106 - The International Resource Journal

FEBRUARY 2013 The International Resource Journal157MCW’s oil sands lease site in the prolific Asphalt Ridge region in Utah, prior to its initial developmentChief executive officer Dr Gerry Bailey explainsthe process thus: “It’s a mixture of commonsolvents mixed with the sand. As in simplestrip mining, we just scoop the oil sands materialsoff the surface, combine it with the solvents, andour process extracts more than 99 per cent of thehydrocarbons out of the sand. This entire processis completed in a closed-loop system so the oil andsolvent rise to the top, while the cleaned sand viagravity falls to the column base and is placed backwhere it came from. The solvent is then sent backto a retainer tank for re-use.”The process produces no greenhouse gas,requires no high temperature or pressure, and iscapable of extracting 99 per cent of hydrocarboncontent. It also recycles approximately 99 percent of solvents within the closed loop system.Bailey, a Texan oilman whose resume includesa stint as president of EXXON-ArabianGulf and another in Libya, has a storied backgroundthat has recently provided the inspirationfor a novel.“I saw the potential of MCW’s technologyinstantly,” he says.“I see a lot of technologies cross my desk, butthis one caught my attention because no one todate has been able to extract oil from these oilsands areas with a commercially-viable technology”So confident is Bailey of the technology’sstrengths, he says he sees significant possibility