Asphaltite (also known as uintahite, asphaltum or gilsonite) is a naturally occurring soluble solid hydrocarbon, a form of asphalt (or bitumen) with a relatively high melting temperature. Its mass production occurs in the Uintah Basin of Utah and Colorado, United States. Although the substance has historically been mined in the Uintah Basin, resources are being discovered and more recently mined in other countries such as Colombia and Iran. Gilsonite is mined in underground shafts and looks like a shiny black obsidian. Discovered in the 1860s, it was first introduced about 25 years later by Samuel H. Gilson as an electrical insulator and waterproofing compound.

Gilsonite from the Uinta Formation, Bonanza, Utah

Gilsonite Pahoho Paralava. This remarkable specimen is from Gilsonite that was melted in a wildfire in 2012. When molten, it developed a smooth ridged top surface similar to that of the Pahoehoe basalt lava. On display at the Utah Field House of Natural History.
History

Gilsonite was discovered in the 1860s. By 1888 Samuel H. Gilson started a company to mine the substance, but soon discovered the vein was on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservations. Under great political pressure, Congress removed about 7,000 acres (28 km) from the reservation on May 24, 1888, to allow mining to proceed legally. Gilsonite mining became the first major commercial enterprise in the Uintah Basin, providing much of its initial population growth.

Mining gilsonite during World War II was manual, using a six-pound pick, then the ore was sifted into 200-pound sacks, which were sewn by hand. In 1949, Reed Smoot McConkey set a world record for ore mined by hand at the Parriot Gilsonite mine near Myton, Utah. Using his pick and shovel, he mined 175 sacks of ore in eight hours, 950 sacks in a six-day week, 1925 sacks in a month, and 15,000 sacks in a year.

Early applications of the Gilsonite-brand Uintahite included paint for buggy and emulsion for beer-vat lining. It was used by the Ford Motor Company as a major component of the black lacquer from Japan used on most Ford Model T cars.

Composition
Gilsonite is classified as a soluble material in oil solutions such as CS2 or TCE (trichloroethylene). A major component of gilsonite is carbon; It also contains many other elements, including nitrogen and sulfur and some volatile compounds.

reserve and use
Gilsonite deposits are globally distributed, especially within basins.It has also been found on the dwarf planet Ceres and is predicted to exist on the Mars moon Phobos.

Gilsonite is used in more than 160 products, primarily in dark printing inks and paints, oil well drilling mud and cement, asphalt modifiers, foundry sand additives, and a wide variety of chemical products. The trademark, registered in 1921, belongs to American Gilsonite company which filed for bankruptcy and after admitting re-organization in January 3rd 2017 it seems to emerge from

A common application of gilsonite is bitumen blending. This application is prevalent in countries like China, India and Iran. Known as asphaltite in Turkish, it is burned at Silopi, a coal-fired power station in Turkey.

https://asiagilsonite.com/what-is-gilsonite-and-what-is-it-used-for/

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Pub: 07 Dec 2021 07:57 UTC
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