FLOOD10384 ‎(2)‎

• County: Statewide
• Title: Natural Resources of Colorado
• Date: 1/1/1963
• Prepared By: US Department of the Interior
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

'PEi~';!i Bureau of Mines Programs
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The Bureau of Mines of the Department of
the Interior has many programs in Colorado,
aU designed either to develop the diverse min-
eral resources of the State or to promote safety
and healthful working conditions-particularly
in the mineral industries.
To accomplish these objectives the Bureau
works closely with State officials, with labor,
and with management. It conducts research,
inspects mines, controls fires in inactive coal
deposits, collects statistics, and gives training
courses in mine safety and accident prevention.
All of its major activities within Colorado are
directed from Denver but Bureau programs that
affect Colorado are also conducted at major
research and testing centers outside the State.

Mineral Resource Studies

Bureau studies of Colorado's mineral resources
show how they fit into the broad picture of
the Nation's needs. Location and extent of
the great fuel resources-coal, natural gas,
petroleum, and oil shale-are generally well-
known today as a result of past Bureau investi-
gations. Many recent projects have been de-
signed to correct specific basic deficiencies in
the national inventory, providing data on
resources that must meet future needs of both
the civilian economy and of national defense.
Bureau mining and petroleum engineers con-
tinually update estimates of reserves of each
mineral.
New instruments and new techniques used by
the Bureau have provided new and more accu-
rate information about the metallic and non-
metallic mineral resources of the State. Much
more is now known about tellurium and such

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other exotic metals as beryllium, columbium,
tantalum, cesium, rubidium, and the metals of
the" rare-earth" group. Iron ore deposits have
been reevaluated, as have the State's deposits
of complex minerals combining traces of the
precious metals (gold and silver) with ores of
the base metals (copper, zinc, and lead). Scores
of prospector's samples are examined each year,
and, as a further aid, the Bureau continually
publishes studies of methods and costs of mining
in the State. A field and laboratory survey of
refractory clay resources in Colorado has been
completed and is being extended to neighboring
States. Technical-economic studies of potential
power-generating sites are being conducted in
the coal fields of Weld County.

Mining Research
Scientists of the Denver Mining Research

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