Cover: The Effects of Lease Size on Yields from Oil Shale Surface Mines
Read Online

The Effects of Lease Size on Yields from Oil Shale Surface Mines

by Richard Y. Pei, David Rubenson

Download

Download eBook for Free

FormatFile SizeNotes
PDF file 1 MB

Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience.

Purchase

Purchase Print Copy

 FormatList Price Price
Add to Cart Paperback40 pages $23.00 $18.40 20% Web Discount

This Note examines the effects of lease size and waste disposal policy on the amount of oil shale that can be recovered from an open pit mine. It also considers process facilities and waste disposal, and assesses the effects of federal leasing policy on the long-term potential of oil shale. The relation between lease size and resource recovery depends on several factors, many of which are sensitive to specific lease conditions. Nonetheless, this study shows that an understanding of that relation can be obtained through geometrical analysis of an open pit mine. The analysis shows that existing regulations limit the amount of recoverable oil shale to no more than 20 percent of the resource in place. Significantly larger yields can be obtained in allowing larger leases or by maintaining existing lease size and allowing off-site disposal of wastes.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Note series. The note was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1979 to 1993 that reported other outputs of sponsored research for general distribution.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.