Nepheline Printer Friendly Report
Nepheline Summary
Nepheline Syenite is a rare igneous rock that, although resembling medium-grained granite in texture, consists principally of nepheline and alkali feldspars.
The name sounds ominous but the mineral is not related to cyanide, nor is it poisonous. In fact, Nepheline Syenite is a very beneficial element. It is a Swiss Army Knife mineral whose usefulness keeps expanding. In 1957 there were eleven separate commercial uses identified as the manufacture of glass, ceramics, roofing granules, rock wool insulation. Today, it is a challenge keeping up with all the uses for this material.
Since the mineral is 75 to 80% pure feldspar, there are a number of companies developing proprietary space-age epoxy and resin systems utilizing the unique qualities of Nepheline Syenite. One such project under way is working on replacing steel railroad coal cars with a molded feldspar body 1/3 the weight.
Today researchers at the University of Toronto, and Hanford Washington, are working on nepheline syenite use in the manufacturing of steel, and the transportation of nuclear waste.
The deposit detailed in this report is located at Table Mountain, Lincoln County, Oregon. Aptly named, Table Mountain is a plateau of 2,700 feet in altitude, in the Siuislaw National Forest. A good stand of Douglas fir and the presence of two natural springs provide a picturesque setting. On a clear day the ocean, 12 miles away, is visible.
The deposit is covered both by 32 lode claims, for a total area of 640 acres. The only known besides Table Mountaindeposits in North America are located at Blue Mountain, Ontario (owned by Indusmin Ltd., a division of Falconbridge Ltd.), at Magnet Cove in Arkansas along with a new deposit located in New Mexico (owned by 3M). Worldwide, other deposits are located in Norway (recently purchased by Indusmin, Ltd.), Russia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Pakistan.
Nepheline Location
The claims may be found 15 miles (direct) from Newport/Toledo, or 12 miles NW (direct) from Waldport, on the scenic Oregon Coast, which is itself 135 miles SW from Portland, Oregon.
By road the distances are 25 miles from either point, with the best all weather route being a paved highway from Waldport for 20 miles, and U.S. Forest Service road for 8 miles, of which the last three miles are gravel.
There is a railhead and sea-going barge loading facility at Toledo, only 15 miles away, which could be accessed via a private logging road.Table Mountain, as shown here on the horizon above Yaquina Bay (with nepheline syenite rip rap) at Newport Oregon, 114 highway miles from Portland, Oregon.
From Oregon Highway 34, turn north on FS 52, which is blacktopped for the first 5 miles.
Turn north again at the junction of 5200, and continue on for 3 miles on gravel (crushed nepheline syenite) to the claim boundry.
USGS Aerial PhotographNotice that when this photo is overlayed with a USGS topo map that the roads and quarry are in the same position. The northern claim line is clearly exposed by the forest clearcut.Altitude 2752.
The view west from Table Mountain showing the bridge crossing the Alsea River at Waldport. The forest lands adjacent to the claims are USFS property and Georgia Pacific holdings.
The Nepheline Deposit
Figured very conservatively the Table Mountain claims cover a deposit that contains 26 million tons of measured reserves of recoverable nepheline syenite, out of a total volume indicated to be 525 million tons.
Evaluations of this deposit were made following the guidelines published by the U.S. Geological Survey (Circular 831) defining:
Measured Resources: Where grade, quality, is known, and the quantity is computed from specific geologic evidence and dimensions revealed in outcrops, trenches, workings, or drill holes.
Indicated Resources: Where quantity is computed from grade and quality information similar to that used for measured resources, with an assumed continuity between points of observation.
According to Bulletin 81 (1973) Environmental Geology of Lincoln County, Oregon, by the Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries, and Henry Harris (1962) Economics of Coast Range Igneous Rocks in Oregon, U.S. Bureau of Mines unpublished report, the deposit is 300 feet thick, and covers one square mile see map at right showing deposit outline.
The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries Bulletin assumes, from the vertical relief of the deposit (ie: the elevation difference from outcrops on the top of the mountain, to the bottom of the exposure, adjusted for the angle of the slope), an indicated total of 700 million tons of recoverable syenite.
An adjustment was made in measuring the total reserves to compensate for the fact that a portion of the deposit is on a section (36) set aside as State of Oregon School Lands, and as such is not open to mineral entry.
The Table Mountain claims cover approximately 75% of the mineral deposit, which is the figure used to compute the total of 26 million tons of measured recoverable nepheline syenite, and 525,000,000 indicated tons of recoverable nepheline syenite.
According to Bulletin 81 (1973) Environmental Geology of Lincoln County, Oregon, by the Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries, and Henry Harris (1962) Economics of Coast Range Igneous Rocks in Oregon, U.S. Bureau of Mines unpublished report, the deposit is 300 feet thick.
The U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 840, which features the Table Mountain nepheline, suggests the deposit may be 400 feet thick.
Using this higher number the measured quantity would be closer to 35 million tons, and the indicated quantity would be in the 700 million ton range.
The legnth x width was mapped by measuring the distance between natual exposures, road cuts, and outcrops. At the widest the outside distance pushes 4,000 feet across.
The measured tonnage figure was calculated using a depth of only 15 feet across this area as proven. There are numerous natural exposures, and man made exposures across an area of 4,000 feet in excess of 15 feet. that show the material nepheline syenite in place.
The Nepheline Material
The Table Mountain nepheline has a Mohs Scale hardness of 6, a specific gravity of 2.57, and an average weight of 160 pounds per cubic foot.
U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 840, and the State of Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries Bulletin 81 show that the unprocessed material from Table Mountain consists of: SiO2 (silica) 59.62% AL2O3 (alumina) 18.60% Fe2O2 (Ferric Oxide) 02.86%
The composition of commercially processed Grade A nepheline is: SiO2 (silica) 60.04% AL2O3 (alumina) 23.06% Fe2O2 (Ferric Oxide) 00.08% supposedly a limiting factor in utilizing the Table Mountain material, as is, in the production of clear glass and ceramic items has been the high iron content. The discoloration caused by the iron is not a factor in beer and wine bottles.
Recent mill tests show the removal of iron not to be a problem at all. And a higher iron content has been shown to be desirable in roofing granules in that the impurity filters UV rays.
The main competitor in North America, the Blue Mountain, Ontario deposit owned by Indusmin Ltd, operates on raw material that contains 2% ferric oxide. After processing, this waste is sold as 56% Fe.Besides the iron content, other factors limiting utilization of the Table Mountain material such as rock wool, and alumina, and extenders only seem to be location, and the initial cost of developing production.
USES
The material, due to the size of blocks and hardness of the rock, makes a good jettystone. And, as the light to medium gray (with a blue tint) granite-like rock takes a good polish, displaying a soft cloud-like effect, nepheline syenite material is a desirable dimension stone for building facing, memorials, and floor tiles.
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals states that the nepheline syenite quarried at Magnet Cove, Arkansas, is an excellent building stone.
The production of nepheline syenite to date from Table Mountain has been jetty stone and road material.
Nepheline Syenite Claims
Certificates of Location are on file at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Book 320, Pages 0463 to 0495.
The Oregon Office of the Bureau of Land Management also has claim documents on file.
Claim Stakes
The claim pattern was laid out to accommodate the future patent process, once the claims are put into production. This is a procedure where the land is purchased in fee simple from the goverment.
Nepheline Development
The Table Mountain claims are owned by Barry Murray, who is at present compiling an operating plan to file with the U.S. Forest Service when development is funded.
As the USFS has been quarrying and crushing some of the material on site for road gravel, it is not expected that environmental issues will be used as an excuse to slow development of this operation.
Murray will consider contracting for delivery of material once an operating permit has been granted, but would much rather lease/sell the deposit to another company.
As mentioned, the property is accesable to within five miles of the quarry on paved road which is rather curvy and narrow in places with the remainder being an all weather gravel (read crushed nepheline syenite) road.
A stroke of luck, as far as mining properties go, is that as Table Mountain also hosts a microwave repeater station, there also is an electric line (buried) coming in from the Toledo side. A microwave relay station on the top of Table Mountain is powered by electricity brought in, underground, from Toledo.
The ideal scenario would be to do the preliminary crushing of the nepheline syenite on the mountain and having the haul trucks on a continious circle, climbing the Waldport side of the mountain, descending via the Georgia Pacific road to Toledo for shipping by barge or rail in the raw state to customers as Coors, or for refinement to a higher priced material.
Toledo has much to offer as a manufacturing/warehouse site. Being the region is financially depressed due to a cutback in timber operations there are federal, state, and local monies available to subsidize any sort of endeavor that would retrain ex-millworkers into rock polishers, for one example.
The Oregon and Lincoln County Economic Development Comission, working with the City of Toledo have offered a very favorable long term lease on the industrial site pictured here, with possibly a built-to-suit package.
A panorama of the industrial site offered by the City of Toledo. Note that both barge and rail transportation are available. The plant in the backgroud is a Georgia-Pacific pulp operation. As one of the uses for nepheline syenite is as a paper filler, delivery to this plant would not be that difficult.
Though Table Mountain is solid, there is a good artesian spring flowing two claim legnths up the road from from the southern claim boundry line. The Forest Service has a reservoir and spigot accessable by truck.
The USFS for years has been crushing Table Mountain nepheline syenite for use as road gravel. As any mining opperation, with the exception of dimension stone quarrying, would also start with crushing, it follows that the use permit precident has been set.
Nepheline Marketing
Recent benification testing of the Table Mountain nepheline for use of the material in clear glass has been successful and this opens the way to competiting with manufactured soda ash.
Nepheline syenite is a unique and desirable replacement material for manufactured soda ash in the manufacture of ceramics and glass allowing for a thinner, stronger, lighter weight bottle. As nepheline syenite has a lower fusing point the energy cost is less.
Nepheline also is a superior material for use in building the nuclear waste disposal "glass logs" Westinghouse has been working on at Hanford, Washington, 300 miles away.
Even so, the price paid for nepheline syenite used in manufacturing glass has historically been driven by the competitive cost of soda ash. In 1993 US consumption of soda ash was 10.1 million tons, at an average price of $98 per ton, bulk, carload lot, FOB. The historic low in the last 20 years for same was $61.00 per ton.
Considering that a gold assay of $40 per ton is enough to spark a rush, this 10 million ton market has to be considered a bonanza.
Nepheline in the manufacture of insulation materials such as roofing granules with an R factor and rock wool insulation, and in foam carpet backing. It also may be used in industrial pollution control ,and of as a filler for the manafactue of ceramics, and paper,
The presence of iron is a plus when the material is used in tab roofing in that the dyes are less prone to fading. As there are a couple of roofing manufactures in Oregon, and the cost to develop this market minimal, it is suggested roofing granuales be the first commerical product.
Nephelines use in plastic extenders and resin systems that have the strength of steel, but not the weight, and in space-age paints is perhaps the most exciting developements laterly. Specialized marine paints have been making use of the glass-like qualities of to protect ships from corrosion, and to save fuel.
According to the British Geological Survey, gross production of nepheline syenite worldwide for such uses for the year 1987 was: USSR 1,900,000 tons Canada 900,000 tons Norway 350,000 tons Prices for Canadian ceramic grade nepheline syenite listed in Industrial Minerals (London) in December 1987, were $66 per ton for, 200 mesh, bagged; and $99 per ton for filler-extender grade, bagged. Prices in the very new future are expected to soar.
Nepheline syenite is finding applications as a replacement for quartz silica, it may be suitable for steel, and much interest in using nepheline in the glass containers used to transport nuclear waste has been shown by a number of reasearchers.
A market that should not be overlooked, due to the West Coast location versus shipping from Vermont and Georgia, is that granite dimension stone prices in 1987 averaged $34 a ton for irregular-shaped stone and rubble, and $343 per ton for dressed slabs and blocks for buildings. In 1987 a total of $107,056,000 worth of dimension granite was sold in the United States, at an average value of $170 per ton, or $0.66 per cubic foot.
As the recorded production of all dimension stones for the Pacific Northwest in 1987 was only 297 tons, compared with 466,739 tons total from Georgia, Indiana, and Vermont location may be a positive factor.
An interesting aside, considering location and ease of shipping, is that in 1987, according to the Bureau of Census, 31,320 tons of rough granite was exported from the U. S. (primarily from Vermont and Georgia) to Japan for finishing into the gray monuments that are used exclusively throughout that country in place of marble headstones. The value of this material was $4,478,760, at $143 per ton.
Nepheline Prospect Evaluation
Placing a value on the Table Mountain deposit is a difficult task. If the material was only worth one penny per ton, then the worth would be $5.25 million. If considering that the lowest price/use of this material was reported to be $16 per ton in 1983 (Lincoln County study), then the total estimated gross value of the indicated volume of nepheline syenite for industrial use would be $ 8.4 billion. Comparing that $16 per ton figure with other prices listed in this report is even more dramatic.
How about a low end formula? Dunkin Ogden, an expert on the appraisal of rock quarries currently in the employ of Vermont Marble Co., states that any dimensional rock quarry where the material is measured in place, has a value of 15¢ per cubic foot. Checking with others has shown this formula is considered to be a viable low-end figure and a non-metallic industry standard. While it is true that 15¢ per cubic foot is only $1.88 per ton, which certainty leaves a lot of room for production when compared with the $34 a ton price for irregular-shaped stone and rubble, this formula does return a healthy value of $49,218,750 total value for the workable deposit for building stone.
For a mind boggling total consider that finished tiles return something in the range of $500 per ton. Multiplying 525 million tons of material times $500 per ton caculates to $262 billion.
However, in keeping within the guidelines suggested by the U. S. Geological Survey that defines a mineral resource as: "A concentration of naturally occurring material in or on the earths crust in such form and amount that economic extraction of a commodity from the concentration is currently or potentially feasible."
In the PDF documentation section of this report is a fax cover sheet from Adolph Coors Company requesting a quote for nepheline syenite that suggests they use 23 tons per day in the manufacture of beer bottles. Twenty-three tons a day, times the historic low for soda ash of $61.00 per ton, bulk, carlot, FOB, adds to $353,556 per year for this one potential customer.
The cost for production is shaping up to be, through bids from turn-key operators to mine the open-pit material, crush same, and haul it off the mountain for grinding, is $15 per ton.
The cost to process the raw nepheline syenite into commercial grades some that fetch to $200-300 per ton is still under study. The ball park figure for process to glass grade seems to be not more than $10 per ton. Add $5 for company overhead for or a total of $30, which on the low end figure would leave $30 per ton, net, for sale for glass grade use.
As mentioned, in 1993 US consumption of soda ash was 10.1 million tons. If this operation could grab just 5% market share (550,000 tons) that $30 would compute to $16,500,000 net per year for soda ash production alone. Double the market share for soda ash to 1.1 million tons per year and it still would take 477 years to deplete this deposit.
Sherwin Williams asked for a quotation on filler material to Baltimore, MD; Garland, TX; Morrow, GA; Newark, NJ; and Oakland, CA, by truckload. What that contract would total is unknown. Or, what the roofing granule market would return when a new supply closer to manufacturing in the Far West was offered.
As the Canadian supplier of nepheline syenite for many years is switching operations to Norway, a number of potential customers have been calling to inquire when this property may be in production.
A custom miller in Nevada has shown that he can dial in any grade specification, it seems the only thing holding this property back is the capital needed to file permiting, and pay for initial mining/stockpiling of material.s
The Table Mountain Nepheline Syenite claims have in the past been offered for outright sale for $5 million dollars US with a 1% continuing GS royalty.
With 100% control, I am the only person you would need to talk to. Call me, Barry Murray at 503/753-5868.
Nepheline Documentation
3) Feldspar and Nepheline Syenite Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1994
4) Soda Ash Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1995
5) Dimension Stone Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1985
6) Marketing Data Coors Beer, Sherman Williams, United Minerals
NephelineSyenite.com, an HTML version of this site can be seen of the Lincoln County, Oregon nepheline syenite property for sale, lease or joint venture.