The Blue Mountains, Joadja and the historically mined deposits are not viable and have not been since they were closed.Quote:
Originally Posted by frantic
The US deposits in the Green River Tri-State (Wyoming, Utah, Colorado) deposit are enormous (and yes, mostly on Federal owned land for strategic reasons) - recoverable oil is probably more than the Middle East.
In Australia the most likely usable deposit is at Julia Creek in Queensland, probably even bigger than the Green River deposit:
Australia Oil Shale Deposits | Map, Geology & Resources
It has few neighbours to be too affected and it still is not viable and would probably initially be an open-cut mine with nearby processing. By-products of uranium and vanadium are a bonus. Elsewhere in Qld the Gladstone operation proved it could be done - but not economically.
In the first oil crisis (actually a price crisis) over thirty years ago there was significant work done on coal/oil conversion and particularly on ethanol as a fuel extender using sugar cane and cassava. The OPEC cartel kept tabs on this research around the world and kept their price lower than the economic cost of the alternatives - witness the drop in crude prices by the mid-80s.
The fact that there are now these alternatives (besides coal and uranium) has since kept OPEC more reasonable.
Maybe someone still in the industry can add more.
Bob
