888 
MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
to depend on an economical direct-reducing process for a highly concentrated,
pelletized, furnace feed combined with development of lower cost transportation.
In Albany County, the Bureau of Mnes also estimated an excess of 100 million
tons of titaniferous magnetite that would, however, require additional beneficiation
research before becoming an economical source of iron. 
 
 Uranuim.—A 1-percent increase, both in output and value, was recorded
for uranium. Recoverable uranium oxide, from 1.3 million tons of crude ore
mined at 45 operations in five counties, was 4.7 million pounds valued at
$37.2 million; mined ore was processed at five mills in Wyoming and one mill
in South Dakota. 
 With over 60,000 claims staked in 1967, claim staking for uranium was the
highest since the early 1950's. North of Douglas, more than 10,000 claims
were staked by large and small companies active in uranium mining. Among
the larger companies involved were Kerr-McGee Corp., Humble Oil & Refining
Co., Homestake Mining Co., and Union Pacific Railroad Co. At least 40 drilling
rigs were used in the area for validation and exploration work, drilling
to over 700-foot depths. 
 More than 6,000 claims were filed in Fremont County during October; yearly
total for the county was nearly 20,000 claims. Three personis filed more
than 2,400 claims in 1 day. Of the 6,000 claims, 1,450 were lode claims and
986 were placer-type claims covering a quarter section of la~nd each. Most
of the claims were in the Gas Hills area. 
 Over 8,000 claims were filed in Natrona County; 553 were filed in 1 day
in June; over 1,700 were filed during October. In December, 210 claims were
filed for an area 10 miles northwest of Hiland. In Sweetwater County, Western
Nuclear filed 745 lode claims, Kerr-McGee 366, and Bill Harris 310 claims;
yearly total was 12,120 claims. Climax Uranium Co. Unit, Amax Nuclear Division,
American Metal Climax, Inc., filed 450 claims in the Copper Lake area of
Albany County. In Weston County, 287 claims were recorded in a 4-month period.
Both Niobrara and Crook Counties were behind on recording uranium filings
at yearend; in 1 day, over 800 claims were received in Niobrara County. Exploration
diamond, rotary, and 
percussion drilling for validation and exploration totaled over 4.8 million
feet for the year. 
 The Shoshone and Arapahoe Indian Councils opened bids for 10 tracts of land
on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Bidders were Continental Oil Co. (Conoco)
on tract 1 at $0.33 per acre for 21,000 acres; the Tidewater Oil Co.-Getty
Oil Co.-Skelly Oil Co. combination at $2.00 per acre and Conoco at $0.33
per acre on tract 2, 22,600 acres; Newmont Exploration, Ltd., on tract 3
at $0.45 per acre for 20,100 acres; Climax Uranium Co. on tract 4 at $1.63
per acre for 20,300 acres; and Tidewater-Getty-Skelly at $0.93 per acre and
Conoco at $0.33 per acre on tract 6, 22,600 acres. No bids were received
for tract 5, 22,800 acres; tract 7, 22,500 acres; tract 8, 23,000 acres;
tract 9, 23,000 acres; or tract 10, 22,800 acres. Prospecting permits were
to be awarded to the highest bidder; successful holders were to have 2 years
to exercise option to lease 2,560 contiguous-acre groups at $1 per acre.
The tribes would receive royalties from any mineral production on leased
Reservation lands. 
 Federal American Partners phased out the Sagebrush 3-Tablestake 1 pits in
the Gas Hills and were to phase out the Loco C and D pits by late January
1968. The company was to start stripping the new Clyde A—2C pit in
November on a doubleshift basis. Federal Resources Corp. announced that Federal
American contracted to supply Babcock & Wilcox Co. of Lynchburg, Va.,
with more than $4.5 million of uranium concentrate to be delivered in increments
from mid-1967 to mid-1970; the contract, in conjunction with shipments to
AEC, was to continue until 1970. Under a private contract until May 1968,
or until 50,000 tons of ore was delivered, Federal American was to purchase
uranium ore, not under AEC contracting, from Green Mountain Uranium Corp.
which is gradually phasing out its mining property in the Crooks Gap area
by retreating, pulling pillars, and recovering a number of small pockets
of ore left ' ~ during previous mining. Part of the concentrate recovered
under the contract was to be used to fulfill the Babcock & Wilcox Co.
sale. 
 From the merger with Four Corners Oil & Minerals Co., Consolidated Oil
& Gas, 
Inc., acquired 5,600 acres of uranium ~