Oil recovery from bituminous sand

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR THE RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON VALUES FROM NATURALLY-OCCURRING HYDROCARBONACEOUS MINERAL SOLIDS WHEREIN SAID SOLIDS ARE CONTRACTED WITH AN AQUEOUS SODIUM SILICATE SOLUTION AND A HYDROCARBON DILUENT AT A MODERATELY ELEVATED TEMPERATURE FOR A PEROID SUFFICIENT TO REDUCE SAID SOLIDS TO A HOMOGENEOUS PULP, AND SAID PULP IS THEN TREATED TO SEPARATE IT INTO A SOLIDS PHASE AND A LIQUID PHASE COMPRISING LIQUID HYDROCARBONS AND AQUEOUS SODIUM SILICATE, THE METHOD OF EFFECTING SAID SEPERATION TREATMENT WHICH COMPRISES (1) INTRODUCING SAID PULP INTO THE UPPER END OF A CONFINED VERTICALLY ELONGATED SEPERATION ZONE AT A RATE CORRESPONDING TO BETWEEN ABOUT 0.5 AND ABOUT 5 TONS OF SOLID PER HOUR PER SQUARE FOOT OF CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF SAID SEPARATION ZONE, SAID SEPARATION ZONE BEING MAINTAINED FILLED WITH A LIQUID BODY CONSISTING OF LIQUID COMPONENTS OF SAID PULP, (2) ALLOWING THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF SAID PULP TO DESCEND BY GRAVITY DOWN THROUGH SAID LIQUID BODY? (3) DURING THE DESCENT OF SAID SOLIDS THROUGH SAID LIQUID BODY DISTRIBUTING SAID SOLIDS SUB STANTIALLY UNIFORMLY OVER THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF SAID