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Show 'U. S. BUREAU MH. .a. U. OF U. ll OF MINES A !i f CI.T.Y . SALT LAKE VALLEY SMELTER mess . LEAD, par ivm DOLD WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY IJNc ii.iisc pMiJ SAM tin. EIKO . .. S.13M ... , SILVER (prM.Bmliri)' It.SRc SILVER (pcf Niipit).. ... SIRSc Features Mining, Oil, Financial Soft. Lake City, Utah, June, 18, 1943 $2.00 Year, $1.00, 6 Mos. Hoover Decision Helps Cause Of Metal Mine Leasing Kline Cause Western mine operators were jubilant today, following a decision of U, S. District Judge Tillman D. Johnson Wednesday in Salt Lake which would remove the difficulties in the way of mine .leasing in Utah and surrounding states. Judge Johnsons decision, in a T . Western metal miners' have, a staunch supporter' in their pleas for adequate manpower to uphold necessary production of the baslq materials, of war,' in no less, person, than .former Pres.. Herbert Hoover, it . was established .follow fng a visit .of, the former natlon- al chief executive to Salt Lake this Week. President Hoover who was . - re- - -- ; The present, pace of production cannot be maintained more than eight months, at the. outside,' Mr. Hoover, feels, unless, adequate provision, is made for keeping up metal production in western mines, and such provision must take care' not only , of acjtual mining of. metal, but of development " work. The who spent several hours in an informal meeting with local leaders of the metal mining industry in the Alta Club Tuesday, showed' a clear, understanding of the basic problems- of the miping Industry and the. im- for Heratlve necessity development . if future production is to be expected. Certainly America cannot hope to keep on turning out huge quantities of airplanes,' tanks, war guns and ptlier essentials of met-als without a full supply of the of which they are made, and the supply of metals, cannot be maintained indefinitely from current ore bodies, many of which are. being rapidly depleted. In wartime as .in. peacetime, the industry canto keep going only by adherence proper principles, one. of the first, of which is .to maintain development work along ' with current; production. This- principle, so primet-simpl- e that a mining man would, think It obvious. to a kindergarten child, has apparently not ' b e c n fully appreciated : by some Wash ington officials; who have con-- sistently refused to make' provi-- ' Sion for maintaining adequate manpower in the mines, first, line of war production: ,' The championing of the. mine industrys . cause by President Hoover . should be of tremendous value, not. only to the industry, but- to the nation which is. de-- . pendent on our7 mineral output. . - . - -- . - ; . . 1 cose brought by the Combined Metals Reduction ' Company federal government the against for recovery of $18,655.79 paid under protest as old age security and unemployment compensation taxes undei the social security act, upholds the contention of the mining industry that mine lessees are, in. fact independent contractors and not employes of the lessor. The government collected the taxes in the Combined Metals case on the theory that the men for. whom the taxes were paid were bona fide employes of the' company, and if all lessees were considered as such, and taxes had to be paid oh them under the Social Security Act, mind leasing would not be practical. A similar situation existed under the. Utah state laws, dating from a State Supreme Court decision of more than two years ago, but the Utah State Legislature took up the problem at the recent session and. by passage of three bills (SB 40, 41 and 42) made it clear that mine lessees were to be considered as independent contractors and not employes of the lessor mining company. Judge Johnsons decision may be appealed by the government to the Tenth Circuit Court of Ap- - - howned as a mining engineer and mine developer in private life before he gained.ever. greater fame as. International .food administrator during the last war and then went on to the presidency, indicated that, his :.. next nationally broadcast address would be on the subject of the critical, heed for men in the. mining, of strategic petals if the nation's war effort is7 to be maintained at the . - . , - . - . - - HERBERT HOOVER, a visitor in Salt Lake this week, is a strong supporter of the mining industry and promlsed to devote his next natiohal address to the nsce's sity for adequate manpower in the industry in order to keep the national war effort going. - v 'V peals; iichrwm'prpbtfmybedone. If the appeal court upholds the decision of Judge Johns oil, the case would doubtless rest there and the decision stand; '6n the other hand, If the Salt Lake verdict should be reversed, then the mining company could almost certainly get the matter before . the peak employ: the (Prepared by W. W. Adams, Su-- per. cent under Supreme' Court on a writ of ment and war year of 1917. pervising Statistician, Employcertiorari. ment Statistics Section, Mineral The number of' persons employTlie points at issue in this Production and Economics- Divi- ed in the mineral industries , of case have been the center of consion, Economics and Statistics tlie United States during each siderable controversy in all metal Service.) year since 1914, the year in mining states ' for some tiine, .the Firsts World War be- and, in view of the present war force which, With a smaller working in 1942, the United Slates produc- gan, is shown in' the accompany- emergency Work, the. question is ed in dollar values 10 per cent ing table. The figures cover doubly significant' - smelters, mills,Mine "owners'.' simply cannot more mineral products than in quarries, e and coke ovens, and . they show lease properties to private indi1041 and exceeded the 2G0,-00-0 viduals for development and high year of 1920 by 8 per cent, a reduction of approximately 1914 1912. to from to under the. usual terms employes reports by working prepared according the Bureau of Mines of the De' While tlie mineral' industries if the lesser is required to pay partment of the Interior, The'' ti were in operation : over a larger social security taxes on the losses, tal value of all mineral products number of work-day- s during and as a consequence a great deal last year the first, full year ' of 1942 than during 1941, it is prob- of potential contribution of the United States participation in the able that the chief explanation metal mining fields to the war present war was more than TV of' the ability of these industries effort is being .lost.to be hoped If is sincerely billion dollars. This record per- to meet the needs , of the decision Johnsons In that was formance for iron, copper, coal and Judge accomplished the face of a manpower reduc- other minerals with a notably will be upheld and that the mattion in the mineral industries re: smaller. working' personnel in ter will be speedily brought to . 1941v 3 recent earlier in under at than cent; years conclusion, so that' mining men years per ported 30 26 per cent below 1920, and is the great' advance in mechan- mav go back to leasing practices ization. The replacement of hand with a clear knowledge of the methods by mechanized methods authentic interpretation of the of operation, and the improve- law in the points involved. Ski f II. S. Mineral Industry Sets Production Record - . . . . . - all-tim- . - .. na-tlo- . si . . - , , Mines Bureau T ells Danaers Of Monoxide a contribution- toward reducing the death toll from carbon monoxide poisoning, the Bureau of Mines today announced publication of. a- - circular, describing protective measures which should be taken in the home to minimize : dangers from the gas and methods of treating persons affected by It. The hazards of carbon monoxide' have Increased greatly since the war because of the shortages of . certain fuels, causing many persons to experiment with substitute fuels, said Dr., R. R: Sayers,, director of the bureau. The circular, Danger from Carbon Monoxide in the Home, is written in nontechnical language by H. H. Schrenk, chief chemist in the bureaus health division, and L. B. Berger, chemist in the Bureaus Central Experiment Station at .Pittsburgh, Pa.; The bureaus research in carbon oxide has extended over a period of many years because the gas. sometimes is encountered in underground mines. 'As - - . H .. t . . e JLr! . . . VOL 14,. NO, 25 levels. present ' imld It the lal Ml a USaaUlcii f Utall wl the WmL A raaaaic cf Etc tatMilas M ftlipunti la Hrrlfl each trrfk. la - v ment in organization and coordination of effort that' often follows mechanization,- - have greatly increased the productivity of of work, and labor per man-hou- r as. is this it fact,' stated, perhaps ; of In describing the dangers Although production of native any other single fac- sulfur carbon monoxide, the publication more. thanaccounts remained at a low level in for a marked and tor, that in lists a series of dos 1913, shipment activity was April face increase the in production donts. which, are Intended to of a decrease in 1942 according to in the number of higher than in homeowners guide operating employes. figures released by the Bureau of cooking and heating equipment Mines, United States Department so that any carbon monoxide libci the Interior. erated will be burned or carried Vanadium During the first four months of Moving 1943 production was 23 per cent away without jeopardizing lives. A colorless, odorless, and taste- . DOLORES, Colo. Two or three and mine shipments 12 per. cent less gas, carbon monoxide Is than in the same period of trains of. 10 or 12 cars each are less 1942. On the other hand, a considproduced by incomplete combustion. When breathed it deprives passing through' here each week erable part of the demand was the circulatory system of its abil- hauling vanadium ore from the satisfied by withdrawals from provanadium mining district of west- ducers stocks away from the ity to carry oxygen. Carbon monoxide has been a ern Colorado and eastern Utah to mines, and when this tonnage is taken into consideration it is apthreat to human safety since man the smelter at Durango. first used fire to keep warm and .Some of the ore Is loaded at parent that total sales in the Janto , cook his food, the report Thompson, Utah, and all of it uary through April periods were transported the entire about 0.6 per cent greater in 1943 points out. .The burning of. any is being of the Rio Grande Soutlv-er- than in 1942. Opening of barge fuel that contains carbon may length Railroad. Barring the possi- traffic on the Mississippi and acproduce carbon monoxide. This of trouble with Ames slide tive sales combined to cause a is true of solid fuels such as coal, bility and high water thf3 . spring, it sharp rise in mine shipments, coke, and wood; liquid fuels such as oil,' gasoline and kerosene; appears that the railroad is about which were 31 per cent greater and gaseous fuels such as nat- to enjoy a period - of prosperity in April than in March. Total procomparable with the old days ducers stocks are being slowly ural or manufactured gas at the end of April Here are some of the dos when the mines at Tellurido, depleted but 155.661 were of still made Rico and long tons greatOphir plenty er than in April 1942. See MONOXIDE on Page 4 .business. Sulfur Output Remains Small . . . - - - . n Sand Best Stemming Recent tests the Bureau of by Mines regarding the efficiency of various types of stemming for 40 per cent ammonia geletin dy. namite in. blasting rock indicate that sand is the best material for confining explosives to boreholes under conditions in which the experiments were conducted, Dr. R. R. Sayers, director of the Bureau of Mines, today Informed Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. A report prepared by John A. Johnson, mining engineer in the Bureaus Safety Division, and Wing C. Agnew, superintendent of the Bureaus ML Weather Testing Adit, near Bluemont, Va, describes tlie use of various stemming materials and points out their advantages and disadvantages. it is the sixth in a series of reports on stemming, tests conducted at Mt Weathefto promote more efficient use. of explosives in. metal mines. In addition to sand, the follow ing other materials were used in the stemming tests: Clay; mineral wool;, .. vermkulite,:- - ? limestone screenings, commercial hydrated lime, noncombustible blasting plugs, pulverized limestone, and. used cardoxide, a chemical material emplbyed as a carbon dioxide absorbent in respiratory apparatus. Charges also were fired without stemming and with primers in cardboard tubes. Johnson and Agnew said that while sand proved to be the most efficient stemming material in the rock (basalt) blasted at Mt Weather Testing 'Adit in conditions of procedurechanges might affect any or all of the results obtained. rt Copies of the publication, of Investigations 369 Stemming m Metal Mines, Progress Report 6, may be obtained without cost by writing the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Inters ior, Washington, D. C. ' - , Re-po- Leadville Action Sep" . DENVER. Colo. New ho, - e. the rehabilitation of Leadville as Colorados premier strategic metal mining camp was given . in Washington when Senators Johnson and Millikin and Congressman Rockwell announced they will ask Congress to appropriate $1,500,000 to drive a long tunnel and unwater the mines, of the famous old camp and start production of ores now under water. The plan for unwatering Leadville hinges first, it is said, on the approval of the plan by the mine owners of the district and secondly upon the willingness of Congress to appropriate the necessary money to accomplish the important and needed work. Senators Johnson and Millikin and Congressman Rockwell, it was stated in Washington, have the backing of the mineral resources and zinc divisions of the war production board for the driving of a drainage tunnel which engineers believe will drain 90 per cent of the area containing the huge ore bodies m the district Now with the critical need for lead and zinc and copper for the nations war industries, the congressmen have asked governmental agencies to propose a plan for draining the huge area. Engineers have agreed on tunnel 21 miles long with 1 3 miles of branches which will cost $1,500,000. They figure it can be completed within a year or less. . 1-- . |