Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1921-12-16
(From Commercial News)

the course of a special effort to aid the mineral industries to re-establish themselves on a safe business basis to meet the renewed foreign compe- tition and the changed conditions of supply and demand of the postwar period point the way to the possible saving of vast sums through the ap- plication of improved methods in the production of various mineral ma trials, according to H. Foster Bain, director, in his annual report just made to the secretary of the interior.
 An investigation of losses of crude oil through evaporation in storage and transportation, conducted during the year by the bureau, disclosed loss es of startling magnitude. It was found that in the few days in which crude oil is stored on the lease before being taken by the pipeline, the ag- gregate loss per year from evapora- tion amounts to about 122,000,000 gal Ions of gasoline in the Mid Continen- tai field alone. This has a value, at 22cents per gallon, of. $26, $40, ,OOO, and represents about per cent of the total gasoline production in the United States from all fields and all sources. The bureau found that large per cent of this loss could be prevented by the use of efficient equipment.
 The Bureau of Mines has pointed out the considerable losses which have resulted from the failure of many refineries to recover gasoline from uncondensed still vapors. The significance of this investigation is shown by the fact that one refinery in the Mid Continent field is now re- covering from still vapors approxi- mately 400 barrels of gasoline daily that before the installation of thls eouipment was either lost or burned as fuel under the boilers and stills. The value of frationating towers at petroleum refineries, by means Of which some companies have increased the yield of gasoline from crude oil by as much as per cent or 16 2-3 per cent of the total gasoline yield, has been demonstrated.
 Large quantities of gas are now being wasted in the Osage Nation in Oklahoma because of low-pressure conditions, and the Bureau of Mines is Investigating the feasibility of util. izing this waste gas by the use or Iow-pressure burners for oil-flelds boilers. The demand of the export market for "sweet" gasoline led to the development of process for treating gasoline to remove the oo- iectionable sulphur compounds, by which treatment some grades of Am erican gasoline heretofore objection able were made suitable for export.
 Under the arrangement by which supervision of the drilling and pro duction of oil and gas on the pubic lands is vested in the Bureau O. Mines. the bureau has supervision of about 100 producing oil properties which are producing at the rate or about 12,OOO, 900 barrels of oil per an mum. Even at the present reduced price of oil, the government royalty from this should total perhaps $z,- OOO, 1000 per annum. A special process devised at the San Francisco station of the bureau, for cracking heavy oils and tars promises the recovery or large yields of gasoline and other lighter products, hitherto regarded as unrecoverable. Investigations made by the bureau in Colorado and Utah indicate that the oil-shale deposits Of the Rocky Mountain states contain potential fuel supply of almost un- equalled importance.
 The experimental helium plant at Petrolia, Texas, conducted under the authority of the army and navy helium board, was in operation during the year at various times, and helium was produced for short periods. A study of the practicability of storing this rare and non-inflamable gas in mine workings was made at the bureaus experimental coal mine at Bruceton, Pa. At the cryogenic or low-temperature laboratory in Wash ington, D. C., liquid air in quantity is now being produced. The primary object of this laboratory is to investl- gate gases and liquids at low temper atures, with special reference to the separation of helium from natural gas. Field investigations of posslbe supplies of helium in natural gas were completed during the year, every known gas field in the United States having been tested. Resulted were markedly successful, as they have shown that this country contains the largest supply of helium-bearing nat ural gas in the world.
 An investigation of scrap losses in aluminum-alloy foundry practice showed that the annual losses in the United States amount to $1,2OO,OOO and that universal adoption of meth ods recommended by the Bureau of Mines would probably result in saw inp of about $600,000 per annum.