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Show MINERALS SEPARATION LEVY IS DECLARED EXTORTIONATE i British Columbia Journal Says Attitude of Flota-1 Flota-1 tion Process Concern Threatens American I Mining Industry; Suggests Remedy- tor Canada Lies With the Government. THE hostiHiy towr Minerals Serration, ns reflected in a s:o:y printea in The Tribnue I two wetk ;il;o. n'Pi'ears to have i sirea0 to the western p:,rt ot the Do-nunion. Do-nunion. In the SepTeinl.er rjir.r.ber oi the Mining ami Lngineerin eoorci, I published at Vancouver, B. C, is eon-I eon-I taiiiej the foiloxviorj editorial: j Minerals Separation, Ltd., is a i British company, registered on De-j De-j comber SI, 1P;jo, to rurchase the patents formerly held' by the Cat-termoie Cat-termoie Ore Coneer.ti aiion Syiuii-eate, Syiuii-eate, Ltd., otherwise known as the Suiman-Pieard patents. A plant with a capacity or' 22,000 tons per week was established at the Sulphide Sul-phide corporation's Central mine, Broken Hill. Australia. The authorised au-thorised capital was 50,000 pounds sterling, and the directors were: J. Ballot, chairman; Y. W. Webster, Web-ster, H. A. KroUn. J. H. Curie, F. L. Gibbs. T. 0. Hoov-er was appointed ap-pointed general manager. Krohn was the onlr Germajt on the board. On September 2, 2010, a subsidiary subsid-iary company was organized, known as .the Minerals Separation American Ameri-can Syndicate, Ltd.. consisting of the same bo3rd of directors as the parent company, except that A. tondheimer of the German metallurgical metal-lurgical firm of Beer, ondheimer & Co., was substituted for II. A. Krohn, and the firm of Beer. Sond-heimer Sond-heimer ,t Co., with head offices in New ork, was appointed agent for g the Lnited States. Canada and Mexico. The articles of the association asso-ciation stated the purposes of the subsidiary company to" be the acquisition ac-quisition of an option to purchase within two rears the American and Canadian rights of Minerals Separation. Sep-aration. Ltd., and in the meantime t work the p.atents under license. American Company Formed. The new company organised and registered in the United States to locr u.c: Luc agency is known as the Mdnerals Separation Xorth American Syndicate, and while it is accepted by the governments of the Unite..! States and Canaia the German Ger-man firm of Beer, Sondheimer Jc Co. is still associated with it. The basic process of oil flotation, over which the Minerals Separation orth American Syndicate claims a patent monopoly, has revolutionised ') the mining of low gra le ores in Canada and the United States, and flotation plants are being rapiuiv multiplied. Several patents nave been registered, but Minerals Sorv-aration Sorv-aration claims royalties and patent rights over everything in the wav of flotation: and seeks, to levv a scale of royalties which are deemed exorbitant and extortionate. The result has been that several of the large American companies have refused re-fused to pay royalties or recognize the claims of Minerals Separation in any form. Tiie Minerals Set ara-tion ara-tion Xorth American Syndicate has taken the matter to the courts in the United States and h3S been successful suc-cessful so far in every instance, piling up a record of litigation hitherto nnknown in the annals of mining. Still the mining companies affected refuse to admit the claims of Minerals' Separation, and will continue to fight them. Several oers of flotation have obtained license from Mimrals Separation, use the process and p-ay the royalties re-'piired. though the vexatious terms of the, lieen-e and extortionate nature of the royalties are a constant source of fri-tion and agitation, as a re-.:lt of whi.-h the United states government will be forced to tr:l-:e action to relieve the mineral iniu.-try from an impost of a character ne-c- r intruded to be inirvised on American industrv nn- Canadian Suits Threatened. I The hitnrv of Miurals Separation Separa-tion in the t'nitcd Mites is being i repented in Canada. i. I'.ritinnia ! Mining & Smeiimg eomj any, l.t l., v.-us the fir: P a.bipt the flotation flota-tion pro.'o-'s in . ti a ia. taking out i a iicenr-"1 from the Min-Tals Scp-! Scp-! aration Am',n'an Syndicate, paying pay-ing royalties and havm? to sub-i sub-i n.it to conditions of an o':tort ionn'e j and iinreasonaMo hara. tr. u;her i r-iiripanies in British '-!umbia and 1 (Ohtario li.-iv ndnptci flotaTion ' i.rocecses, ;'. the ' allo-v and .tone's I Belmont, but have no irit' ntion ot' t paying rovalti'-s. with the re.-.ilt li.e Minerals Separation North American r- r; 1 i e- n t -. thria:ens thcai with a rej.i titiem of the litigation ' i i 'n is the pp'S-uit crire ei!' tiie ' irinc-al iiidu-iry in tiie United Mat.'-. ; Viii tho coiirts of ( aiiitdn lia-.o ' ne( s. fur 1" r;'ll.-d em to TiaKo I (,:,y renin, mi, . .....i,:. the fa. t Unit tiier' a ir:v re, unci! :topeni nn I re-eird in t'.ne.r of .Mineral:- e;,;i. r.'.tinn that ! 'hut ...!; :ii,y a r'iig i:.-i- em v iodi pt grile t'lronglnnit 111" I'.M'i-h e le. i lie- l.it .1,1 law , eil ii iiadn. lieiw e er, iia-.'' a ; io io wii h :ili'ear tei ns In e,,.er t'.e V.Oe'ile -I'elltlOl!. 'ep ai:' at'euiit al I'r'.nli'ni em the I -: : t . ' I !:"'r:i!s r7 lei r :, i n a or any .'ImT Mtelitee. ;iie flee tho nm- rrril i-idi.-'r' ef an. - la from bin' fhr-rit-ned 'in- ot bniiilaMie I P -I'lng and bin! :mg 1:1 'gati.m if the Iieiunn'in g' e r n n etit -, i roily h::'. f : l," ceieia y In .in i a .let v in ...I.. ;:; the ......Pr-. the , ..'.,!,. and 1 - i.e. t: IP 1 l. t i. 1 tie- :,- 'lee :i ):: 111' 1 eg from i, J I .'.lidon a'l. 1, a. l'.ng'a lol. Itcmcdv r "'. e i e.e, i - o t , , h n )i ,. ri I er a.. ;i i - ' i y ter !ln"i .;!, ' -o ,- ii, : ! mi ,,.,r in .to : :,l ,vi,i t ; V le- 1 ',e M Uier:; I- i ,'i .'lit inn p in the p-i'e. ; n, I f I :ui;, !:,, I 1 , : 111'. '-Ill h ''Ii. '.V e,- t hi' I o ,e,. r, v. hei e ;ie i, -onto. ':.!,- i e ,j , . t nf tie- , n I ,, ;,-e ,;n(. ; 11 d. to 1. ,n:re in .., to ,. :,e in, , , , t !. imd f,.-. , . 1,0, !1S le- ll,:,V 1, ,., t. and. fee ; ,.,., ; l , e le. t e hoPl.-r Ot the , l'en I ! . t I. e , ion o ,,,t inn for (. 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' " ' "I I i.li.j''l to tnl-e, i tn ,! .i ,:, niaud on the patent e-ommissioner for the enforcement of this clause; and if enforced there is no eloubt about- the result. i Minerals Separation were fair and reasonable in extending facili- ties for the use of its patents, there"' is not a mining company in Canada or the states "which would object, to meet their conditions or pay fair royalties; but the arrogant stand taken by Minerals Separation in endeavoring to force extortionate terms and royalties on the mining industry of the continent has aroused public indignation to a point where the mineral industry is in revolt against its persecutors, and where the powers ef government govern-ment must be exercised in no weak or vascillating manner to secure to the second largest wealth-producing industry of Canada and the United States that protection against tyranny ty-ranny which a civilized government is bound to extend to its subjects. Public Awakened. The war is awakening the public conscience to a sense of equity such as has never been known. If the royalties sought to be imposed bv Minerals Separation could be imposed im-posed without restriction, we should have a board of five men sitting in London extorting from the mineral industry oi Canada and the United States a profit amounting to several sev-eral hundreds per cent per annum on their capital stock, outrivaling the most notorious war protiteers. The time lias passed for this kind of a thing in the day when the duty of man to man is summed up in the one word, service." to which the parasite and his methods must give way for the national and economic weal. We had hoped that the recent visit to America of Mr. Ballot, the chairman of the London and American Ameri-can boards, would result in a revision re-vision of the policy of Minerals Separation, and confess to disappointment disap-pointment that there should have been no . h-irw. Ti .-. t ,.1. v.,.i has been fully advised of the hostile hos-tile attitude towards the company of the mining interests on this side of the Atlantic, so that the members mem-bers ef that board have onlv themselves them-selves to blame for the trend of hostility toward their company. We are surprised that an experienced and world-traveled mining engineer like J. id. Curie, in particular, should have failed to note the handwriting hand-writing on the wall, preferring rather to be Fubio.-ts of the hvmn of hae." which he and his co-di-reelc.rs are rapidly inditing. The tii passion of k'aisorism" in the ind:itnal life of this country is relatively as important as its suppression sup-pression on the battlefields of Europe. |