Sulfur in West Texas - Its Geology and Economics - 1969

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Other Non-Metals

Zimmerman and Thomas (1969) reported in Bureau of Economic Geology Geological Circular 69-2 that sulfur played an increasingly vital role in American industry and agriculture. The 1966 sulfur shortage motivated a re-evaluation of West Texas geologic and economic potential for sulfur production and a re-examination of its lengthy but spasmodic sulfur history. The occurrence of sulfur in West Texas was first reported in Culberson County in 1854 by William P. Blake, a geologist attached to the War Department. The first detailed investigation of the surface occurrences in Culberson County was made by G. B. Richardson about 1903. According to Richardson, a furnace was constructed in Culberson County about 1900 for extracting sulfur from surface deposits.

Two or three carloads of refined sulfur were shipped before the operations were discontinued. A brief drilling program was conducted by Freeport Sulfur Company in Culberson and Reeves counties during 1948 and 1949 without promising results. In 1967, large scale sulfur exploration began in West Texas after Duval Corporations Frasch pilot operation near Fort Stockton proved successful.

In August of 1967 Elcor Chemical Corporation and its subsidiary, National Sulfur Company, announced plans to construct a facility in Culberson County to extract sulfur from gypsum. Although gypsum-based sulfur plants have been constructed in foreign areas where sulfur is a high-cost, high-producing commodity, the Elcor facility is the first domestic operation to undertake commercial extraction of sulfur from gypsum. The plant, known as the Rock House Facility, was scheduled to start operation early in 1969 at a production rate of 1,000 tons of sulfur per day.

Traditionally, sulfur exploration has come to West Texas only during times of short supply and higher prices. Attractive prices more than any other factor cause exploration. Nothing seems to fire the prospecting zeal of the explorationist more quickly than a price increase.

[An example of Duval sulfur in bedded carbonate from West Texas (here).]

Original URL: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/77893/txu-oclc-33204.pdf?sequence=1