NEW NUCLEAR MINING MIRACLE

CAVITY-CHIMNEY FORMATION HISTORY

What happens when the device is triggered? Based on studies of cavities created by other underground nuclear devices, this is what would take place:

3 MSEC

About three milliseconds after detonation, the device is vaporized and a pocket of high temperature and pressure is created. The cavity continues to expand spherically around the blast center following the outward moving shock wave until the pressure of the gas in the cavity approaches equilibrium with the weight of the overlaying rock.

300 MSEC

Some 300 milliseconds after detonation, a puddle of molten rock has been formed . . . additional rock melts and drips down into the pool and the shock wave continues to fracture the rock around the blast area.

3 SEC

A longer time lapse now. In the period from a few seconds to a few hours after detonation, more rock collapses as the cavity grows upward . . . some of the rock continues to fall into the pool of molten material.

FINAL CONFIGURATION

The final configuration hoped for will probably look like this. The roof over the cavity, having been fractured by the shock wave and effectively undercut, will start to collapse and a cylindrical chimney of caved and very permeable broken rock will develop upward between 400 and 500 feet. The chimney will have a radius that approximates that of the cavity and the height will normally extend to a distance of four or five times the radius of the cavity. Chimney material formed by nuclear explosions in granitic rock is extremely permeable and has been observed to have about 25 per cent void space with 75 per cent of the fragments smaller than 12 inches in size. The force of the explosion will also fracture rock out beyond the chimney boundary. This outside fracturing will also increase, to a lesser extent, the original rock's permeability for a distance approaching three cavity radii. It is into this chimney of shattered rock that the leaching solution will be introduced, to be pumped out later, after it has picked up its burden of dissolved copper.

Phrases linking miracles and mines are common. The history of mining is a long-continued technological drama in which man has succeeded in unlocking Nature's secrets one after the other to win from the earth the metals and minerals essential to the accomplishment of virtually every modern goal.

A few years ago Man blasted his way into the Atomic Age. It is an era fraught with the terror of Man's new ability to obliterate the very earth which sustains him and with the stupendous challenge and opportunity for Man to tame the atom for peaceful purposes.

To meet this challenge and to seize the opportunity, Operation Plowshare was born. It is a program to attract the best creative scientific brains of the nation to the task of harnessing for constructive purposes the awesome power released by the fusion and fission of the atom.

New, Nuclear Mining Miracle PROJECT SLOOP

Now, in Graham County, Arizona, mining men and nuclear scientists stand on the brink of an accomplishment which could beggar previous mining miracles. It could revolutionize this industry which, with agriculture, is modern man's most basic. And, in the process, it could increase untold times over America's reserves of the metals upon which every phase of our modern life is based.

Called Project SLOOP, the program currently is in the advanced planning stages. It could be defined as: "Study: Leaching of Ore in Place."

In essence it envisions the detonation of a low-yield nuclear device far below the surface of the ground. Force of the blast would shatter millions of tons of extremely low-grade copper ore. With the rock thus rendered permeable to liquid, a "leaching" solution would be introduced into the broken-up mass. The solution would dissolve the copper, and the pregnant solution would be pumped out of the ground and into a plant where the copper would be recovered.

BY EDWARD H. PEPLOW, JR.

In the telling it sounds so simple, so logical, that the poten-tial dramatic impact upon this nation's future becomes obscure. One can imagine the neighbors of the inventor of the wheel looking at the new device and saying, "Okay; it rolls. So what?"

So can the uninitiated very easily say of Project SLOOP: "Okay; it recovers metal from host rock. So what? Man has been doing that for scores of centuries."

Not this way, he hasn't. For centuries Man has laboriously burrowed his way through shafts and drifts and tunnels down into the earth's crust; he has chipped and battered and blasted loose the metal-bearing rock; he has hoisted this to the surface; and there he has tediously, painstakingly broken the rock into finer and finer particles in order to make available for recovery the tiny specks of metallic compounds.

These compounds then must be gathered physically, separated from the particles of barren host rock, and this "concentrate" must be subjected to complicated heat-treating and electrolytic processes in order to obtain a metal pure enough chemically to meet the needs of modern industry.

Or, instead of burrowing underground, Man today may elect to strip off the barren overburden covering a deposit of ore. In this open-pit type of mining, staggering tonnages of earth must be removed (and disposed of) simply to uncover the metal-bearing rock itself. And then, for every ton of ore removed, as many as three tons of waste must be mined in the process of getting to the ore.

In either case it is a long, expensive, time-consuming process for filling the seemingly insatiable maw of modern industry. And it has other drawbacks to which the mining industry is as sensitive as anyone else: it consumes land, often in highly scenic areas, for its pits, its mills, its smelters and refineries and equipment shops; it consumes land for the disposal of tailings (the powder-fine, ground, barren rock from which the metal values have been separated) and overburden; it requires the use of the smelters' fiery furnaces, which beget inevitably plumes of unsightly smoke.

For decades the mining industry has been spending immense amounts of money on intensive research programs to moderate its effect upon the landscape, to minimize the acreages it needs, and to restore for other uses the land it has finished with. Even though, for example, it uses less than one-eighth of one percent of Arizona's land surface to produce more copper each year than is produced by all the other forty-nine states put together. Arizona's copper industry has recognized the increasingly critical demand of the nation for land on which to expand urban areas and recreational facilities, to grow livestock and timber, and to preserve the natural beauties of the natural landscape.

But even more pressing have been its responsibilities to produce the metals without which neither modern industry nor our national defense plant could continue. Without copper neither the timberman, the hunter, the hiker, the fisherman, the camper, the cattleman, the farmer nor the urbanite could continue to have the many amenities which have become the necessities of the modern American way of life.

It is an immutable fact of life that mining disturbs the landscape and occupies land. It is a choice between the metals we need and the beauties we want, between retrogression toward the Stone Age culture and continued advancement along the American way.

Project SLOOP, however, presages the most satisfying reconciliation of the conflicting demands upon our lands ever conceived. The surface of the land would be disturbed only by the sinking of the shaft for the nuclear device and the subsequent installation of the plumbing to introduce and pump out the solution. In addition, there would be the acreage for the relatively very small plant for the recovery of the copper from the solution. Gone would be the problem of disposing of the overburden and tailings. Gone would be the need for vast crushing and concentrating plants. Probably gone also would be the need for smelters, if Always there is the big IF. In this case, the ifs probably can be changed to whens, for preliminary studies to date indicate that the idea is safe, sound and feasible. They have been undertaken by the world's largest mine producer of copper, Kennecott Copper Corporation, the United States Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the AEC's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, with the assistance of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The proposal has been made by Kennecott to the AEC that the pilot project be implemented in land owned by Kennecott in Graham County. It now awaits the approval of Congress, which must give its clearance for this use of nuclear energy and make appropriation of the government's share in the expenses of the experiment. Total costs of Project SLOOP are estimated at $13,175,000.

Virtually all of the other questions have been answered, at least on a laboratory scale and on the basis of experience with some 225 contained underground nuclear blasts conducted for other purposes in other states. What remains to be done divides into three phases.

The first includes field start-up and installation of initial support facilities, followed by a series of pre-shot sampling holes and an intensive site safety study.

The safety study will include the most intensive and complete hydrology investigations ever made of the area. Detonation is proposed for well above the water table, so no problem of contamination of ground water is anticipated. However, nothing will be left to chance.

Another aspect of the safety study will be devoted to intensive investigation of probable ground motions in the area. Every structure in the vicinity that could be affected will be evaluated to determine whether the shock could damage it.

Finally, the safety experts will check in most minute detail to make sure no venting from the emplacement area will result from the blast. The weather will also be forecast, checked, rechecked and checked again constantly right up to the moment the device is triggered.

Phase two will cover the actual project start-up, many scientific programs, the sinking of the emplacement hole, actual emplacement of the nuclear device, stemming of the device, installation of communications systems, various engineering programs, and close inspections along the way right up to the blast.

Phase three will cover construction of the plant in which the copper will be recovered from the pregnant solution, operation of the plant for one year, and a complete, final evaluation.

The timetable for Project SLOOP begins when the government's share of necessary funds becomes available. Nobody is predicting just when Congress will pass an appropriation for the AEC which includes money for Project SLOOP, although the consensus is it will be soon. The project is of basic importance to the nation's welfare.

When that appropriation is made, about eight months later the nuclear device will be fired, providing all preliminary tests and evaluations prove out as expected.

Plant operation could begin seven months after the shot, with the evaluation of the entire project starting about thirty months after the detonation and continuing about a year. Total elapsed time from date of authorization to completion of evaluation, therefore, could be approximately four years.

All of which sounds and is exciting. It is a brand-new concept of mining in the years to come. But, unfortunately, it must be qualified. First, none of the copper produced by Project SLOOP will go onto the commercial market. There are a myriad of complex studies which must be made on it. What effect, if any, will the nuclear blast have on the physical and chemical characteristics of the metal? Nuclear science still is too little advanced to say. Perhaps there will be none; perhaps there will be significant and interesting changes.

What about lingering radioactivity? There may be so little it will die quickly. On the other hand, it may linger for a prolonged time. It might be of significant intensity, although this is considered most unlikely according to preliminary investigations. Yet absolutely nothing will be left unknown. The copper recovered from this initial project will be devoted exclusively to intensive research. Thus Project SLOOP is, in every sense, a noncommercial program of applied industrial research.

Nor, mining men warn, should the public be led to expect that in the foreseeable future such nuclear blasting and in situ methods will replace the tried and proven methods by which the nation today gains its supplies of essential metallic materials. SLOOP-type techniques may be applicable to a very limited number of types of deposits; nobody knows yet what the limits and potentials are.

But one fact emerges clearly: mining today is a far cry from the ancient practices most people associate it with. Excitingly imaginative research and engineering today are opening vast new frontiers in this vital field.

And Graham County, Arizona, bids fair to be the scene of one of mining's great pioneering breakthroughs.

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The cliffs loom up: great walls of red Against blue skies. The aspen spread In golden pools above the shadow Of the pale grass in the meadow. Dark pines crowd on scarlet ledges; Snowy clouds have thin black edges; As bright as fire the sumac burns, And suddenly the season turns.

I set myself a poem for today Four lines to capture all of Autumn in; But such bright remnants of the Summer stay, I'll wait until November to begin!

The trees appear on fire, and yet That fire will never waken fright Nor fling up smoke of gray or jet To darken everything in sight. It's brilliant leaves of Autumn there; And with each breeze they weave and dart Like flames, enkindling everywhere The warmth of beauty in the heart.

The oak leaves depart the last of all, Letting me know there's an end to fall In the deep squirrel woods where the oaks are tall.

This morning I will not make my bed, I am going to rake the leaves, instead - They are so lovely, so golden and red!

I shall rake them in piles, tidy and neat, Then laugh as the wind swirls them down the street On eager, rushing, unseen feet.

See how they come drifting lazily down Till a great gust of wind whirls them round and around! Like Gypsies they dance-flamboyantly gowned.

See how they scamper in wild disarray, Hiding in corners, then dashing away, Enjoying their freedom, their brief holiday.

Oh tomorrow I'll dust and make my bed, I'll wash the dishes and bake loaves of bread, But today, Oh today I'll rake leaves, instead!

The sun plays a game of hide n' seek with the autumn foliage. it falls on a path of brown, withered leaves, crinkly under my feet, i press forward up the steep incline my goal is eternity.

Do not sigh for the young, the slender trees, Bent low before the flailing of the storm, The earth is still their cradle, not their grave, Tomorrow sun will call, the ranks will form, Plumes waving; later, underneath the stars, The young, the brave, make light of battle scars.

As a subscriber for many years and an ardent admirer of the superb color photography and its reproduction in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, I just had to write you regarding the May issue, and in particular the color photo by Josef Muench entitled "In Reflection Canyon-Lake Powell" on the upper half of page 41.

While studying the beauty of the lithography, as a printer, I naturally was observing it from all angles, and suddenly noticed what a unique photograph Mr. Muench actually captured!

Has anyone else called your attention to the totem pole sculptures shown when the horizontal shot is turned and viewed vertically?

In vertical study, with right side of photo at the top, there is an endless number of figures and figures within figures, creating an interesting totem pole. In this view, the picture leads the imagination to pick out heads of animals, par ticularly dogs from baggy-joweled hounds to tiny pekes, Boston bulls, terriers, etc., as well as tiny houses and even a ballerina!

Reverse it, looking at it horizontally with left side to the top, and one sees heads of Indian chiefs, replete with splendid head pieces created By the jagged rock pinnacles and their reflection. There are swarthy pirate types and countless lesser figures, plus an assortment of winged creatures and symbols. Only one's imagination need limit the great variety of segments to be found making up the "totem"!

Having traveled the highways and byways of Arizona and made a large collection of colored slides, we pore over each issue of your colorful magazine and thoroughly enjoy the artistry of your photographers. When cloud effects are caught, or unusual snow formations, our imagi nation then, too, tends to see "faces" and other pictures within the photos. But this particular photo of reflections caught by Mr. Muench offers the greatest challenge yet, and we just had to tell you about it, if someone has not already caught it.

C. J. Underhill, San Diego, Calif.

"AUTUMN'S HIDEAWAY IN KAIBAB FOREST" BY RAY MANLEY. Photo was taken in the Kaibab Forest north of Grand Canyon National Park, a short distance from the Park area not far from the road between Jacob Lake and North Rim of the Canyon. This part of the Kaibab Forest is particularly rich in forest verdure. At an elevation of over 8200 ft. the area is delightful in summer and particularly attractive in early autumn when the aspen leaves turn to gold. 5x7 Linhof camera; Daylight Ektachrome; f/16 at 1/50 sec.; 210mm Symmar lens; bright afternoon first week in October.

For many years our readers have greatly admired the photographs of Ray Manley appearing in these pages and rightly so Ray's truly a top-hand with a camera (in 1960 he earned the coveted professional title of Master Photographer). He has always been one of our most valued contributors, his works always adding distinction to our pages.

We often wondered what this native Arizonan would do with his camera if he were given the world as his subject and target. Now we know: Ray Manley's WORLD IN FOCUS is the answer one of the most beautiful books we have seen in a long, long time, a book we are privileged and proud to call to your attention. We would be remiss in our duties if we did not do so.

Ray Manley's WORLD IN FOCUS is a 224-page 12" x 9" (oblong) volume, beautifully produced, with 107 color studies of the most photogenic places in the world, with short, clear, lucid and informative text by world-traveler Eleanor Elliott Ullman describing each scene which was so carefully selected, so carefully portrayed.

Ray Manley, as you know, has gotten around Arizona, but in his WORLD IN FOCUS he has really gotten around the world. To name a few of the fascinating and far off places the book takes us to Argentina, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Japan, Russia, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Iran, Egypt, England, Spain, France, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and Arizona (represented by two lovely studies one of Monument Valley and the other a desert sunset). Just a glance at the index is enough to make a desk-chained landlubber yearn to "take off and git!" And Ray Manley has some good, sound advice for photographers in his book. He tells you the best time for the best photograph, whether a castle in Germany, a lovely lake in Kashmir, a crowded harbor in Hong Kong, Red Square, Moscow, or gardens in Japan!

The book sells for $15.00 (special deluxe edition bound in Thai silka choice of colors: burgundy, green, blue and orange, $20.00). It can be ordered direct from the MKP Press, 238 South Tucson Blvd., Tucson, Arizona 85716. A lot of book for the price and a treasure to own!... R.C.