Search Documents

By L. Heber Cole

The search for potash in western Canada during the years of the great war led to the staking of claims on many of the "alkali lakes" and sloughs which occur in numerous localities in the morainic areas of the prairies, as well as in British Columbia, in the hope that potash salts would be found in commercial quantities. While the search for potash, up to the present time, has been disappointing, the prospecting of these areas has demonstrated that Canada possesses large reserves of sodium and magnesium compounds, principally in the form of sulphates, carbonates and chlorides. he writer first became interested in these deposits in 1911 while investigating the sodium chloride springs of northern Manitoba. In the fall of that year a number of the sulphate ? deposits in Saskatchewan and Alberta were visited, but owing to the excessive rains at that period, all the deposits were under water and only a few brine samples were obtained. Owing to pressure of other work investigations of the alkali deposits in western Canada, by the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines, could not be undertaken until the field season of 1921, but since that time the work has been continuous. During the summer of 1918 a reported discovery of a large deposit of potash bearing salts was featured in western papers and in a short time practically all the lakes and sloughs of the prairie provinces, which showed the least indication of being saline, were staked for potash. This reported discovery was not substantiated on investigation and many of those who had staked claims allowed them t~ lapse without the slightest effort to determine the character of the material in the deposits which they? had leased.

Jan 1, 1924

By J. C. Beidelman

One of the oldest settled portions of Canada is that "strip of land" extending into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, known as the Gaspe peninsula, with the Bay of Chaleur on its southern boundary. This "strip of land" is still so very sparcely populated that only at a few places does settlement extend more than a few miles from the coast. ? The peninsula is 160 miles long, 75 miles wide and with the exception of the above mentioned settlements is a mountainous wildness-void of all roads or inhabitants. Developments in the interior, of all nature, out-side of the cutting of timber by limit holders, was entirely lacking until the year 1915, when mining was first commenced. In the summer of 1844 Sir William Logan made a preliminary survey across the peninsula, from Cape Chat on the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cascapedia on the Bay of Chaleur, passing through a country ?of which very little was known at that time. After a rather rough trip to the headwaters of the Grand Cascapedia river, Logan's party descended this river to its mouth, passing ten miles west of what is now known as the Federal mines. There is no record of Logan, or of any of his party, finding zinc or lead ores of any character on their journey across the peninsula, and until 1909 no precious or base metals were discovered within reasonable distance of Logan's survey.

Jan 1, 1924

By Arthur M. Whiteside

Discussion of the laws bearing upon the economics of mining in this province at once resolves itself under three headings: (a) The rights and obligations of holders of mineral bearing lands; (b) Taxation of mines; (c) Regulation of methods adopted in financing mining operations. Titles: The law relating to titles is contained in the Mineral Act, Placer Mining Act and Coal Mines Prospecting Act. Origin: Mining laws in force in this province and elsewhere on the continent had their origin in the rule-of-thumb regulations adopted by prospectors themselves, when, far from the centres of civilization and the seats of the courts of justice, they found it necessary, for mutual protection, to fix the conditions of possession by right of location, and to prescribe the duties to be performed in order to enable the individual to maintain his ground against all comers. These regulations have been codified and added to by legislatures, until we find adequate protection and safeguard to property in the laws of this province.

Jan 1, 1924

By G. C. Mackenzie

At the last Annual Meeting of the Institute, Dr. C. V. Corless sketched the potential mineral wealth of Canada so clearly, graphically and with-all so entertainingly that one's imagination was fired with the promise held out to future generations for the tremendous expansion of the mining industry in the Dominion. Posterity will undoubtedly witness the fruit of much of the geographical search and survey that is now carried on by our government mining departments. Year after year the work advances, slowly but surely, new areas are . explored, older areas are surveyed in detail, the information being compiled in maps and reports of incalculable value to the prospector, the engineer and the general public. The immensity of the task of exploring, geologically, the outlying portions of the country, with the ultimate view of making valuable mineral discoveries, may be visualized from a study of Dr. Corless' paper and the subsequent discussion which took place and one becomes impressed with the fact that three-quarters or more of the problem can be included under the word "transportation". For instance Dr. Corless said, "The few geological explorers who have penetrated to these remoter regions . . . . . . have as a rule been compelled to stick closely to canoe routes,"; Dr. Goodwin remarked, "This barren Laurentian granite, which is put down on the maps as covering the greater part of this area, is the best guess the geologist could make from travelling along watercourses Within the next few years . . . . . . the Timiskaming and Northern Ontario railway will undoubtedly be extended to James Bay . . . . . . In order that we may be prepared for the probable influx of prospectors when transportation facilities to tidewater are provided, I think all available information on this district should be gathered together in handy form." All three-Corless, Goodwin and Cole-emphasize the well-known fact that explorers, geologists and prospectors working in new country must stick to the watercourses and that transportation by rail, road or water has always been the all-important deciding factor in facilitating the exploration and development of remote districts. Dr. Corless did, however, suggest other means of transportation in stating, "The aeroplane will be of assistance in future study of some parts of these remote areas."

Jan 1, 1924

By J. A. H. Church

My paper entitled "Spontaneous Combustion of Coal in Mines;" read some time ago before this Branch, consisted chiefly of extracts from the British Blue Book dealing with the same subject. Fallowing my article, Mr. de Hart submitted a paper dealing with the application of existing methods of working in Alberta to the conditions obtaining in our bituminous mines. I must confess that the perusal of his paper did not enlighten me either as to what might be a method preferable to those in vogue or even to Mr. de Hart's ideas on the subject, nor did the ensuing discussion of Mr. de Hart's paper afford any great clarification of the problem. The outstanding idea, supplied by Mr. Dick, seemed to be that a retreating system could not be employed, as no operator would feel justified in risking the capital necessary to driving to the boundary when the whole might be jeopardized by a fire breaking out in the waste. That a fire would break out in the waste of any adit-level working seemed to be conceded by all, and with that I agree; that an ignited waste could not be safely sealed off by means of stoppings in a coal barrier-pillar appeared to be the contention of Mr. Dick, or perhaps he attributed this idea to the Mines Branch-anyhow, it seemed to loom over the discussion like a miasma. With this aspect I do not agree, as ? reliance is placed wholly on stoppings in the thick seams of South Staffordshire, even in fiery mines. In the thick coal at Exhall colliery, or elsewhere in Warwickshire (34 feet 4 inches) containing hard and soft coal in layers, a fire assuming serious proportions is sealed off. By the way, retreating long-wall methods are employed. In Fifeshire, sealing off fire in the Dysart mine has been accomplished successfully. The seam averages about 20 feet thick.

Jan 1, 1924

By Sherwin F. Kelly

With the progressive exhaustion of ore deposits easily discovered by surface prospecting, the attention of scientists is being turned more and more to the employment of mechanical means for the location of ore bodies whose outcrops are not visible. The dip needle, the Eotvos Torsion balance, and various methods of electrical prospecting are illustrative of the modem tendency. Interest in the possibility of applying electricity to the solution of many of the prospector's problems dates much farther back than is usually realized. The first person to notice an abnormal intensity of electrical activity in the region of certain ore bodies was an Englishman, R. W. Fox, who experimented on the Cornwall copper and tin veins about 1830. Dr. Barus, in the United States, carried the early experiments a step further in his work on the deposits of Eureka, Nevada, about 1880. He made the very definite suggestion that the phenomena noticed would be of material aid to the prospector. Not until Professor Schlumberger, of the Ecole des Mines, Paris, took up the matter, shortly before the war, was any definite effort made to put electrical prospecting on a commercial basis. His work resulted in the establishment of sound principles and practicable field technique, for two distinct methods of prospecting.

Jan 1, 1924

By J. B. Hamilton

The advantages of generating and distributing electrical energy direct from the coal-fields so closely affects the mining industry that a few remarks on the unbalanced phases of coal distribution is worthy of attention. The value of coal imported into Canada from 1912 to 1921 exceeded the sum of $580,000,000. In 1922 Ontario imported 1,640,000 tons of anthracite and 9,440,000 tons of bituminous coal. I submit that the use of Saskatchewan lignite in an electrical super-power plant equipped for the carbonizing of coal, and disposal of excess gases would be the commencement of a solution of the fuel shortage in Ontario. As Saskatchewan becomes more and more populated and manufacturing increases, the amount of by-product carbonized fuel available for shipment to Ontario will increase, and its shipment to that province would decrease the trade deficit of the national balance sheet. If and when this is carried out it will mean a better and wider market for Alberta fuels in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Jan 1, 1924

By W. S. Dyer

The Minto coal basin lies in the central part of the province of New Brunswick, near the head of Grand Lake. The village of Minto which is the centre of mining activity of the district, lies about 35 miles east of Fredericton and somewhat greater distances to the north and west of the cities of St. John and Moncton respectively. Although coal has been mined in the basin for a number of years, it was not until recently that the production became sufficient to warrant a thorough geological investigation. The summer of 1922 was spent, in accordance with in structions from the Director of the Geological Survey, in making a detailed study of the geology and coal resources of the Minto coal basin, which is covered by the Minto and Chipman map sheets, each embracing an area of 200 square miles. The present paper is a short outline of the principal results obtained in the field. The writer wishes to acknowledge the assistance cheerfully given him by the managers and officials of the various companies operating in Minto. He wishes especially to thank Mr. W. B. Evans, Manager of the Rothwell Coal Company, for assistance in the collection of fossils and for the generous supply of information relative to the early history of the coal field.

Jan 1, 1924

By Ralph L. Rutherford

Geologists or mining engineers familiar with geology are frequently requested by mine operators to give correlation in-formation regarding some mining property with respect to an adjacent area on one at some greater distance. It is the object of this article to mention a few of the difficulties involved in securing this information and to point out some of the salient factors upon which correlation is dependent. In view of the nature of the following discussion, a brief statement of the general character of coal formations .. seems appropriate. Coal formations, by reason of their environment of deposition which is in fresh or brackish water, exhibit the features common to continental deposits, in contrast to those of marine deposits. Such deposits are characterized by rapid variation in thickness and in lithological character both later-ally and vertically. (Plate 1 A). They consist essentially of sandstones and clay shales with all gradations between them, and also a few beds of coal and frequently some conglomerates.

Jan 1, 1924

By James McMahon

Although doubt has been expressed many times as to who first brought self-contained breathing apparatus to this side of the Atlantic, there is none whatever that the first organized station was established at Glace Bay, N .S., by the Dominion Coal Company, in 1907. This station was started with 20 sets of 1907 "Draeger" apparatus and all necessary station equipment and supplies. After the fire at No. 1 pit, Sydney Mines, in 1908, the Nova Scotia Steel Company installed 15 sets of "Draeger" and sup-plies, which were housed in a rescue car (a converted pull-man.) In 1909 or '10 a fire occurred at the Back Pit, Stellarton, where the apparatus from Glace Bay was used, and subsequently the Acadia Company erected a station and in-stalled 10 sets of "Securitas" apparatus. In 1912 the station at New Waterford was opened and equipped with "Draeger," and the same year the station at Springhill was built and equipped with the same type. Sometime during past years the Nova Scotia Steel Company acquired a couple of "Proto" machines, and after the explosion at the Allan shaft in 1918 the Acadia Coal Company added some "Gibbs" to their station. From this it will be seen that when the coal-fields were organized under the British Empire Steel Corporation the equipment was rather mixed, therefore steps were taken by the executive to stanardize the whole of the rescue and recovery work.

Jan 1, 1924

By Staff

This paper contains an outline of the history of the Sullivan mine, now owned and operated by the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd.; some account of the various methods by which the ore has been treated in efforts to solve the metallurgical problems which its complex character presents, and, finally, to give, as concisely as possible, an outline of the present mining and metallurgical practice along with a description of the mining and milling plant at Kimberley and the smelter and refineries at Trail, in British Columbia. EARLY HISTORY In May, 1892, Pat Sullivan, John Cleaver and Mike Holland left the Coeur d'Alene country, in the State of Idaho, to seek their fortunes in the Kootenay lake district in British Columbia. They were aided in their venture by James Cronin, afterwards locator and owner of the St. Eugene mine at Moyie. Two months later the party broke up, Sullivan and Cleaver crossing the mountains from Crawford bay on Kootenay lake to the head waters of the St. Mary's river, the course of which they followed down to Fort Steele. Here they found a good deal of excitement about the North Star mine, and, joined by "Ed." Smith, who was familiar with this part of the country, they determined to return and prospect in its vicinity.

Jan 1, 1924

By J. C. Nicholson

The "V" system was first introduced by the West Virginia Coal & Coke Company at their No. 9 mine, Norton. Norton is a small mining village on the B. & 0. railway, about seven miles from the town of Elkins. This year, accompanied by G. D. MacDougall, I visited this mine to obtain first-hand information regarding this modem system and to determine its adaptability to conditions in Nova Scotia. The following is a brief account of my observations. The seam that is being worked is known as the Lower Kittaning, which, at this point, has an average thickness of 7 feet. This includes a band of hard clay varying in thickness from 8 to 14 inches, which occurs about 2 feet from the pavement, also 8 inches of inferior coal at the roof. The latter is not recovered, which leaves to be mined about 5 1/2 feet of clean coal. The roof is slate and shale for the first 30 feet, followed by 40 to 60 feet of sandstone; the total cover is from 80 to 250 feet thick. The seam lies very flat, with a dip of only 2 per cent., and, as the dip is toward the main entrance, it' is in favor of the load, also providing natural drainage for any water the mine makes. As the mine is not gassy, and there is no water to be pumped out, one can understand that mining conditions are practically ideal.

Jan 1, 1924

By G. A. Vissac

In this paper we intend to deal particularly with the economic side of coal washing as it applies to our mines. We will then discuss why the dry-cleaning process has been selected, and give a brief description of our plant, dwelling only on its specific features and referring the reader to the numerous papers published on the subject for any details on the principles and machinery used in dry cleaning. ECONOMIC DISCUSSION The washery introduces an extra cost for depreciation, operation, and loss in treatment. A certain proportion of the coal, now being sold, and which the miners have been paid for. will have to be wasted. As a whole, the total increase in cost would be approximately 60 cents per ton. On the possibility of recovering this amount depends the success of the washery. There are two advantages to be expected from the washery, the first, which occurs at the mine and which will be certain; the second, more difficult to estimate, because it depends upon convincing our customers that they should pay more for a better product.

Jan 1, 1924

By R. P. D. Graham

It is almost exactly two hundred years since the foundations of the mining and metallurgical industries in Canada were laid. There '."'as nothing spectacular about this early start. It had to do with the most basic phases of these industries-the mining of coal and iron ore, and the manufacture of cast and wrought iron. At several points along the coast of Cape Breton island, coal seams may be seen outcropping quite conspicuously, and it is probable that they had been observed, and possibly worked in a small way, in very early times. However that may be, these coal seams have the distinction of being the first in North America of which there is any printed record, reference to them appearing in a volume by Nicolas Denys which was published in Paris in 1672. Regular coal mining in the district did not commence until about fifty years later, however. The metallurgists started their operations along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. Here, at many points between Montreal and Quebec, are to be found deposits of bog iron ore, and in 1 730 a furnace for smelting such ore was established on the St. Maurice river. The St. Maurice forges continued in operation until 1880, and throughout that long period they were famed for the fine quality of castings produced, and also for a-superior wrought iron.

Jan 1, 1924

By R. C. Wallace

Since the time when Canada's East and West were joined by the railway, and communication was established into the interior, settlements grew on the southern fringe of the great Precambrian area that formed the northern protaxis of the continent during its vicissitudes of growth. They clung precariously to the fringe of that ancient land, for the Precambrian is not generous to those who wish to live by the fruits of the soil, except in those limited areas where the Pleistocene ice-sheet has been profuse in its gifts of clay to cover the hard surface of the Precambrian rock. Later settlements spread westwards over the expanse of Cretacean plains that now form the wheatfields of the Canadian West; but there still remained in northern and western Ontario, in eastern and northern Manitoba, a pioneer race, to whom agriculture had attractions only in so far that it provided the wherewithal to lay siege to the riches of the Precambrian. And they had a vision beyond their time. More than they knew, they had seized the fact that for the complete rounding out of Canadian national life, a8 well as for the establishing of the necessary contributions towards the economic stability of Canada and its provinces, an industry in mining sh01.dd be well and truly built in the hinterland of the central provinces. Failing the winning of mineral from the rocks, and timber from the forests, there would remain between the East and the West an enormous barrier of unproductive country which would not only be an incubus to the agricultural people in their struggle for economic liberty, but would effectively, and for all time, remain an un-populated void across which the aspirations of East and West would be unable to unite.

Jan 1, 1924

By Robert Strachanm

The East Kootenay coal-field, situated close to the boundary between the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, is composed of four small areas locally called the Crow's Nest Pass, the Upper Elk, the Flathead and Crown Mountain, and comprises an area of about 3 78 square miles. From eleven to twenty-five seams have been exposed of two feet and over in thickness, with a total thickness of about 200 feet of coal, and reckoning about one hundred feet to be workable, gives an estimate of coal available of about thirty-seven billion tons. The coal is a high-grade bituminous, occasionally tending towards anthracite, and the majority of the seams furnish a. very good quality of coking coal as well as an excellent steam coal. The coal-field is found in the mountain ranges in long narrow strips. The age of the fonnation and the thickness of the covering beds have had considerable influence on the character of the coal, and lateral pressure and disturbances in the process of mountain-building have wrought great changes. With such an abundance of coal, it has been a disappointment that the East Kootenay field has not figured larger industrially. So far only one portion of the coal-field has been utilized. This is the Crow's Nest, where, in 1898, the Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company commenced development. Access to the coal seams was easily obtained, the mountain creeks having eroded away the covering, and mines were driven into the coal seams. In that year about ten thousand tons of coal were produced from the mine at Coal Creek.

Jan 1, 1924

By D. W. McDonald

Coal mining and railway transportation are so closely en-twined and so dependent one upon the other that the failure of one would mean the total collapse of the other. With this indisputable fact in mind, there is no doubt that the operator of each is deeply interested in the other's success. Railway transportation began at the mouth of a coal mine. The first railway car was the English coal-wagon, a crude box on four wooden trowlets, running on wooden rails and holding 1,600 pounds. This was operated by gravity or horse-power in England to convey coal from the mines to the rivers. The first coal-cars used on Nova Scotia railways were of 4 tons capacity with side doors and "V" shaped centres. Then followed flat-bottom, 4-ton cars that operated on tipples, the car bei.ng held in tipple by a chain passing over the top and fastened on either side. Next came the 6-ton car with drop-bottoms, then the 10, 15, 30-ton cars, and now the modern 50 and 100-ton steel cars, equipped with automatic couplers, brakes, and rachet dumping device. Contrast the first coal-car with a modern luxurious pull-man or a I 00-ton coal and ore car, and you have a record of progress in railway transportation. The development of the steam locomotive was no doubt the greatest factor in this progress, but let us not forget that the foundation of all industrial development was and is coal. and that development in mining and railway transportation should keep abreast.

Jan 1, 1924

This growing dependence of Canada upon foreign mineral commodities, just referred to, applies particularly in the direction of the United States. There is, in fact, no more significant feature of Canada's mineral trade than the manner in which it affects the Dominion's commercial standing with that country. Our heavy adverse balance of trade with the United States is perhaps not a matter of such wide concern or frequent comment as was the case two or three years ago. It is, of course, a well-known fact that the Dominion each year buys from the States a volume of goods to a value enormously in excess of our sales to that country. And it has come to be accepted as a ?normal, though not altogether satisfactory, feature of our international commerce that a huge portion of the bill incurred by our American purchases must be met, not by our American sales, but by the proceeds of our sales to other countries, not-ably Great Britain. It is a three-cornered situation in which our trading deficit with the United States is covered largely by our trading surplus with the United Kingdom. In this situation the mineral trade plays a remarkable part. If one delves into the details of our transactions with the United States it will be found that, in one sense, the mineral trade is entirely responsible for the huge annual balance against the Dominion. In fact, Canada gets decidedly better than an even break on Canadian American trade, if one leaves out of account the three mineral groups, "iron and steel", "non- metallic minerals", and "non-ferrous metals".

Jan 1, 1924

By A. C. Munro

The concrete work on the new Britannia mill was started in April, 1922. The erection of steel commenced on July 10th, following. The installation of wood work and machinery , began on November 4th of the same year and was pushed to completion in January, 1923. The new mill building is an all steel structure enclosed with galvanized corrugated steel. All main floors and foundations are of reinforced concrete, which makes the building practically fireproof throughout. The mill building rises on a steep hillside to a vertical elevation of 210 feet and has seven distinct floors, for the various opera-tions. Only one elevator, with 30-foot centres, is used in the entire mill. The building is exceptionally roomy and well lighted, both by day and night. The capacity of the mill, as originally designed, was to be 2000 tons daily, but this tonnage can be readily increased to over 3000 tons daily by making slight changes in the fine grinding equipment; in fact, an average of 2700 tons per 24 hours was maintained throughout the month of September.

Jan 1, 1923

By Lucas G. Thompson

My topic, "The Administration of Mineral Rights'.' is possibly an unusual one, as it deals with a subject upon which many of us have a more than passing interest, I thought ?it might prove consistent with the objects of this meeting, more especially as I propose to deal, not with those broad subjects of nation-wide importance which are often the subject'? of learned (and sometimes futile) academic discussion, but rather with problems in their practical light. To the scientist, the important question is What is it? to the technician, Can it be utilized? to the business-man, Will it pay? All three questions are important, and so quick has been the march of business on the heels of science? that the one question follows the other with astonishing rapidity and all three must be considered in the modern management of a mineral estate. A .good illustration of the force of this can be found in the recent advance of our knowledge of the element helium in which we have advanced from a solution of the first question to the last question in the short period of 55 years. It is to be borne in mind, however, that in the administration of mineral rights, the question "Will it pay?:' is of primary importance. What forms a mineral estate ? A former practice in western Canada in selling lands was to sell the hair with the hide. All transactions sold the lands in fee simple, which included all mines, minerals and rights and privileges whatsoever, excluding only the royal metals, gold and silver, which by imputation, though not by specific reference, in deeds. of title are reserved to the Crown. At that time the country was in the first ?stages of settlement and the value of our mineral resources was hardly appreciated and little understood.

Jan 1, 1923