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Show Pare WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY NEWS 431 Chu?cli 1402 Curtla . CIRCULATION Street St., Denver Phone DC Alpine Df Belt Lake City, Utah Curtla St., Denver ALplna ntered ea aecond eleaa matter at 8aN Lake City, Utah, under Act o! Uarch 3, 1879. Subacrlptlon ratea: 85.00 for two yeara; 3.00 for one year. Pleaae mention Weatera Mineral Survey when writing to advert laera. Advertlalng ratea on application. 3403 . .Editor If. BILL. AH newa appearing In the Weatera Mineral Survey la obtained from aoureea believed to be reliable but no reaponalblllty la aaeumed for accuracy of atatementa. Reproduction of any material from thla publication muat have written permlaalon from the publlaher. Explosive Roles Now Adopted Adoption of new standards under which the Bureau of Mines will test and approve devices for confining permissible explosives to boreholes in coal-minblasting e has been announced by the Department of the Interior. The standards, which were approved recently by the Department, supersede those originally formulated several years ago. The standards originally specified that only incombustible materials be employed in manufacturing permissible stemming devices. The new schedule allows matefor use of to tests rials and outlines rigid which stemming plugs will be subjected. A potential applicant for approval of a stemming device is welcome to visit the Bureau at any time for consultation regard ing his product. Details regarding the Bureau's testing methods for permissible stemming devices, fees charged for tests, and other information regading the qualifications of permissible stemming devices are listed in the Tederal Register of the United States, Volume 22, Number 150 (Pages 6221 and 6222), August 3, 1957. Copies of the regulations, issued as Schedule 27B, can be obtained by writing the Bureau of Mines Central Experiment Station at 4800 Forbes St., Pittsburgh 13, Pa. - flame-resista- nt Compliments from Bogue Supply Co. 741 W. 4th So. Phone ELgin M. F. LEE, Mgr. 5-33- Grand Junctions AEG Revises Uranium Ore Slate Last U.S. Tungsten Mine Closes By Robert W. Bemick Tribune Business Editor (Reprinted from Sept. 5 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune) Grand Junction Opera-io- ns recoverable quantities and none Office of the Atomic En- of the mills tributary to . these ergy Commission has put into ef- buying stations is equipped to fect as of July 1, 1957, a revised recover vanadium. Camotite-typ- e and roscoelite-typ- e uranium ore purchasing schedat stations ule at its uranium ores meeting specitiverton, Wyoming, and Grants, fications of the Commissions New Mexico. This schedule will Uranium Program Circuremain in effect until further lar 5 Revised) may foe delivered notice. at the Commissions' Uranium ores bought at the station at Monticello, Utah, where Riverton and Grants buying sta-io- ns payment is made for the vanawill be purchased only pur- dium content in accordance with suant to the terms of contracts the provisions of the Circular. It with the Commission providing has been determined, however, ores for, among other things, mini- that most uranium-bearin- g deRiverrate mum specifications, a mind in the Grants and of livery and a total quantity of ton districts do not qualify for ore to be purchased during the vanadium payment under Circuterm of each contract. No con- lar 5 (Revised) as they contain tract will be entered into for a more than three parts of lime period exceeding one year. Pay- (CaC03) to one part of V205, ments for ores purchased at these or are not subject to Circular 5 two stations will be made on the (Revised) since they are not uranium-bearing or carnotite-typ- e following basis: 1. Payment for the uranium roscoelite-typ- e ores of the Colocontent of ore will be in ac- rado Plateau. cordance with the schedThis same determination has 5 ules set forth in Circular been made with respect to ura(Revised), including devel- nium ores being produced in opment allowances, prem- other areas, such as Cameron, iums, and haulage allow- Arizona, and the Black Hills disance. A lime penalty also trict, South Dakota. The vanamay apply depending upon dium content of most uraniumlime content and the type of bearing ores mined in such areas is not economically recoverable milling operation. 2. No payment will be made and, consequently, the mills in for any constituent of the such areas have plot installed ore other than U308. facilities for recovering vana3. No ore will be accepted dium. Where these conditions exwhich is not amenable to ist, the Commission does not plan processes in use at mills op- to include a credit for the vanadium content of the ore in arerating in the area. none ores of that the Virtually riving at the contract price in have been delivered to the above its purchase of uranium concenmentioned buying stations con- trates from milling companies tains vanadium in commercially under the current program. 41 Salt Lake City, Utah Americas last native tungsten mine was closed down of a strange Monday at Glen, Mont., signaling the fantastic end cycle of mining of this important metal in this country. The property was the Oalvert Creek open Pit of Minerals Metals Co. Engineering Co., Grand Junction, Colo., and Salt Lake Its closure, with unemployment of 40 miners and millmen, leaves the only tungsten in significant amounts being produced at the of in the United States a Bishop, Calif., mine of Union Carbide Corp. and at the Climax, Colo,, molly producer of Climax Molybdenum Corp. All other properties producing straight tungsten ores are closed. Thousands 'have lost jobs in mining, milling and refining of tungsten in the United tSates, according to Blair Burwell Jr., general manager of Minerals Engineering Salt Lake operation and head here of Salt Lake Tungsten Co. The latter firm operates a tungsten refinery here and is owned jointly by Sylvania Electrical , Products, Inc., and Minerals. Mr. Burwell notes that from 700 separate and individual producers of tungsten in the United States, the number has now dropped to nothing. General Electric Corp.s Haile Mines, Inc., operation in North Carolina is shut down, he said. ore-buyi- ng Do-mets- ic ore-buyi- ng by-produ- . . Only a few dozen oil companies were active in the moun- tain states back in 1944 when the first of the regional oil directories made its appearance. Now the total is high in the hundreds and any one of the states has more drilling contractors than the whole region had 14 years ago. Governor John C. Vivian who was Colorado's Governor in 1944 provided a foreward to the first of the series of oil directories in which he said: History repeats itself. New frontiers have again been opened in the West The frontiers of Exclusive - 9-Co- A check by The Tribune Geological Map of Nevada-Massachuset- Intermountain mers Area of Utah - Colo. - Ariz. - New Mexico Suppliers Illustrates all existing oil and gas fields oil and gas wells, dry holes, pipe lines, uranium mines and mills, access roads, highways and railroads. Mineralight Metal Detectors PRINTED IN FOUR COLORS Geiger Counters Parts Special Price - $5.00 Mailed free if order is accompanied by check or money order WILL ALSO SHIP C.O.D. . MINERALS MAP COMPANY EL 207 Newhouse Bldg. . Salt Lake City, Utah 5-94- - Service Rentals Grand Jewelry 200 SOUTH STATE ST. 36 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH ' at Reno, Nev., disclosed that ts In 1056, tungsten was second to copper in accounting for Nevadas mineral wealth. Today there isnt an ounce of tungsten being mined in the entire state, Mr. Burwell pointed out. He recalls there was a day during the halcyon regime of Franklin D. Roosevelt that Interior Secretary Harold Ickes an- nounced (to the surprise of westerners) that the United States had no tungsten. or Wil-list- on 4-Co- m Getchell Mine, Inc., probably the biggest producer of tungsten in the United States, has shut down. Another major producer, was Mining Co., near Winnemucca. It also closed down. . Grand Jewelry lor copper-molybdenu- 4 which I speak are concerned with oil, which, in the machine age following victory, will play an increasingly important part in the life of every human being, and in the economy of every nation. I am extremely bullish with respect to Colorados "oil future in the postwar period He proved to be a pretty good prophet, for Colorados oil production soared from less than 10,000 barrels a day, when Vivian made his statement, to more than 150,000 barrels a day in August, 1957. The new Rocky Mountain Oil Directory again features a general index showing in simple alphabetical order the location of the thousands of detailed references to oil companies, drielling contractors, supply houses, consultants and those in other specialized categories. New maps of the. Four Corners Area and Basin also are included in the 192 page book. then-Govem- ct . New Directory Proves Big Boom In West Centers on Oil Ventures The whole blooming oil industry seems to have moved into the Rockies, according to Henry W. Hough of Denver, Rocky Mountain Oil Reporter editor, whose staff has just issued its 14th annual edition of the Rocky Mountain Oil Directory. 6, 1957 An Editorial The ADVXRTTBINa SOX 3608 Lb Friday, September THE WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY 2 (This statement has led U.S. Sen. George Malone (R., Nev.) to remark that the late secretary, who was known for 'his captious but misinformed.) statements, was honest Mr. Burwell explains that whether Mr. Ickes was right or wrong in the 1930s, his suspicion that America has no tungsten grew in body and belief. It led to launching of a huge purchase program abroad and at home of this strategically necessary metal. And now Mr. Ickes belief is flatly contradicted by facts. In early 1956, the mining industry was turning out tungsten from U.S. properties twice as fast as civilian needs dictated, Mr. Burwell says. Foreign mines were started up with grants and gifts from the American taxpayer. It was even argued that the Korean War was essential for fear a tungsten mine on the 38th Parallel (border) would fall in Communist hands. and are now being spent buying every pound of tungsten which purchasers and agents of the federal government could acquire. Some persons even bilked Unde Sam by selling Mexican tungsten for production alleged to come from domestic properties, the Salt Laker said. When it became apparent that we were up to our arm pits in tungsten, Congress called a halt. This signalled the death of the domestic industry, Mr. Burwell reported. Not one contract with foreign producers was touched, however. So the aimless purchase of more than 60 million dollars worth of foreign produced tungsten continues. A promised Eisenhower Administration program for acquisition on a reduced scale of tungsten from American mines has run afoul the economy wave in Congress even though in 1956 Congress authorized such a program Mr. Burwell continued. It would appear justifiable for the Congress to continue appropriating money for purchase of tungsten which we dont need from countries (such as Portugal and Brazil) which certainly arent broke. But no money must be spent on the American tungsten miner. Thats waste, he said. During the last year, the price of tungsten 'has dropped from $63 a unit (federal domestic purchase prices as against $69 a unit for major foreign producers selling to the United States government to less than 10 dollars a unit, the Utahn said. And Mr. Burwell says hell run his refinery at Salt Lake City on cheaply produced foreign ores. Just think of the paradox, he notes. In die interest of national defense, we successfully develop a native domestic tungsten industry at great cost. And then we just as promptly liquidate the whole business but continue to support foreign production, he said. Who said the French politicians were illogical. Millions were spent |