Show THE TE YELLOW alster MINE asan As an illustration of what may be e accomplished complis hed on even the deserts of california the rapid rise of the yellow aster mine at randsburg brandsburg Rands burg kern county california from a prospect to a place in the ranks of cali fornias producing mines is a striking and instructive example says the mining and scientific press isolated at first from communication muni cation with the outside world situated on a rugged hill in a treeless and waterless desert without the basking of capital the owners have i surmounted all obstacles and shown what maybe accomplished ed by enterprising men in the face of many difficulties athe yellow aster is the name covering a group of several claims lying upon the summit and sides of a ridge between the towns of johannesburg and rands burg situated about one mile apart the former place is now connected by ra rail with the atlantic A pacific railroad at kramer the country rock of the district is described as schistose having a northeast strike and northwest dip numerous dykes traverse this formation and large veins of white barren quartz outcrop in n many places in the district the surface of the ground is strewn with cobbles and boulders of andesite derived probably from the large masses of this rock lying to the northward and capping the hills in that direction the yellow aster mine lies between two large dark colored dykes which being harder than the rocks in which they occur stand several feet above the surface these dykes are about feet apart and may be seen crossing the ridge obliquely for several hundred bundred feet on the summit of this ridge is a large mass of gold bearing rock f from rom which veins extend in several directions some portions of the ridge seem to be a net work of veins the trilby tunnel for instance having cut twenty six separate veins of various sizes in a distance of feet A great areat amount of work has been done on the various veins buethe but the systematic development which must mark the mine of the future is only just being outlined the mine was discovered by dry gulch prospectors who gradually worked up the gulch and finally their work took them to the gold bearing veins the news spread rapidly and other prospectors came to the district and new finds were of almost daily occurrence occurrence eventually custom quartz mills were built at neighboring springs eight to sixteen miles distant and to these the miners of the district hauled their ore in wagons and had it crushed at heavy expense and it required a high go grade rade oie ore to pay these charges and leave a profit but of such are these desert mines the yellow aster mine sent ore to garlock mill several miles distant later upon completion of the te railroad from kramer to johannesburg a large mill was built near barstow on the mojave river and many of the mines of the district shipped their ores to that point by rail for treatment making a short haul to the railroad terminus with wagons the yellow aster mine for a long time shipped sixty tons of ore to barstow daily A few days since the union iron works of san francisco completed a modern 30 stamp gold mill which is built on the company s property in the canyon above which the mines are located as shown in the accompanying illustration the construction and successful operation of a large quartz mill in this desert region necessitated the solution of two important economic problems water and fuel neither of which were apparently obtainable in any considerable quantity k t 7 oslo 4 5 Q 44 J 01 pa 7 Z THIRTY STAMP MILL AT THE YELLOW ASTER MINE RANDSBURG CAL within many mites miles of the mines the company purchased skillings wells six miles distant sunk a shaft there and built a pumping station laid a pipe line and are now nov able to f tarnish ur about gallons of water daily to the mine and town the water is raised from the shaft about 90 feet fee t and pumped into a t tank ank having a ca capacity of gallons from the tank a tandem compound duplex pump forces the water through a pipe line six miles long with a lift of feet at a rate of gallons per hour at the pump station are two men who look after the plant and run it to twelve hours dally daily the pumping engines are 40 IL II P the water is delivered at the mine into three tanks having a aggregate capacity of about gallons in this manner the water question was settled the fuel problem was equally important ank after careful inquiry crude petroleum was determined upon as the most economical fuel under the circumstances and this is obtained from froin los an angeles geles wells at a cost of 61 1 per barrel and is of superior quality seemingly well suited to this use the oil is delivered at the railroad terminal in car tanks holding gallons and hauled by CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 ASTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE FIVE I 1 wagon to a tank having a capacity of over gallons located bome some distL distance nee from the mill and 30 feet above the boilers the fuel plant is provided with two pumps but these are found unnecessary the pressure afforded b the tank being found sufficient to feed the fuel as required by this means steam is generated which furnishes the motive force for all the machinery at the mill the stamps are run by a engine a separate engine runs the breaker and a third 2 runs an electric generator which supplies light for mine mill and other buildings i a the mill is solidly constructed on oh terraces formed by building substantial retaining walls along the graded excavations the structure is covered with corrugated iron the mortar blocks are made from timbers 14 feet long set in pairs and resting on concrete foundation being filled with concrete the jaw crusher is set on a heavy frame of timbers and wholly disconnected f from r m the mill building being under a separate roof the cam floor of the in mill ill is suspended by iron rods from the roof trusses of the building thus affording more li liht light ht than is found in many mills the feeders are suspended and the large space back of the feeders and underneath the ore bins is used as a storeroom for many articles required about the mill the main main t line shaft alaf t passes back of the batteries underneath the feeder floor the plate area is large and the ore is is thus far free millin milling in front of the mortars and above the plates is arranged a steel beam from which a bucket is suspended on travelers when the mortars are to be cleaned this bucket may be moved and their contents shoveled into it and dumped into the cleanup clean up un barrel the concentrator building is is apart from the battery building though joining it A glance at the illustration will show the advantage this affords in lighting the batteries the ore is delivered to a chute which discharges in a bin above the breaker from the breaker it goes to the bin in the mill having a capacity of tons burr slot no 7 screens are used the bapa capacity city being four tons per stamp gallons of water are used daily which is more than is usually required but is due to the dryness of the ore the tailings pass into a reservoir the overflow from which is pumped back and reused re used it is estimated that a saving of 40 to 50 per cent is thus effected the cost of fuel is about 25 cents per ton of ore and of water about the same showing that after the first cost of the plant it is less expensive than might be imagined for the more thorough development and systematic operations erat ions of the mines the advisability of sinking a three compartment vertical shaft shaf t is being considered initial shipments of ore from the recent copper discoveries in emery county are at the sampler |