[Vision2020] Nils, on water and mines Part Two

[Phil Nisbet]

Nils

Part two

So the question of water in the Eastern Portions of Latah County that 
contain industrial mineral resources comes down to how much water is 
required, not if the water is available.  In order to determine that, you 
require knowing the extent or scope of the mineral deposits and the extent 
and scope of potential extraction activities.

So, how big is the resource in the Helmer Bovill area?

The United States Geological Survey in its work on the deposits of the area 
suggests that hundreds of millions of tons of clay occur as a global 
resource within the Helmer embayment and that further clay resources are 
contained in residual granitic materials in the area.  So the deposits could 
supply world wide kaolin demand for hundreds of years, though it should be 
remembered that transportation limits the market area for clay products from 
Latah County to a much smaller portion of the global market.

Deposits of the size of the Helmer embayment tend to operate for hundreds to 
thousands of years, each supplying local and regional market with ceramic 
and filler raw materials.  The Devon Region in England has been turning out 
high quality clay for over three hundred years and the Kaolin region of 
China has been producing clay for 2,500 years, each supplying a fairly large 
regional market.

The regional market for Latah clay is the Western portions of North America 
and hopefully also a supply of high quality finished products made right in 
Latah County.  That limits the size of the demand at peak use to a small 
part of what is used world wide.  Previous mining of half a century ago from 
the area had a maximum annual production rate of 150,000 tons a year.  The 
markets have grown since that time, but not more than a few fold of an 
increase.  So let us assume for a second that if the area was in production 
and was to supply everybody in its market area, the deposits of Helmer 
Bovill were to turn out half a million tons a year of ceramics and filler 
minerals.  That would give the deposits out there a life of perhaps a 
thousand years, not exactly a flash in the pan kind of industry.

The water to operate at that kind of scale, a scale I might point out is 
highly hypothetical and a maximum of potential would require a lake about a 
third of the size of the Moose Creek Reservoir, about 60 million gallons of 
water.  That is a fraction of a percent of the water that is part of the 
hydrological budget for the Helmer Embayment.  And that water is not lost to 
the system nor is it contaminated in the process, simply used and returned 
following use with a process lose to evapotranspiration and processing 
evaporation of about 10%.

What I am suggesting here, is if we plan properly and require good 
conservation of water assets, a mineral industry in Eastern Latah County 
does not need to be highly water impactive and will not strain the available 
water supply of that area.

So, water is not the principle concern, however, extractive activity is also 
one of the things you were worried about and it too should be dealt with in 
a dialogue.

(Part three to come)

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