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Gold/Mining/Energy : USEG - Uranium Power Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chuca Marsh who wrote (11)	12/7/2001 7:07:11 AM
From: Chuca Marsh	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 72

The Search Feature of SI will help us understand why we have some old research to bring back. This Dome of Granite that is fractured in the URMP Ft McMurray Permit Block of Claims will help us understanding why the Geology is unique in this area of the world, why Exploration and Upgrading is needed. Why the Hunt Blocks show so much special promise to near surface OIL DEPOSITs must be drilled a little deeper as we INVEST here: Chucka Post New \| Private Msg \| Respond Edit Msg (10 min left) \| < Previous \| Next > Posted by: chucka In reply to: chucka who wrote msg# 6 Date: 12/7/2001 7:03:11 AM Post # of 7 Alot of great Oil Sands DD and Understanding of the SPECIAL GEOLOGY that Fort McMurray and Fort McKay Oil Sands Areas have in Alberta: Last Part: "WHAT ARE THE OIL/TAR SANDS?" Mr Alan Vennix: syncrude.com syncrude.com "Oil sand is composed of sand, bitumen, mineral rich clays and water. Bitumen, in its raw state, is a black, asphalt-like oil — as thick as molasses. It requires upgrading to make it transportable by pipeline and usable by conventional refineries. The upgraded bitumen product consists of naphtha, light and heavy gas oils that are combined to produce a light, sweet crude oil that we call Syncrude Sweet Blend. Water makes up about four percent of the oil sand by weight. It surrounds each grain of sand, keeping it separate from the oil. Without this water envelope, the oil and the sand could not be separated by the water-based extraction methods we now use. According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Alberta's oil sand deposits contain 1.7 trillion to 2.5 trillion barrels of bitumen, of which over 300 billion are recoverable with current technology. The Athasbasca Oil Sands Deposit is, by itself, the largest petroleum resource in the world. Oil sand is visible on the banks of the Athabasca River, north and south of Fort McMurray, but most of the oil sand in the area lies buried 50 metres or deeper under muskeg and overburden. The origin of the oil is a controversial subject among geologists, but the predominant theory is that it evolved in highly organic Cretaceous shales in the southern portion of the Alberta Sedimentary Basin. Underground pressure forced the oil to soak into the existing silt grade sediments and localized sand bodies of the McMurray formation. " Some Interestinf old Research from the Neighbors at the Old SI Board on the Oil Sands Co-Development Parrtners: Message 10151657 or non members: techstocks.com and THIS is a Texas Oil Man bud of mine( Ours on the Threads) who retired last year and wrote this up in 1999: Message 10156450 or techstocks.com IN LAYMAN's TERMS: OIL/TAR SANDS: "" To:Chuca Marsh who wrote (139) From: Alan Vennix Thursday, Jun 17, 1999 10:18 AM View Replies (2) / Respond to of 363 " Chuka, Not sure you're still in need of an answer, and don't follow this thread so I don't know the context in which the question arose, but.....Oil "sands" and oil "shale" differ in somewhat the same manner as "placer" gold and "desert" gold. In oil sands, the oil is still just that, an oil on the same continuum as condensate, light oil and heavy oil, primarily a function of the amount of hydrogen attached to the carbon atoms - the less hydrogen, the "heavier" or more viscous the oil. Oil sands (commonly referred to as "tar sands") contain very viscous oil but it is still technically in liquid form, just so viscous that it doesn't want to drain out from the sand grains that have it entrapped. When it's near to the surface, like at Athabasca, it can be mined and separated mechanically (with the addition of heat) and then hydrogenated to increase it's value. If it's somewhat deeper in the ground, like at Peace River( sic -Arch in Central Alberta up towards a Mid Provincial Fault Area Crossing to the East from the West) or in some California deposits, steam can be injected to "loosen" the oil from the host rock, and then the oil can be piped to special refineries that are designed to treat heavy oils. With oil shale, the "oil", actually a compound of carbon and hysrogen, is chemically bound with the host material and is not a separate phase. It can be treated thermally or chemically to "break" it down and change it's structure and separate it from the inert host rock. As with the oil in tar sands, it may have to be "enhanced" in some manner to increase it's value and make it suitable for traditional refining. Note the similarity (in some ways) to the placer gold situation (might be like the condensate or light oils that separate easily or the more fine gold like on the Carlin trend that takes more effort to remove from the host material, but it's still free gold). On the other hand, the "desert gold" might be more "bound up" with the host material and require different processes to free it up before further refining.This probably goes beyond the concept of your question but it's a slow morning all around<G>. Some of the above is expressed rather simplistically and an "expert" might take exception to some of it, but I tried to answer in layman's terms - since that's what I am at this point. Alan "" investorshub.com Chucka More on my Oil Caviation( Steam Injection to Loosen) Studies in some furthur research.