Mechanization Cuts Costs

THE Washington magnesite deposits, located in the hilly and mountainous northeastern part of Washington, occur as massive lenses in a sedimentary series made up of dolomite, shale, and quartzite, into which basic dikes have intruded. The ore pattern resembles a series of disconnected chain links extending approximately 25 miles in a south-west direction. Magnesite in this district is all crystalline and closely associated with dolomite, talc, serpentine, and basic dike rock. All deposits which have been developed are near the surface so that quarry-bench mining has been possible. For over twenty years hand sorting magnesite ore at the quarry face was standard practice. Ore cars were hand trammed on 30-lb rail systems which led from the face to ore passes or raises for the magnesite ore and to the waste dumps for disposal of the rejected waste material. This system was somewhat modified by the use of Dempster Dumpster trucks. The ore was, however, still sorted by hand from the calcium and silica bearing waste rock. Power equipment. consisting of one 3/4-yd electric shovel, was