58 The Inexhaustible Resource of Technology 



grade or concentration of the element. The impact of more detailed 

 knowledge of this matter on potential supply may well be tremen- 

 dous. 



Two examples will illustrate what may be expected with continuing 

 "trace-element" research, especially if it be combined with economic 

 incentive. The first pertains to our domestic resources of uranium. 

 Initially we were essentially dependent upon the high-grade deposits 

 of the Belgian Congo and Canada; these ores contained 20 pounds or 

 more per ton, and the quantities of ore were not impressively large. 

 Recognition of the need for additional supplies at the close of the 

 war led to one of the most extensive and thorough programs of re- 

 search on occurrence and of exploration that has been carried out in 

 recent years. Much of the research was concentrated on phases of 

 trace occurrences of uranium and on factors causing local relative 

 concentrations. It has been phenomenally successful — we now have 

 well-established reserves amounting to approximately 70 million tons 

 of material containing about 5 pounds per ton,^^ and are using new 

 recovery methods that have proved to be entirely satisfactory and are 

 installed in a dozen or so new plants. In addition, there are even 

 larger quantities of phosphate rock containing less than one-half 

 pound per ton, from which uranium can be (and already has been) 

 recovered as a by-product. And finally, there are literally billions of 

 tons of easily mined black shales, containing in the neighborhood of 

 one-tenth of a pound per ton, that constitute a future reserve when, 

 and if, it is needed. Lest this last be dismissed as a completely im- 

 practical source, I will observe that Hubbert calculated the energy 

 value of the uranium in a ton of this average shale as equivalent to 

 that in nearly 1,000 barrels of petroleum.^** 



A second example of a trace-element resource not yet exploited, 

 but which I am convinced will be some day, is the Phosphoria forma- 

 tion, a rock unit of the Rocky Mountain region. It includes, as sepa- 

 rate beds, most of the high-grade phosphate rock in the western 

 United States; and, in addition, it contains significant trace amounts 



^9 Jesse Johnson, "Uranium Production in the United States," address deliv- 

 ered to the 4th Annual Conference of the Atomic Industrial Forum, New 

 York, October 28, 1957. 



20 M. King Hubbert, op. cit., pp. 33-35. 



