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<br />TABLE 2. - Minerals produced in Dolores River basin counties in 1972
<br />
<br />County Minerals produced in order of value
<br />
<br />Total value
<br />
<br />Dolores:...... Petroleum, copper, silver, natural gas,
<br />lead, stone, zinc, gold.
<br />Mesa,......... Sand and gravel, uranium, vanadium,
<br />natural gas, natural gas liquids, coal,
<br />stone.
<br />Montezuma..... Petroleum, sand and gravel, natural gas,
<br />carbon dioxide, stone.
<br />Montrose...... Vanadium, uranium, coal, sand and gravel,
<br />salt.
<br />San Miguel.... Vanadium, zinc, uranium, lead, copper,
<br />gold, silver, natural gas, sand and
<br />gravel, petroleum, stone.
<br />Grand......... Potassium, salts, natural gas, uranium,
<br />petroleum, vanadium, sand and gravel.
<br />San Juan...... Petroleum, uranium, natural gas liquids,
<br />copper, natural gas, vanadium.
<br />
<br />$945,000
<br />
<br />3,965,000
<br />
<br />1,021,000
<br />
<br />6,845,000
<br />
<br />19,297,000
<br />
<br />4,594,000
<br />
<br />56,187,000
<br />
<br />92,854,000
<br />
<br />Source: u.S. Bureau of Mines, Minerals Yearbook, Volume II, 1972,
<br />805 pp.
<br />
<br />Petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids accounted for
<br />
<br />approximately half of total mineral value in the Dolores .River basin
<br />
<br />counties in the late 1960's and early 1970's. Much of the oil production
<br />
<br />was from the Four Corners region outside the hydrologic boundar; of the
<br />
<br />basin. In contrast, essentially all of the metals produced are recovered
<br />
<br />from mines within the hydrologic boundary, and almost all are produced
<br />
<br />in the Colorado counties. Table 3 lists this metal-production data for
<br />
<br />1972.
<br />
<br />The significance of the basin's metal contribution to Colorado's
<br />
<br />mineral industry is apparent: the seven listed metals represented 18 to
<br />
<br />82 percent of the State's total output. Moreover, from a wider viewpoint,
<br />
<br />27 percent of the Nation's vanadium production was from the basin's
<br />
<br />mines.
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