What is the estimated value of the Uranium deposits in Belmont County and will landowners profit from In Situ Leaching of Uranium?
The USGS reports that Uranium and Thorium are valuable elements with radioactive properties. These elements are known to exist within a variety of minerals in Belmont County.
These elements and their components are used in nuclear energy, technology, industry, medicine, research and war.
The radioactive properties of these elements are desired by many industries, groups, and nations.
The purpose of my post is to suggest that landowners consider the current market value and potential value of each resource, including the elements Uranium, Thorium, and other components and their properties which can be harvested from the surface to the center of the earth.
The informed landowner may then work with an attorney to draft a comprehensive lease which includes provisions to generate a profit from all minerals, elements, metals, chemicals, radioisotopes, ions, and gasses, etc.
According to landowner's in PA , there was so much excitement about the prospect of receiving royalties from natural gas that many did not include a provision for royalties from oil and hydrocarbons in their leasees.
Tunnel vision and pressure to sign a lease eventually created financial problems for the landowners when some oil and gas companies began 'flaming' off the gas at the well in order to harvest the oil. Nothing was paid to the landowner for the oil, and the potential profit from gas royalties went up in smoke.
According to www.world-nuclear.org/education/uranium
"Uranium is mined by in situ leaching (ISL) where it is dissolved by inserting a chemical, usually an acid, into the minerals
underground. This method causes the element uranium to combine with the acid to create a liquid which is then leached out from the surrounding minerals and pumped to the surface. The end product..is Uranium Oxide concentrate (U3O8). This is the form in which Uranium is sold.
Research can help the landowner better understand the obvious and hidden value of resources/assets. Hire an attorney to draft a comprehensive contract with specific language for profit.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Matt on -
A company called Rio Tinto is in wheeling and they told a guy I worked with they are here observing some minerals.
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Permalink Reply by Who is John Galt? on
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Hi Matt,
What information did your co-worker give along with his statement?
HIstorically, What is the purpose or function of the entity, Rio Tinto?
Which minerals are they interested in and
How are they 'observing' these minerals?
Thanks
Karen
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Permalink Reply by Finnbear on
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The speaker did NOT mention that Dick Emens had looked at the lease. There is NO lease document at this point so this would be impossible. It WAS stated at Tuesday's meeting (and also has been at all the past meetings I've attended) that Dick Emens would be paid to advise on whatever lease offer is presented to the board before it is presented to the group. This will be done to ensure that the final lease language reflects all the guidelines the group has set forth and the oil and gas companies have agreed to. He is not on retainer but he is aware that the board will be calling on him to advise them. He has also come to speak to the group at previous meetings in an educational capacity and is well aware of what the group is doing. It was also stated that individuals in the group were encouraged to take whatever lease is finally offered to their attorney for review before they agree to it and sign it.
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Permalink Reply by Finnbear on
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Did you read article 13 (13. Other Minerals Reserved) of those guidelines?
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Permalink Reply by Finnbear on
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So the group is working exactly as it should. Each member can make important contributions through cooperative participation.
Thank you
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Hopefully, the landowners will profit and take measures to avoid being exploited.
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Uranium is not a mineral.
Uranium is an element.
Excluding or reserving the rights to the mineral Uranium is moot.
It is reasonable to presume the legions of attorneys for an oil, gas, or energy company
know the difference and likely argue that the landowner forfeited control and right to profit.
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Permalink Reply by Finnbear on
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I was at the meeting Tuesday and your questions to the group on In Situ Leaching (ISL) of uranium piqued my interest. I am very interested in this topic because of the potential revenue stream it could produce in the future. I believe nuclear energy will play a major part in power generation in the future. I have spent the past few days reading everything I can find on this topic. I also consulted a geologist professor who is a friend of the family. As far as I can tell, the ISL uranium extraction has been done to date was in porous strata (sand and gravel layers) in a relatively shallow aquifer. It has also been done in tapped out uranium mines where conventional mining processes were no longer financially viable. The ISL process usually involves injection wells clustered around an extraction well. An alkaline or acidic reagent is pumped into the injection wells under pressure which then saturates the porous uranium bearing sand and gravel layer. The reagent reacts with the uranium and binds it in solution. The extraction well serves as a pressure relief for the area and then the now uranium rich solution flows up the bore of the extraction well where it is collected and processed to remove the uranium from the solution. This process would likely not work in an impermeable strata like the Marcellus shale because of the limited surface area for leaching contained in an oil and gas well bore and the inability to saturate that strata. ISL is also sometimes done on sloped mine floors where they are flooded with the reagent and then the uranium enriched liquid is collected and pumped from the lowest point to a processing facility where the uranium is removed from the solution. We don't have old mines that deep in OH that bear uranium. If this uranium were present in commercial quantities in the shallower, more porous Clinton or Berea sands, this ISL leaching might have a future in OH, but being a mile below the surface in an impermeable rock layer, it will not be viable any time soon. The design of the ISL process also intentionally pollutes an aquifer with reagents and leached uranium so it can work. It is a very troublesome process in that many of the areas where it has been done have experienced permanently polluted aquifers. With all the concern from the "fractivists" about oil and gas polluting our water, I don't believe this process has a snowball's chance in hell of ever being done in an area as populated as Ohio.
Just as the shale gas that was essentially unobtainable 20 years ago is now the hottest "new" energy source in the eastern US, technology may end up being developed to extract this uranium safely in the future.
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Which agency monitors and controls the levels of radioactive contamination of the soil and water in Belmont County?
What information is available which reports the level of radiation in the water and soil of Belmont County?
Scientific American (Dec. 2007) "Coal Ash is More Radioactive tan Nuclear Waste" www.scientificamerican.com
United States Geological Survey database on coal, uranium, radioactive materials and the effects on humans and the environment
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