- The rock is also mined for deposits of nahcolite and dawsonite, two types of sodium minerals.
- Nahcolite was first described in 1928 for an occurrence in a differentiated alkalic massifs; in fluid inclusions as a daughter mineral phase and in evaporite deposits.
- Shell Oil won three of the leases, to test three different methods, all in Rio Blanco County, Colorado; two of the projects would also recover the sodium mineral nahcolite.
- "We've got a lot of natural gas activity, two nahcolite plants and this, so we're working hard to catch up on our roads, " he added.
- Mineral matter in oil shale contains fine-grained silicate and carbonate minerals such as calcite, dolomite, siderite, quartz, rutile, orthoclase, albite, anorthite, muscovite, amphipole, marcasite, limonite, gypsum, nahcolite, dawsonite and alum.