"OLD ORDER CHANGETH"
Pick and Pan Thrown Away to Make Room for Modern Machinery
A. C. TERRILL.
The stuggle for the possession of the noted metal mines of the ancients resulting in many wars. "Metal meant better weapons. The products mines and ore were important in building great cities, and Carthage, Greece and Rome wrested for control of Spain and other territory rich in minerals. When at last Rome had secured all control it devolved on their people made poor workers; the shortage of metals which resulted helps explain the centuries of stagnation which followed.
Conditions have greatly changed. Instead of prospecting with a pick and pan for a half dozen metals and gems, we have learned the value of a great number of minerals and scores of industries of world importance have grown up around mineral deposits ignored until recent times.
In modern times, we have had many great movements of pioneers into new country in quest of gold. The early history of California includes Australia, Alaska and Africa may trade with the examples of the way in which prospectors and miners have opened deserts and wastes of ice to the onsew of civilization.
The greatness of any modern nation must depend much upon the kind and extent of its mineral resources, and the degree to which these are exploited. The United States has a remarkable variety and abundance of mineral wealth.
BEST TIME NOW
This is the most wonderful time the mining industry of the United States has ever seen. Most wonderful production. Highest prices reached since the Civil War for most metals. Most strenuous search for new deposits. Most rapid development of old ones, except in some gold and silver processes. Most rapid change in processing processes. Pulp of mill and smelter building. Large number of technically trained men applying their scientific knowledge to simplification of methods of mining, milling and smelting. Largest number of finely equipped laboratories busy with hives hatching new life. Never before was there a skill and thought involved in the solving of problems presented by this great basic industry—mining. Never before such revolutionary results.
Progress is seen in every mining community and every industry allied to mining. In the state of Kansas, the value of manufactured products exceeds the value of the products of agriculture. Most of the legislation of the state has a bearing on agriculture, the Federal government makes great appropriations for the teaching of agriculture and research of agriculture. Who ever heard of Kansas, the manufacturing state! Yet in 1910 manufacturing exceeded farm products by some twenty million dollars.
Most of us realize, to some extent at least, how manufacturing is built up on and around mining. This is forcibly brought home by the industry, in their mines, quarries, and wells, followed by a visit to the Salvage plant at Syracuse, the great chemical plants at Niagara Falls, the paint mills, and plants managed by the state government, and brick plants, blast furnaces, salt works and acid plants.
WAR MAKES MORE WORK
During the period of reconstruction, and perhaps we may fear, a period of preparing for more war, the mines will be called upon heavily to supply the raw materials absolutely essential to the work. Nor is the war by any means the only factor in this remarkable advance in mining and development of precious products. Many and important factors enter in. Competent authorities tell us that during the past 50 years more material wealth has been created by man than in the whole previous history of the world. This growth in the multitude of the things we possess has of necessity been accompanied by a most remarkable increase of raw materials extracted from the land. In spite of the destruction of the present war this increase goes on, not so rapidly accelerated as before, but still rapidly advancing. While production advances by leaps and bounds, there is a constant war on between the pressure of greater demand to send prices up, and cheaper, quicker methods of accomplishment, the work pulling prosperity out of the matter which turns, upon turn, we find science and invention coming to the aid of the miner and metallurgy, showing him better, faster, cheaper ways of doing things.
Take explosives, for example. A few centuries ago, wooden wedges were driven in holes in the rock and caused to expand by an application of water. Lime was also used and expansion broke off a little slab of rock. Today we not only have a remarkably steady advance in the development of drills to make the holes, but explosives are being improved every year. Permissibles, the use of liquid air, non-freezing beds, bet-
ter methods of firing shots, all help the miner solve his problem.
During recent years the world's gold production has been more than doubled by the success of the cyanide process. The gold and silver mining of the world have been revolutionized by this one process.
Now we are just gloriously emerging from the pioneer days of another process destined perhaps to have a more profound effect on mining and production than the opencast process which has played great a role for twenty years.
FLOTATION SAVES MILLIONS
Flotation is not the panacea for all ills, the elixir of youth for all mines, or the universal solvent for all our problems. It is, however, already saving millions of dollars worth of metals each year which would otherwise be lost, and we believe it is only in its infancy.
The relation of the flotation process to the Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma zine-lead fields is of great interest to the southeastern corner of our own state, where we have other advanced dresing and smelting methods in other places are accomplishing, we can safely predict the day when millions of dollars a year would be spent, always be true that only 50 per cent of the output of the zinc in the ore mined will find its way into the market as zinc, and even then it is in the impure state called "speler," and unfit for the best brass and other important uses.
The zinc produced will be more pure, the tailings piles left will be more barren. The vast sum of money going into floatation plans in the west, low grade zinc properties being opened up in Montana and elsewhere are testimony of the dawning of a new day. A 10 per cent full fledged mill in the Doplin District. A 50 per cent loss will no longer be looked upon with indifference.
Electrometallurgy of lead and zinc, new methods of smelting, electric recharging, the use of pumping methods, more efficient crushers, better worked out flow sheets, all may work their part, but the application will stand at the head of the list.
In a general way we may say that "The concentrating of ores by Oil Flotation is based upon the fact that oil added to ore which has been finely crushed in water has a stronger affinity for the particles with a metallic surface, and so it must be upon the further factor that if the mixture of water, oil and ore be violently agitated, especially with the admixture of air, a froth containing the bulk of the metallic particles will form on the surface and can be readily skimmed off. The successful application of these principles has revolutionized the metallurgy of the base metal ores, especially copper, lead and zinc ores, with the cyanide process in the treatment of base gold and silver ores. There are many forms of flotation apparatus and any varieties of oil in use."
ADOPTED IN WEST
Already the Butte and Superior and Timber Butte mines and mills at Butte, Mont., are saving by flotation half as much zinc as the Joplin Discoveries to pass them both in the production of this metal. Announcement has recently been at Great Falls that the company will build at Great Falls a $2,000,000 electrolytic zinc refinery, with a capacity of 70,000,000 pounds of zinc per annum.
In July last, construction was begun on an experimental 10-tone zinc plant at the Washoe. This was put into operation in October, and the experiments were so successful that the larger plant at Great Falls was decided upon. It will turn to plants at Great Falls plant to be ready by September 17. A concentrating plant will be constructed at Anaconda to handle zores, by flotation. The Great Falls plant will thereby be partially supplied with concentrates by Anaconda. That the future of mining and metallurgy has many surprises in store cannot be doubted. Programs in research of the horizon, and what we know is insignificant compared with what there remains to be discovered by the mining engineer and his colaborers.
'O OFFER NEW SUMMER COURSE IN ARCHITECTURE
A special course in the department of architectural engineering, "The History of Architecture," will be one of the new features of the summer session this year, according to an annual survey of Goldsmith, head of the department, this morning. "There was a considerable demand for the course last summer." Professor Goldsmith said, today, "and I promised several people who were here last summer that the course would be offered this year." In order to enroll, I have enough promises now to justify me in offering the work. The class will be open, however, to all who wish to take it."
The work will be of a general nature and will deal with the rise and development of the art of architecture. No preceding courses are necessary. Two or three hours credit will be given for the work.
Send the Pally Kansas home to the folks.
GRIDER WRITES A CODE
Makes Ten Commandments for Miners Severe Enough,
Тоэ
"In whatever walk of life we mining engineers find ourselves we must win the respect and esteem of others. We must be sincere, firm, ambitious, self-reliant, honest, careful, all, we should not slouch. If we are efficient, we are creating goodness besides the thing immediately in hand. If our work takes us to the field of engineering, we should might and intelligence, we throw up piles of goodness as well as of dirt. The specific directions in the following Miner's Ten Commandments indicate, to a great extent, our professions and behavior." - Richard L. Grider,
I. "Thou shalt not slumber late in the morning, but shalt rise ere it is day and break thy fast, for he that goeth late to the mine gethe no candles; the day shall come to groan in darkness and the shift-host to indulgence in profanity.
II. "Thou shalt not take up any position in the center of the cage when descending or ascending the shaft, neither shalt thou appropriate in thy person more room than the law allows, for thou are but of little consequence among a whole cargo-load of men, no matter what thou thinkest to the contrary.
IV. "Thou shalt not mix waste with the ore, neither shall thou mix oure- morer than he ought nor the mucker under thy drift, for surely as thou dost these things the mine will stop paying dividends, and the ore shall not pierce for the length and breadth of the camp.
III. "Thou shalt not hesitate on the station, or smoke they pipe and talk politics with the pumpman, for verily the shift-boss might suddenly appear, and heaven help he if he findeth the chutes empty.
V. "Thou shalt not eat onions when going on shift, even though they be as tasty as potatoes," he said. His partner participate likewise, for that bulous root exciteth hard feelings in the heart of the total abstinence of a mine to be an unpleasant place.
VI. "Thou shalt not address the boss by his Christian name, neither shalt thou contradict him when thou knowst he is lying, but thou shalt knowst he is lying," suggests; and laugh when he laughs and keep on laughing when he relat-
VII. "Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's moss, nor his picks nor his drills; neither shalt thou carry away on thy person or in the lunch-basket low-grade ore from the mine, for the sake of a lifetime to obtain a mill-run."
VIII. "Thou shalt not have an opinion concerning the thy place of work, for thy employer payeth a fat salary to a school-of-mines expert for constructing in his mind bonanzas that don't exist, so thou shalt refrain from the employment to concentrate thy efforts on drilling and blasting of an abundance of powder.
eth a story, even though it be older than thy grandmother.
IX. "Tou shalt not, in order to breathe, steal from the drilling machine compressed air intended for you on a strike test then be turned adrift on a cold and cheerless world; neither shalt thou demand thy pay for the company's directors in the East know that I live there, neither care they a tinker's dam.
X. "Thou shait work and break ore every day, the Sabbath included, for verily the board of directors afermentioned hath assumed the prerogatives of the almighty, and if they possesseth thou thy dog and all that thou possesseth will soon be hitting the trail for Tonopah."
CERAMICS IS IMPORTANT
Laboratory at K. U. is Equipped To Do Valuable Work
Work
As one enters the geology and mining building he sees an exhibit of clay products which have been manufactured from undeveloped clay deposits located in various counties of the state. These products have been manufactured at the University Geoscience Center in its ceramic laboratories located in the annex of the Geology and Mining Building.
The value of this work at first may be underestimated, but upon second thought it is very evident that the work of the ceramic laboratory is one of the most valuable of any being catered to in the built environment of laborhouse. This is true for various reasons; the work is being done by the state and because of the inherent nature of the work it is of special value to this state, and of
comparative small value to neighboring states, so it is a case where practically all of the value of the work is retained in the state. Furthermore the laboratory as conducted at the University is concerned with taking common clay, one of the most abundant and valuable mineral resources of the state and converting it into the most valuable and durable structural materials as well as costly pottery and art wares for ornamental and decorative purposes.
This work is also of great value because it is lending scientific assistance to a large and varied industry of the state. Few people realize that the ceramic industry is the third largest mineral industry in the United States; unlike most industries, units but is made up of a large number of small independent plants scattered throughout the whole country.
At present the majority of ceramic factories in Kansas are located in the eastern half of the state, the value of these factories is approximately six million dollars.
The field for ceramic products in Kansas has been rather constant for the past few years but it is going to enlarge at a very rapid rate within a few years. For one example, anyone interested in permanent high-quality materials are going to play a very important part in such construction, namely, portland cement and vitrified brick, and the amount of material required for this work will be exceptionally large and accurate scientific information concerning the these products as well as those which they are manufactured are going to prove to be of inestimable value to the state at large. This laboratory is meeting this need by investigating the properties of the extensive clay beds of Kansas which occur in such large numbers, as well as those in offering ceramic manufacturing in assisting to solve some of their difficulties and to help them in producing a still better grade of manufactured products.
Send the Daily Kansan home to the folks.
Charles W. Burgess
MINING ENGINEER
Specialty—Examinations and Reports of Mines in the Joplin District
Manager O. F. and L. Mining Company 717 West Third St., Webb City, Mo.
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