556 MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
 Carbon Black.—The New Mexico Oil & Gas Engineering Committee stated
in its annual report4 that the two carbon black plants, United Carbon Co.
and Continental Carbon Co., processed 14.6 billion cubic feet of natural
gas to produce 50.1 million pounds of carbon black, slightly lower than in
1966. 
 
 Carbon Dioxide.—Output of carbon dioxide declined slightly. The three
plants in Harding County continued at about the same level of production
as during the previous year, but the plant of Emerald Carbonic Division of
Frick Co., in Union County, was idle. 
 
 Coal.—Continuing to expand, the output of coal increased 26 percent
to 3,463,375 tons; value of production rose 39 percent to $12.6 million.
Three mines were operated in Colfax County, two each in McKinley and San
Juan Counties, and one in Sandoval County. 
 According to the annual report of Utah Construction & Mining Co., coal
was mined at an annual rate of about 2.5 million tons from the open pit Navajo
coal mine near Farmington in San Juan County. The company supplied the coal,
under contract, to the nearby Four Corners powerplant. Construction continued
on two additional power units at the plant. The increased capacity, to be
on stream in 1970, would bring total coal requirements to an annual rate
of 8.5 million tons. For access to the 156inch-thick seam No. 8, more than
11 million tons of overburden had to be removed. 
 Two new generating units being installed at the Four Corners plant are to
be equipped with air pollution control devices costing $4 million. The electrostatic
precipitators will consist of 30-footlong collection plates on which an electric
charge is to be placed. Housed in containers 116 feet long, 25 feet wide,
and 45 feet deep, the charged plates would attract fly ash produced from
burning coal. Following an evaluation at the new units, similar devices may
be added to the three existing power units. 
 At the Navajo mine two 50-cubic-yard draglines are to supplement the existing
45-cubic-yard stripping machine. The company also was evaluating a 30-cubicyard
front-end loader for use in loading coal into 120-ton and 150-ton haulers.

Coal, crushed and stacked at the powerplant. was sold by the million British
thermal units, not by the ton. Expansion at the mine is expected to cost
$30 million; enlargement of the powerplant would require an investment of
$168 million. 
 The first full year of production was recorded at the York Canyon underground
coal mine in Colfax County. Reportedly, coal was to be mined at about 700,000
tons per year from the 84-inch York seam for shipment to the Fontana, Calif.,
steel mill of Kaiser Steel Corp., owner of the mine. Unit trains, each consisting
of about 100 railroad cars, were used to ship the coal. 
 Another principal mine was the McKinley strip mine operated by The Pittsburg
& Midway Coal Mining Co., west of Gallup in McKinley County. The average
thickness of the seam was 72 inches, as was the seam of the Sundance strip
mine east of Gallup. Output from the McKinley mine was purchased by Arizona
Public Service Co. Coal from the Sundance mine was sold in local markets.

 Underground mines, in addition to the York Canyon mine, were the Franks
No. 1 operated by Julius Seidel and the Talbott operated by Talbott Coal
Mine, both in Colfax County; the Padilla operated by Padilla Coal Mine in
Sandoval County; and the Hogback No. 13 operated by Hogback Coal Co. in San
Juan County. The Franks No. 1 and Talhott mines were both in the Sugarite
seam which has a thickness of 36 to 39 inches. 
 
 Helium.—The Federal Bureau of Mines Navajo helium plant at Shiprock,
San Juan County, was the only helium-producing facility in the State. During
1967, the plant produced 71.2 million cubic feet of helium valued at $2.5
million (at the established price of $35 per 1,000 cubic feet, f.o.b. plant
or terminal). The decline in production from the 95.9 million cubic feet
produced in 1966 was due largely to declining productivity of wells in the
Table Mesa field which supplied helium-bearing gas to the plant. 
 Rail shipments of gaseous helium were made from a shipping terminal at Gallup,
connected by pipeline to the plant. Highway semitrailers for transporting

 
 4 New Mexico Oil ~ Gas Engineering Cornmittee, Annual Report, v. 1, 1967,
p. 406.