The value of state coal reserves in the vicinity of Factory Butte is open to question.
Last week, this column outlined plans by Factory Butte Coal Co. to punch exploration holes into the ground at three sections of state land near the butte. The company lists a Hanksville telephone number.Located in Wayne County close to the Moroni Slopes (the end of the San Rafael Reef), this area is one of the most starkly scenic of any Utah desert.
First stage of the project will be to punch two dozen shallow drill holes on three state land sections, at the location of an abandoned strip mine, on the North Caineville Reef and about 20 miles south of the reef.
The project is on the fast track. It's supposed to begin as soon as possible, according to information forwarded by the Utah Division of State Lands and Forestry to the state's Resource Development Coordinating Committee.
A big warning flag should be waved at this point.
Starting in 1978, the Atlas-Dirty Devil Mining Co. worked to develop a strip mine on one of the same sections near Factory Butte and failed. For years, the remains of the mining buildings and heaps of coal cluttered the desert. The Atlas-Dirty Devil Mine was doomed because coal reserves were below par and remote from support facilities.
This column obtained a copy of a careful geologic survey of coal reserves at the location of the strip mine and the section on the North Caineville Reef. It casts heavy doubt on the coal's quantity and quality.
In November 1978, 90 holes were drilled to depths of about 50 feet. "Drilling coverage was designed to give appropriate coverage of the coal resources in Section 2," the section where the mine was built.
"It is now clear that the area has undergone severe faulting," the report says. "Differential compaction, resulting in local slumping, rolling and minor faulting, also appear to play a significant role."
Coal seams are separated by variable thicknesses of overburden, making it difficult to strip-mine.
Concerning Section 2, the report says, "Based on our estimates, approximately 2.99 million tons are considered potentially recoverable for delivery to the preparation plant.
"This tonnage is mineable only if the overburden ratio and associated removal costs are within acceptable economic limits throughout the section at the time mining is considered which, as will be discussed, they are not."
The report predicted the coal produced would not meet the specifications of the mine's major contract with Nevada Power Co.
A primary limitation was "the non-compliance of the sulfur content and relatively high ash content." Also, there was "an excessive overburden ratio."
Unfortunately for developers, Factory Butte coal is not homogeneous in quality. There are "high-ash intervals . . . within the seams of certain areas of Section 2."
Cleaning the coal, shipping it to a loading facility at Green River, stockpiling, handling and loading it, ended up costing a staggering $10.80 per ton - on top of $4.03 a ton for ordinary mining expenses, a total of $14.83.
The report was prepared early in 1979. More than a decade of inflation has taken place since then. Naturally, the expenses would be greater today.
The state already has a well-established underground mining industry in Carbon and Emery counties, with gigantic tipples, coal washing plants, rail spurs, a highly trained work force and many communities near mines.
Mining has been carried on near Price for a century. So is Factory Butte, off in the middle of a harsh desert, supposed to compete with these mines?
For years after the original mine went out of production, an unsightly clutter of buildings and coal heaps loomed just off the dirt road that winds from Factory Butte toward the Moroni Slopes.
At last the mess has been cleaned up.
"That was done as a reclamation project with the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining in coordination with State Lands, because there was state land involved in that," said Diane Nielsen, director of the first state division mentioned. Reclamation was completed in 1986 at a cost of $116,000, she said.
Aside from serious environmental consequences of ripping up the country around Factory Butte - the most serious objection to industry there - a new mine at Factory Butte may make little economic sense.
Before the go-ahead is given to resume the exploitation of the desert, our appointed officials should keep these points in mind:
1. The Atlas-Dirty Devil Mine failed at Factory Butte.
2. A careful analysis shows why it failed - poor quality coal, bad overburden problems, plus high expenses to ship it to a loading facility.
3. Reclamation of the old mine cost $116,000. Part of this came from a bond posted by the company, but Nielsen believes some came out of a fund established with state fines and forfeitures - money that could have been spent elsewhere.