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Show Hie Wester 2 AS &R Uranium Ore Production Continues To Show Increase Continued from Page 1 In South Dakota and Wyoming the Lakota formation has been the principal source of ore production. Some production is also coming from fissure reins in the Marys-val- e, Utah, district, the Colorado Front Range and the Boulder Bath-olit- h area near Boulder, Mont. The three main types of ore being produced are the vanadium-ric- h ores from the Morrison forores mation, the : vanadium-poo- r from the Shinarump formation and the limestone ores from the Todll-t- o formation. Mine operators, who a few years ago were mining ore mostly from the rims of canyons or through inclined shafts a short distance back from the runs, an now mining through vertical shafts, some of which will be as deep as 600 feet, as the more easily accessible deposts are depleted and deeper deposits are discovered and developed. The completion in September of the new plant at Bluewater, near Grants, New Met ico, by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., increased to nine the number of uranium plants in the United States. Anaconda is contemplating the; con- , ore-processi- ore-processi-ng of additional facilito ties ore treat the sandstone-typ-ine being, produced this area and stockpiled at the station at Grants. Construction of a tenth plant at Ship-roce Oil N. Mex., by will Industries, Inc., begin early in 1954. This plant will treat the orei in the Lukachukai being produced " of northeastern area Mountain Arizona and other areas on the Navajo Indian Reservation, together with those stockpiled at the station over a Shiprock period of about two years. Facilities were enlarged by Vanadium Corp. of America at its Naturita and Durango, Colo., mills, and. by the Climax Uranium Co. at its Grand Junction, Colo., mill. Additional processing plants are being considered for treatment of ore reserves recently, developed in the Bedrock area of Colorado and in the vicinity of Moab, Utah. The Commission is planning expansion of its .facilities at Utah. TheGaliger Co. is the contractor operating this mill. During the; second half of the year the AEC construction program accounted for 3.35 per cent of the Nations total construction expenditures. struction ore-buyi- ng k, Kerr-McGe- ore-buyi- ng Mon-ticell- o, DMEA Funds Land Bureau Sets .Up New Aid Output Of Minerals Area Offices About $1,000,000 worth of minerals has been produced so far in the Pacific Northwest as a direct result of the defense minerals exploration program, according to A. E. Wissenborn, executive officer of the DMEAS Spokane field office and regional geologist for the U. S. geological survey. 'Since the program was inaugurated in 1951 a total of 157 contracts, involving expenditures of $10,497,106 for exploration work, have been approved in this Northwest area) he told a luncheon meeting of the Northwest Mining association and the Spokane chamber of commerce ' .mining bureau last week. . . ,n At the end of 1953,' there were 94 of these contracts, with a valuation of approximately $8,000,000, still in effect and of this group 65 frete considered active. , Royalty Payments Royalty payments on the exploration loans have totaled $47,314, with 20 firms contributing to the total in amounts varying from $3.37 to $21,081, he reported. Contract approvals for the entire nation totaled 612 at the end of 1953, he said. They provide for worth of exploration work, with the government supplying $17,807,617 of the total. Wiessenbom also announced that the geological survey ' is planning to extend its study of the northeastern Washington limestone belt to Stevens county this summer. A study of the ore deposits and geology of the Metaline district in adjoining Pen Oreille county is now being completed. Work done to date, he said, indicates that the Metaline limestone may be a good deal thicker than previously recognized. Another new project for the coming fiscal year will be a geologic map of Oregon, he said. The project will entail a substantial amount of 'field work in western Oregon and will be done in cooperation with the Oregon department of mines and geology. $29,-336,4- 55 . . Douglas McKay. The move, which is expected to result in better economical service according to geographical location, is the first step in carrying out recommendations of a survey team for reorganization of the bureau, according to Edward Woozley, BLM director. The new area offices will be at Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City and Denver r The area 1 Portland office, coverings Washington, Oregon and California, .will be. headed by James F. Doyle, now assistant BLM regional director there. Area 2 at Salt Lake City will be under H. Byron Mock, now regional director there. Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Arizona are included in this area. The Denver office, Area 3, will take in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and such other states as will not be served from the Washington, D. C., office. Wes-tB. Wallace, now regional administrator at Billings, Mont., has been named director.. The new area offices will replace six regional offices in Billings, Mont., San Francisco, Albuquerque, N. M., Washington, Portland and Salt Lake City. State BLM offices which will serve as operating units for the area offices will be located in Spokane, Wash., Portland, Ore., Boise, Ida., Billings, .Cheyenne, Wyo., Denver, Salt Lake City, Reno, Nev., Sacramento, Calif., Ariz., and Santa Fe., N. M. . el Idaho Maryland Idaho-Marylan- Mines d corpora- tion has found a number of descheelite posits of high-grad- e in its mines gold big (tungsten ore) at Grass Valley, Calif., President Bert A. Austin reported this week. Extent of the deposits is not yet known, he said, but sample assays the a of kind the indicate an excellent grade of ore," was girl She at whistle they pure enough to qualify for a boys didnt were hangstockpiling purchase uncouldnt, their tongues der the procurement service. ing out. , gov-"TTn,'- Plans Depth Work At Vulcan Federal Mineral purchase Proposed To Aid industry program . American WALLACE, IDAHO Smelting and Refining company has decided to extend to greater depth the big development program currently in progress at its Vulcan-Galen- a operation on Lake a about mile west of Walgulch lace. J. E. Qcrg, manager of the companys northwest mining operations, who recently returned from a trip to the New York office, told the Wallace Miner , recently that plans for deepening the Vulcan shaft an additional 400 feet, to the 3400 level, have been approved and work on the project is already underway. Favorable Results Favorable results of diamond drill exploration below the 3000 level are largely' responsible for the decision to go deeper at this time, he indicated. Drilling 'of 'the tetrahedrite (silver-copper) vein discovered last year, he said, has indicated downward continuity, of the. ore, of normal width and grade. Sinking operations will be 'on a three-shi- ft basis, six, days a week. Shaft To Be Extended The shaft is to. be extended directly to the new deep horizon without any interruptions for cutting intermediate stations,. Berg said. Upward and lateral development work will be continued while the shaft project is in progress, he four-compartm- . - , nt The Vulcan project is a involving limited limited quota stockpile purchase been proposed has industry the within mining government participation AssoResources Mineral the by the Small Mine Owners of Idaho and ciation of Idaho as a temporary mining industry with utter disintegra- threaten the domestic lead-zin- c tion or extinction as an economic orce....... . 0 The program, as outlined last will be jeoparour of people week by Floyd Sherry, Jr., spokes- curity i dized. , man for both central Idaho orThe building of a reserve oLdifir-abl- e ganizations, in a letter to Senator new wealth is in reality prowpuld Henry Dworshak viding; for the future, he' pointed provide for government purchase out of a limited quantity of mineral By adding to' our reserve from individual producers at an new wealth, we are creadjusted price delivered to the na- ating a capital asset that is added i tional stockpile. into our economic well-beinhe The general principle involved, stated; ' Mineral resources in the he said, is that of limited gov- reserve are immediately ernment participation similar .to available stockpile hi case of an emergency. that which was a financial and If- left in the mine, and the mine practical success during World allowed to deteriorate into a mass War n. (Premium price plan.) of wreckage, and the operators as With respect to administrative force allowed to disapskilled a structure and necessary limitawe have no reserve that then pear, tions, the following is suggested: called available. can be ever 1. Joint administration by the , Better Future . general . services administration, . the refineries and smelters and the Pointing out the extreme differmine operators. ence between a perishable butter ' stockpile and durable stockpile of Quota of Production metal. Sherry suggests that Amerindivid2. Investigation of each know how and potential dur- - ' ican, ual mine capable of production by the joint group, and assignment of able wealth are the foundations for a quota of production for eacli at a better future. .; an adjusted price sufficient to keep "Wehave a future to provide for, the mine intact as an operating say 50 years from now, when the industrialization of the world will unit. 3. Determination of the adjusted absorb all file available minerals price for t the production quot$, that can be produced the world with due consideration for local over, he asserted.. It would be a mining costs, treatments, transpor- smart people that. had the- foretation, marketing and any other sight to provide for this expanded unusual costs that would tend to demand, when they had the surprohibit the operator from equit- pluses and. the. opportunity to ably participating in the free market stockpile.? Sherry suggested further that and with development necesthe national reserve stockpile of sary to sustain a limited producdurable wealth could be mortgaged tion treated as a proportionate ' : to for additional wealth. pay mining co A stated. Establishment of three new area headquarters for the bureau of land management of the department of interior, to replace six regional offices, was announced last week by Interior Secretary March S, 954 Mineral Surrey, Salt Lake City, Utah eentto (R.-Ida.- )., e, g, - , ; . , ; - - . . . three-compa- ny venture . that has .been since 1947. Asarco is the underway under a profit-sharin- g firm operating lease agreement with Vulcan Silver-Lea- d corporation, owner of the property, and Day. Mines, Inc., has a 25 per cent interest in the Asarco lease. Although still entirely a development proposition, the Vulcan mine was last year listed by the bureau of mines as one of the leading silver producers in Idaho. - U. S. Smelling Claims Loss From Price Change United States Smelting, Refining company last year suffered a loss of $1,006,028 from fluctuations in metal prices, according to a preliminary annual report released last week. This compares with a similar loss of $1,709,502 in 1952. In both years the amount of loss was restored to surplus from the companys reserve for metal price fluctuations. Net. gain from sales of proper-ties'an- d investments last year was after income taxes, $2,269,643, with $2,728,776 in 1952. compared Sales last year included the companys power plant at Fairbanks, d of its Alaska, and about in Texas Pacific Land holdings Trust. & Mining one-thir- Uranium, Oil .. . Continued from Page 1 time, was needed for operators to complete the basic work precluding production effQrts. This element is more dominant in the uranium business than most other due to the fact that uranium ore deposition is found to be occuring in a region that heretofore has been practically isolated in so far as major transportation facilities are concerned, he said. , Such is the case inthe Elate-rit- e Basin, where road building operations are now underway, Mr. Walters explained, 'stating that when this area is opened up to allow use of mining machinery necessary to conduct comprehensive mining operations, an announcement may well be forthcoming that will startle the uranium world. 4. Day-to-da- y administration of approved contracts by smelters and refineries as agents of the regovernment and semi-annuview and alteration of contracts. 5. Delivery of quota production to the national strategic stockpile to be held as a reserve until demand for the mineral forces the free mafket price above that paid the producer or until a national emergency arises. 6. Determination of an economic horizon consistent with out na tional security and the welfare of the industry in order to limit participation. The program is suggested, Sherry said, because unless some action is instituted the national se- al . Secretive Prospectors ' ANCHORAGE, Of all ALASKA the prospectors who set off with ' high-- , hopes for the wilds of Alaska,' those who lug a five pound Geiger countermand seek the modem bonanza, uranium, are the most secretive. Thats the opinion of Martin Jasper, engineer at the Department of Mines assay office, and Jasper ought to know. Since last December when his office started keeping a visitors book, more than 200 prospectors and interested have flocked to the assay building for mining inform, tion,' and just to talk. by-stand- ers Subscribe Now i Western Mineral Survey 2214 East 1st South Salt Lake Gty, Utah i PUBLISHED ONCE EACH WEEK ' f' Late News, Quotations, Information Service, on Mining, Oil, Financial KEEP POSTED ON THE GREAT URANIUM BOOM $3.00 One Year f $5.00 Two Years Subscription Order Enclosed find $ . Mineral Survey for. &me.... ............. .............. Address for which send me Western .'iV! |