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OfJQ:!S3 . . . CHAPrER I SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS be ~ith deposits else~here cannot be foretold. Consequently a reliable estimate cannot be made of future ore production in the area. A quali- fied estimate suggested by personnel of the Bureau of Mines is that pro- duction could advance to about 13 million tons annually by 1990 and then decline to about 7 million tons annually as breeder reactors come into use. Potash The Cane Creek Mine of the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, ~hich began operating near Moab in 1964, produced 450,000 tons of muriate of potash in 1967. The con~any plans to increase production ~ith present facili- ties to 550,000 tons annually, or about 9 percent of the nation's output. About 95 percent of the potash produced in the United States is used as fertilizer. Its increasing use is an important factor in the higher crop output per acre that has characterized American agriculture in recent decades. Market economists estimate demand for potash ~ill increase by as much as 200 percent by 1980. Increases in domestic production capacity have more than kept pace ~ith the increasing use, and a number of mines in the United States have been temporarily closed because of oversupply. The bedded potash reserve in the Paradox formation ~ithiil and adja- cent to the San Jua!l study area is one of the largest in the United States. The kno~n reserve in the area above an economic cutoff depth of 4,000 feet is 254 million tons, and an additional 161 million tons are inferred. In the Permian Basin of New Mexico, the source of 94 percent of the United States production in 1964, the known reserve is 85 million tons and the inferred reserve, 400 million tons. These t~o large domestic reserves are small, however, in comparison ~ith the Saskatche~an, Canada, deposit estimated at 17,500 million tons, of which 6,400 million tons are con- sidered to be recoverable. Unlike the flat-lying potash salt deposits of Ne~ Mexico and Sas- katchewan, the Paradox Basin beds have been subject to major and minor folding and consequent flowage and contortion. These structural complex- ities peculiar to the Paradox Basin are a formidable barrier to explora- tion and increase mining costs. Canadian interests are proposing to employ solution-type mlnlng and pipeline transport to various points in the United States. If solution mining proves successful, it could be used in many areas in the Paradox Basin. Problems may be encountered, ho~ever, in obtaining sufficient water, and the process rr~y not lend itself to the folded and contorted phosphate beds. The Cane Creek Mine should be gro~ing phosphate market because of ern equipment, richness of its ore, able to successfully compete in a its highly mechanized operation, mod- and its favorable location with 8