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By C. S. Anderson

GEORGIA, since 1829, has produced nearly $18,000,000 from her gold mines, but in late years the output has dwindled to insignificance. In view of present universal efforts to increase gold production, it seems pertinent to record some recent observations in that field, briefly review its past and weigh probabilities of reviving gold mining there. Little in this paper can be claimed as new or original, and it does not present results of a detailed or profound investigation of the whole region. The Allatoona gold mine was reopened in January, 1932, and explored at greater depth during the period from January to June of that year. A number of other abandoned mines were visited, but since the workings, in common with most such mines in Georgia, were flooded or caved, underground conditions could not be examined. For a wider knowl-edge of the subject, a search was made through available pertinent literature and statistics, a bibliography of which is appended hereto. To all the sources obligations are gratefully acknowledged.

Jan 1, 1933

By Robert Glass Cleland

BECAUSE of the country's vast mineral resources, Alexander Von Humboldt, the great German scientist who visited Mexico, or the Kingdom of New Spain, a hundred and fifty years ago, very aptly called that country the "Treasure Chest of the World." During the three centuries of Spanish rule, mining was the principal industry of the kingdom, the largest contributor to the country's prosperity, the chief common denominator in Mexican economic life. Public revenues and private fortunes, employment and markets, agriculture and trade, charities and churches, the incentive for frontier settlement and exploration, and the funds for outfitting the expedition of colonizer and conquistador-all were dependent upon the streams of precious metals that flowed century after century from the mines of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Real del Monte, San Luis Potosi, and scores of other minería that lay scattered everywhere throughout the land. Sonora, one of the oldest and most renowned of the frontier provinces of New Spain, had been the scene of a hundred rich strikes, sudden stampedes, and widely heralded bonanzas long before the famous and frenzied Gold Rush

Jan 1, 1952

The visitors to the October meeting will be given opportunity to visit the coal fields in Illinois, adjacent to St. Louis, the steam-shovel operations near Pittsburgh, Kan., and the Oklahoma oil fields. The coal mines of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas furnish fuel over all of the central region of the country. Especially at this time, this district is of importance because of the necessity of producing enormous quantities to meet the country's demand. Some of the mines produce as much as 5,500 tons in 8 hr., and. the total output of Illinois, alone, in 1916, was 63,000,000 tons. Visitors may see elaborate underground electric tram systems, large underground machine repair shops, surface plants equipped for rapid loading, and some of the most modern coal-washing installations. The conditions for mining here are somewhat simpler than in the east.

Jan 8, 1917

COLORADO SECTION CHARLES M. MACNEILL, Chairman, GEORGE M. TAYLOR, Vice-Chairman, FRED CARROLL, Sec.-Treas., State Museum Bldg., Denver, Colo. WALTER W. CASE, H. E. COLLBRAN. The annual meeting of the Colorado Section was held on the evening of Jan. 24, at the University Club, Denver, Colo.; SO members and guests were in attendance and the meeting was considered one of the most interesting ever held by the local section. After the usual dinner, the officers whose names are given above were elected for the ensuing year. Dr. David T. Day and Dr. G. H. Clevenger, of the Bureau of . Mines, were present and enlightened us with short talks on oil shales and other work of the Bureau. Mr. J. V. N. Dorr was home from a visit to New York and Washington, and told us something of the war work now going on at our National Capitol. Retiring Chairman Loughridge had been insisting for months that this meeting should be given up chiefly to listening to someone who could give his personal experience in going "over the top" in western France; after a long search he succeeded in finding Sargt. F. C. Strickland, M . M., of the Second Canadian Mounted Rifles, who had very recently been discharged from the hospital with permanent disabilities and has accepted recruiting service rather than a discharge. The success of this plan was evidenced by the close attention accorded the speaker for almost two hours, during which he described conditions, hardships, successes and failures of warfare on the western front. Hardly a listener moved during this talk, and all left with a. feeling that they would have liked to hear more. FRED CARROLL, Secretary.

Jan 4, 1918

EDWARD HART*, Easton, Pa. (written discussion?) .-In 1895 I visited the chemical plant of the Messrs. Chance at Oldbury, England, under the guidance of Mr. France, the manager. In the stock house I saw a pile of coal brasses with adhering coal and said to Mr. France, "I should think you would get dark acid." "Yes," he replied, "our acid has always been rather black. and our customers have grown used to it. Some time ago we ran out of brasses and could get only Spanish pyrite. Our product became white and the customers began to complain, so I put a little sugar in each carboy." E. A. HOLBROOK,* Pittsburgh, Pa. (written discussion?).-Mr. Davis says, "A very large tonnage of pyrite is annually being thrown in the waste in the coal mines of this country." This quantity is much larger than is generally realized by people not intimately associated with coal mining. At the beginning of the war this country seemed threatened with a short-age of pyrite. The U. S. Bureau of Mines conducted a general investiga-tion of the pyrite resources of the country in order to ascertain what material was commercially available. The general pyrite investigation was in charge of H. A. Buehler, with the subsection on coal pyrite in charge of E. A. Holbrook.

Jan 10, 1919

By D. L. Rainey, E. R. Goter, W. R. Hudspeth

THE area in which spodumene-bearing pegmatites occur extends from Gaffney, S. C., in a northerly direction to Lincolnton, N. C., a distance of about 16 miles. The zone averages 2 miles in width. Interest in this area was first aroused by the discovery of small amounts of cassiterite in the pegmatites and in greissen which occurs on the walls of some of the pegmatites. Attempts were made from 1880 into the 1920's to mine and concentrate cassiterite, but there were no successful operations. In 1935 L. M. Williams became interested in the area and began prospecting by trenching and sinking several small shafts. He gradually gained control of a considerable acreage south of the city of Kings Mountain, N. C. Mr. Williams states that he produced some ore from a shaft which he shipped to the Maywood Chemical Co. in the late 1930's. In 1937 G. H. Chambers of the Foote Mineral Co. visited the area and examined several properties, but the lithium market was too small to support the necessary concentrating plant.

Jan 9, 1953

By Henry Louis

The object of the present paper is to describe a primitive method of gold-extraction, practiced by a small colony of Chinese in the district of Tomoh, one of the Siamese-Malayan States. This district has been worked for gold about 150 years, but has been only twice or thrice visited by Europeans, who are looked upon with a good deal of jealousy by the miners. The gold-district, covering not more than 10 square miles, is situated about Lat. 5' 47l N. and Long. -101' 39 E., on the headwaters of the river Teluban. It is a very mountainous region, lying on the northern flanks of the great range that forms the watershed between the rivers Patani, Kelantan, Teluban, etc., on the north and Perak on the south. The gold occurs in narrow veins and leaders of quartz, intersect- ' ing and intercalated among irregularly upheaved and contorted, highly metamorphosed, micaceous and chloritic schists. These veins vary between 3 inches and 3 feet in thickness, and are sometimes very rich. The geology of this region is thus very similar to that characterizing gold-regions all over the world; if must, however, be.

Jan 1, 1892

By Carl Zapffe

JUST as 85 per cent of the total ore produced annually in the United States comes from the Lake Superior region, so does one of its six producing districts-the Mesabi --dominate that region both as to production and total reserves; also in ore Treatment, Mesabi practice is dominant. Therefore, in discussing future reserves or ore treatment one may visualize one big district with five smaller districts as so many satellites. In considering the future less thought need be given to processes than to, economic policies. For thirty years experimental work has now been in progress and every possible ore-treatment process now known has been given attention. This work was started when there was no recognizable danger of running short of ore because of rapid consumption. Thirty years ago the annual production had just progressed beyond the twenty-million bracket for the first time. Today fifty million tons is considered a small production, and last year the aim was for 65 million. At the recent rate of production the life of the estimated reserves of good ore is about 35 years. All who know the local terrain are convinced that, unlike thirty years ago, the chances for discoveries of new big deposits are nil; treatment of lean ores obviously is to become an all-important topic.

Jan 1, 1938

By Mark Sheppard

DURING the winter of 1937, the writer visited a West Virginia stone, quarry at which the overburden is stripped hydraulically. The quarry is in a bed of limestone, about 200 ft. thick, which outcrops on a hillside above a small river; the quarry face is 175 ft. high. The top of the stone is cut in all directions by erosion channels, which are filled with a tough, red clay. Some of the larger channels are 30 ft. deep and 8 ft. wide, The thickness of the clay overburden ranges from a few inches to 10 ft., the average being estimated as less than 3 feet. The topography of the district is rugged, and the hillside above the quarry face is not suited to the use of the usual mechanical methods of moving dirt. Until hydraulicking was started 10 years ago, the over-burden was dug by hand labor, dumped to the quarry floor and trans-ported to the dump in quarry cars, Cleaning deep channels was a slow and expensive process. When hydraulicking was started, the top of the quarry face was over 200 ft. above the level of the river. The pipe line was carried in a semi-circle around the top of the quarry about 200 ft. from the face and about 50 ft, above it. As there is no adequate supply of water above the quarry, the water must be pumped from the river: As quarrying pro-gressed the pipe line was moved until the discharge points are now over 300 ft. above the river. Water is pumped from the river by a four-stage centrifugal pump having a 5-in. intake and a 4-in. discharge. It is direct-connected to a 200-hp,, 2300-volt, 1760-r.p.m. induction motor. At 1760 r.p.m. the rated capacity of the pump is 750 gal. per minute under a head of 600 ft. The pump is installed in a house of frame construction on the river bank, about 10 ft, above normal water level, which also houses the pump for the mill-water supply. Above the pumps are hoisting hays into which the motors are raised whenever the river reaches flood stage.

Jan 1, 1938

By Rossiter W. Raymond

It is scarcely necessary to augment or amend the "Appreciation" of Dr. Douglas, from the pen of Dr. Albert A. Ledoux, which appeared in January, 1916, in Bulletin No. 109 of the Institute. The author of that admirable summary enjoyed the great privilege of expressing while Dr. Douglas was yet among us (though already marked for death) the love and esteem with which we all regarded him. But now that his earthly life has ended, the historian must still be the eulogist. No line need be added or deleted in the portrait of him already drawn; it has only to be accepted now as a true likeness, and hung in the gallery of the immortals, illuminated by the crowning glory of another world. James Douglas was born at Quebec, Canada, November 4, 1837. His father, James Douglas, was a distinguished physician and surgeon, known in many lands, especially in the Orient, and famous in his own country for his philanthropy as well as his skill, having established and directed for many years the first retreat for the insane in the Dominion. of Canada. One of the latest literary labors of the son was the editing and publishing of his father's journal and reminiscences—a fascinating volume, the review of which, though a tempting task, I must here forego. Nearly fifty years ago, I had the great pleasure of spending an hour with the elder Douglas, who guided me through his collection of Egyptian and Asiatic treasures. I might almost say souvenirs; so many of them were connected with personal experiences and exalted personages. The veteran's memory had already begun to fail with age, but his vivacity and imagination glowed all the more brightly; and his reminiscences of travel and adventure were embroidered with Oriental magnificence. I felt, after that hour, as if I had visited a stately, half-ruined edifice, overgrown with vines and flowers. The father's genius, adventurous spirit and generous philanthropy descended to his versatile, yet practical son. Like other men of such temperament, James Douglas tried many things before circumstances beyond his own control forced him into the line of his principal lifework. At the age of 18, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied for two years. Returning to Canada, he entered Queen's University, at Kingston, Ontario, where he was graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1858. Subsequently he studied medicine at Lava1 University, Quebec;

Jan 1, 1919

By P. K. Lucke

ONE of the interesting features connected with the great continental uplift, which formed the table land of Mexico, is the great depth to which oxidation and secondary enrichment of orebOdies occurred. This table land lies at altitudes ranging from 4000 to. 7000 ft. (1219 to 2133 m.) above sea level. Several cases could be cited of oxidized zones in copper and lead mines which reached depths of upward of 1500 ft. (457 m.) below the surface, and it is universally admitted that the oxidized zone in a mine is limited by the permanent water level. FIG. 1. Mexico, however, like many other countries in which deserts occur, is visited at rare intervals by tremendous floods, which sometimes cause variable water levels over long periods. The following cases bear out the idea, and lead to interesting conclusions of commercial value. My paper demonstrates that carbonates of ores may occur below water level and sulphides above, and I will endeavor to explain the causes of the phenomena in certain specific instances.

Jan 6, 1918

CHICAGO SECTION CHARLES H. MACDOWELL, Chairman, LUTHER V. RICE, Vice-chairman, HENRY W. NICHOLS, Secretary-Treasurer, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill. ALEXANDER K. HAMILTON, G. P. HULST, HENRY P. HOWLAND, FREDERICK T. SNYDER. A meeting of the Chicago Section was held at the Chicago Engineers' Club on the evening of March 30, 1918, on the occasion of the visit of the President, Vice-president. and Secretary of the Institute. The meeting was called to order by Henry W. Nichols, Secretary of the Chicago Section. The first speaker of the evening was Mr. Allen, Deputy Fuel Administrator for the State: of Illinois, who spoke on the problems and difficulties encountered by the Fuel Administration during the past -winter, He paid high tribute to the spirit of cooperation shown by the

Jan 5, 1918

James Douglas will long be remembered as a distinguished mining engineer and metallurgist, as a scientist with broad vision, as an executive whose understanding of practical problems coupled with his knowledge of men and affairs enabled him to weld together great mining interests and to their service build railroads and bring power. More, he will be recalled as a philosopher and a writer of charm, a historian of no mean order, and one whose catholic tastes and enthusiasms led him into the fields of education, medicine and theology. His aim was to possess that which he considered made life worth while—friends and effectiveness in whatever task he undertook. In this aim he was successful to a degree exceeded by few, as thousands of his friends and associates could and can testify. Dr. Douglas was born on November 4,1837, at Quebec, Canada. His father, James Douglas, Sr., was a prominent physician and the leading surgeon of Canada. He also established the first retreat for the insane in the Dominion, the Quebec Lunatic Asylum, to which he devoted his services for years; The son followed in the footsteps of his father and studied medicine, not only in Canada but also in Scotland and in Germany. He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1855 but after two years at that institution returned to Canada and was graduated from Queens university at Kingston, Ontario, .with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later he went to Lava1 University, Quebec, and subsequently became professor of chemistry at Morrin College, Quebec. After he was graduated—at the time he considered his formal education completed—he traveled with his father in Europe and in the Orient; visiting Egypt, being especially interested in that country, several times. They gathered together an important archaeological collection which later was donated by them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the city of New York. James Douglas was also greatly interested in photography, a hobby in which he made use of his chemical knowledge. The writer can remember distinctly the descriptions he gave more than forty years ago in Arizona of the difficulties he encountered with the old wet photographic plates, especially while traveling in Egypt, when he prepared and used his own chemicals. In his humorous manner he told how he once discovered, in the nick of time, the nurse preparing to give the baby in the party a rub-down, using for that purpose the white, limpid

Jan 1, 1934

By George W. Maynard

For an account of the discovery and the determination of chromite on Port au Port Bay I am indebted to Mr. Obalski, Government mining engineer for the Province of Quebec. He writes: " In June, 1894, with the authorization of our Government, I went to Newfoundland to examine some asbestos property. Passing through Halifax, I had interviews with some gentlemen who told me that besides the asbestos there was in the same district a big deposit of iron-ore. They handed me some specimens, and, after ascertaining that they were not magnetic, and learning that they were found in serpentine, I said they were chromic iron. I visited the place on June 27, 1894, and confirmed my opinion, pointing out at the same time the importance of the deposit, as appears in my report of July 9, 1894. I do not claim any credit for the discovery of chrome-ore in Newfoundland; but, as a matter of fact. when I came in contact with the Halifax gentlemen they did not appear to know the nature or the value of the mineral until I mentioned to them that it was chromite. "' Mr. Obalski's report was mainly devoted to the asbestos-deposits. That portion relating to the chromite was as follows: " On the right side of the creek there is a show of chromic iron of good quality, which appears scattered through the serpentine in several places on the face of the cliff for 40 to 50 feet. A few boulders are found farther up at a distance of 100 feet, and also in the ckeek itself. From this point the deposit exists on a relatively large area, the widest exposures being from 6 to 7 feet. Chromic iron deposits in serpentine rock have no regularity, and are merely pockets. In the case of the property in question this rule is not changed, but the pockets look to be of large extent, and could be easily worked." My own preliminary investigation of the property was made

Jan 1, 1898

By Richard E. Chism

SAN DIMAS, in the State of Durango, Mexico, on the frontier of the State of Sinaloa, is the centre of an extensive and rich mining region, which has been exploited for over a hundred years; and the patio process for working silver ores has there attained the highest perfection of which it is capable. Local modifications have been engrafted upon the underlying principles of the process, but, as a whole, the San Dimas practice so fully illustrates its typical capabilities, that I have undertaken to describe its workings in the hope of lightening, to some degree, the labors of my professional brethren who may have occasion to visit Mexico." As is tolerably well known, the patio process, like all other systems of free amalgamation, is not successful with ores containing more than a trace of zinc or lead, the presence of zincblende being especially obnoxious. Iron and copper in small quantities are not particularly disadvantageous. The process succeeds very well with all sulphide ores which do not contain much more than a trace of arsenic and antimony, provided the tailings are concentrated, although, of course, it is best adapted for free milling ores. For suitable silver ores that contain small amounts of free gold the process is still a good one, but where the gold is combined with sulphurets, a considerable and even an excessive loss is inevitable. Hitherto the Mexicans have submitted to this loss, but, since the introduction of American mills, they are gradually abandoning the patio process in favor of the other. The San Dimas ores have a gangue of quartz and feldspar. They are composed principally of silver sulphides, with some chloride and

Jan 1, 1883

By P. K. Lucke

One of the interesting features connected with the great continental uplift, which formed the table land of Mexico, is the great depth to which oxidation and secondary enrichment of orebodies occurred. This table land lies at altitudes ranging from 4000 to 7000 ft. (1219 to 2133 m.) above sea level. Several cases could be cited of oxidized zones in copper and lead mines which reached depths of upward of 1500 ft. (457 m.) below the surface, and it is universally admitted that the oxidized zone in a mine is limited by the permanent water level. Mexico, however, like many other countries in which deserts occur, is visited at rare intervals by tremendous floods, which sometimes cause variable water levels over long periods. The following cases bear out the idea, and lead to interesting conclusions of commercial value. My paper demonstrates that carbonates of ores may occur below water level and sulfides above, and I will endeavor to explain the causes of the phenomena in certain specific instances. Case I.—Fig. 1 in this case shows that sulfides of lead remained

Jan 1, 1920

By E. S. Moffat

Members of the Institute who have visited the works of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company at Scranton, will remember the exposure of a large vein of anthracite coal in the rocky bank on the south side of Roaring Brook, near the blast-furnace. The vein is quite flat, and is exposed to view for several hundred yards along the banks of the brook, a few feet above the surface of the water. It is some ten feet in thickness, and is known as the Big Vein. At a point just opposite the blast-furnace, much of the coal from this vein was mined out many years since, the usual pillars being left to support the overlying rock and drift, which are here some twentyfive to thirty feet in thickness. Over thirty pears ago fire was communicated from an ore-roasting pile on the surface of the ground at this point, through an old shaft, down to the refuse and pillars which had been left in the mine

Jan 1, 1887

By Mark Sheppard

DURING the winter of 1937, the writer visited a West Virginia stone quarry at which the overburden is stripped hydraulically. The quarry is in a bed of limestone, about 200 ft. thick, which outcrops on a hillside above a small river; the quarry face is 175 ft. high. The top of the stone is cut in all directions by erosion channels, which are filled with a tough, red clay. Some of the larger channels are 30 ft. deep and 8 ft. wide. The thickness of the clay overburden ranges from a few inches to 10 ft., the average being estimated as less than 3 feet. The topography of the district is rugged, and the hillside above the quarry face is not suited to the use of the usual mechanical methods of moving dirt. Until hydraulicking was started 10 years ago, the over- burden was dug by hand labor, dumped to the quarry floor and transported to the dump in quarry cars. Cleaning deep channels was a slow and expensive process. When hydraulicking was started, the top of the quarry face was over 200 ft. above the level of the river. The pipe line was carried in a semi- circle around the top of the quarry about 200 ft. from the face and about 50 ft. above it. As there is no adequate supply of water above the quarry, the water must be pumped from the river. As quarrying progressed the pipe line was moved until the discharge points are now over 300 ft. above the river. Water is pumped from the river by a four-stage centrifugal pump having a 5-in. intake and a 4-in. discharge. It is direct-connected to a 200-hp., 2300-volt, 1760-r.p.m. induction motor. At 1760 r.p.m. the rated capacity of the pump is 750 gal. per minute under a head of 600 ft. The pump is installed in a house of frame construction on the river bank, about 10 ft. above normal water level, which also houses the pump for the mill-water supply. Above the pumps are hoisting bays into which the motors are raised whenever the river reaches flood stage. An 8-in. suction line, equipped with a strainer and a foot valve, takes the water from a concrete sump at the edge of the river. The pipe line from the pump consists of 1750 ft. of 8-in. spiral steel flanged pipe and 800 ft. of 4-in. spiral steel flanged pipe. The connection from the pump

Jan 1, 1938

By F. H. McDowell

For more than two hundred years Mexico has been enriching the world from her inexhaustible wealth of precious metals. From this source alone, over three thousand five hundred millions of dollars have been poured into the coffers of Europe and America. During these centuries the wants of the country in manufactured goods have been supplied from the mills and machine-shop of the Old World. English, French and German merchants in Mexico have vied with each other in their efforts to control the importing of these goods from their respective countries. The overthrow of Maximilian, the departure of the French and the restoration of the Republic, largely influenced by the strong stand taken by the United States Government during our own civil war, established a new order of things. Americans were encouraged to visit the sister republic, examine into the needs of the country, as well as its resources, and interest themselves in the work of development. More recently, under Presidents Diaz and Gonzales, liberal inducements have been extended to American capitalists to build railroads, open mines, erect reduction-works, raise cattle and improve the crude systems of agriculture. The Mexican Central Railway has been pushed south from the Rio Grande to the Capital, and, by its branches and connections, makes the whole mineral belt of the country accessible.

Jan 1, 1885

By H. E. Nold

THIS paper is an effort to explain in a simple manner the fundamental principles involved in examining a clay deposit for both quantity and quality and in operating a clay mine, either open-pit or underground, so that the best quality of finished material can be made from the raw material available. The writer is aware that what is recommended in this paper is everyday practice in many refractories plants and in some other heavy-clay products plants, but observations made while visiting practically every clay mine in Ohio have convinced him that the practices herein discussed are not as widely used as their importance warrants. It is true that the problem of mining for quality is more acute in refractories plants than in most heavy-clay products plants, yet some of the latter are finding it profitable to pay more than ordinary attention to the selection and blending of their raw materials. It is hoped that this short paper may prove helpful to some who are now finding it difficult to produce a uniform product of as high quality as their clay deposit seems to warrant. The coordination of the work of the clay mine or pit with the manufacturing plant, to the end that the best product possible be made from the raw material available, presupposes a rather intimate knowledge of the clay deposit. The knowledge must include not only information of the amount of clay-available but also rather detailed information about both vertical and horizontal variations in quality of the clay. This information should cover three things: quality, quantity, and location.

Jan 1, 1929