foreign sources to supply more than 50 percent of domestic consumption of 43 mineral commodities in 2011. The United States was 100 percent reliant on imports for 19 mineral commodities in 2011.
The Arizona Senate Natural Resources & Transportation Committee approved both SB1171 (AZGS statute reorganization) and SB1299 (AZGS 10-year reauthorization) today, unanimousely, without debate. This bodes well for passage of both bills. The bills now go to the full Senate for approval, then to the House for consideration there.
