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C-13 002972 probably for about the next one thousand years, or what we would say is the probable use here in the United States. It may be 300 years for world use. The mineral itself fa derived from ancient lakes, very extensive ones that existed in Colorado, Utah, and the Wyoming corner area, about 50 million years ago. Those lakes progressed from fresh water to saline water, and eventually had a whole series of parts that ranged in incre- ments from 4,500 feet deep to about 50 feet deep in the present geologi- cal strata. The minerals that exist now are about 90 percent sodium carbonate and about 10 percent impurities. Here again, nature was very kind to us. That material waa absolutely water soluble except for those 10 percent impurities. In many areas, where this material is found on the surface, it was probably lost to the oceans since the natural water flows leach it out and take it away from any future use. It is readily isolated from water or a through perculation or artesian effect. You may hear the term "solar ash." This refer to sodium carbonate. Before I go any further, I should say that I represent FMC Corporation. I hope I am speaking for the Trona industry today. We work rather closely together and there are a number of companies that are involved in this operation, we are all in the immediate area. I use the word "unique," as far as the deposit; it is unique from the standpoint that flowing available water is near most of the mineral deposit. It is also unique in fact that most of the companies in this business are performing almost the same operation within a raduis of about 15 miles. It makes a rather interesting community where you have top competitors in the business world who live and work in such a con- fined area. Here in the southwestern part of Wyoming, south of the Green River, is the commercial Trona area. It is about 25 miles wide and 40 miles long. The USGS has identified 44 beds in the Trona Basin which are considered to be economic. These are not continuous in contrast to the Great Salt Lake deposits, as I said before, the deposits vary from 700 to 4,500 feet underground. They look like shingles on a house, they are stag- gered. If you could imagine poodles dried up on the surface of the land with the bottom of the pool the last thing to have the silt in it. That is what this deposit was except that it was salt. Trona is mined underground at about 1,500 feet. This is not deep by many standards but it is deep when you are trying to get a high degree of extraction. Conventional mining methods are used; i.e., the historical methods of blasting and shoveling. Most of our equipment is electric. After we get the ore to the surface, the processing from a chemical technology standpoint ia extremely simple. There are a lot of tricks to it but it is simple by definition. All we have to do is modular