Laserfiche WebLink
T( <br />Production Wells <br /> <br />onductive Heating and <br />Oil Shale Conversion <br />Figure 1. Electrofrac Process Schematic. <br />2. FIELD RESEARCH SITE <br />Electrofrac field research is being conducted at <br />ExxonMobil's Colony Mine, twelve miles north of <br />Parachute, in northwest Colorado. The location is <br />shown in Figure 2. Experiments are being run in <br />what was intended to be the commercial mine at <br />Colony. In the early 1980s, the mine bench and <br />several initial mine tunnels were constructed. The <br />mine bench provides a large working surface at <br />the level of the Mahogany oil shale, approximately <br />7080 feet above sea level. <br />Figure 3 shows the physical layout at Colony. The <br />mine tunnels, or drifts, enter the Mahogany zone <br />horizontally. Both drifts go in about 250 ft and <br />are connected by a crosscut tunnel that also <br />intersects the tunnel labeled "incline" and <br />"decline." This inclined tunnel was constructed as <br />a coarse-ore conveyer tunnel, intended to transfer <br />ore through the mountain. ExxonMobil maintains <br />a 300-foot section of this tunnel, along with the <br />two drifts and the crosscut as a work area for <br />Electrofrac experiments. The color shading in the <br />lower right image of Figure 3 displays the <br />topography above the mine tunnels in feet above <br />sea level. <br />29th Oil Shale Symposium Page 2 of 13 October 19-23, 2009 <br />Electrically Conductive Material <br />Figure 2. Location of ExxonMobil's Colony Mine.