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Show THE SAX JUAN RECORI PAGE EIGHT Western Mining Conference Continued from page 1 up to treat specific ore bodies or as custom facilities and received guaranteed contracts for their output. AEC ore buying stations provided additional outlets for the ore that began to flow from the Under these stimuli, ground. stock both good and doubtful were floated at a prodigious rate, private capital flowed Into this new business in unprecedented quantities, and one of the greatest mining booms the country has ever seen got underway. That this government sponsored and stimulated rush to develop our domestic uranium ore reserves has been successful, there On December can be no doubt. 26, the N. Y. Times stated that Uranium producers had received a total of $,804,177 in bonuses last year up to December 1. In another article in the Times under the date of January 22, 1957, it was stated that the DMEA had signed 151 contracts agreeing to put up a maximum of $4,620,000 for Uranium exploration in with prospectors, and the AEC recently announced that the estimated total of reserves in the ground as of November 1, 1956 was 60 million tons. But as the quantities of ore reserves increasea In widely dispersed areas, a shortage of milling capacity became evident. Buying stations which had been opened early in the development period began to restrict their purchases and new buying stations were less frequently set up. Typical of the miners com plaints, is the statement in the Engineering and Mining Journal attributed to James W. Moran, Pres, of the Wyoming Mining Association and Vern Hughes., of Shoni Uranium. They point out that although there are two mills scheduled to be built in the Riverton area, there are 53 ore shippers there, and the shipping quotas set by the AEC have minpar:-nershi- p - Adams Roofing Co. C. 'Roofing of Ail Types' Free Estimates ers sitting on their ore. If the miners cant sell ore, they complain, they cant get money to explore for more reserves and build more mills and it might be added that the government cant get repaid for previous exploration loans either. The mill operators have their problems too. They know that when they are no longer working under the protection of guaranteed price contracts, the average small mill in the U. S. cannot compete with the large mills of 2,000 to 3,000 TPD capacity, to say nothing of the 10,000 TPD giant planned by Consolideted Denison in Canada. Naturally they want to amoratize their plants and make their profits Since while the protection lasts. they can obviously make more money by processing their own ore, they can hardly be blamed for their reluctance to do custom milling. It would seem obvious that an effective and economical preconcentration treatment for Uranium ores would help to solve the problems of both the miner and the miller. The advantages to the mill would be to increase the capacity with little added capital investment, as well as permitting the operating economies offered and the asby higher thru-pu- t surance of a continued supply of A 250 ton mill operating feed. on .25 jer cent ore could in effect become equivalent of a 1,000 ton mill if it were fed 1 per cent ore. portion of the increased profit could easily be used to pay for the upgrading treatment, and provide the miner an immediate market for ore he cannot now sell at all at its present grade. For example: A miner operates a property having .20 ore. His Circular 5 price before initial production bonus and hauling allowance is $16 ton. Suppose he upgrades this ore of and recovers 100 to 1 the U308 (which, of course, is manifestly impossible.) His Cir cular 5 price above for the concentrate is $94.50. An equivalent poundage of U308 in a .20 ore would require 5 tons at $16, which would net the miner $80.00. Total added revenue to the miner for precon- centrating Phone 2416 Blanding, Utah $24.00. FOR EACH TON OF ORIGINAL ORE, THE MINERS ADDED REVENUE WOULD BE $14.50 DIVIDED BY 5, OR $2.90. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY M0AB BLUE PRINT COMPANY P. O. BOX 158 Moab, Utah - MAPS PRINTS - PHOTOSTATS ENGINEERS SUPPLIES MAIL OARDERS HANDLED PROMPTLY AND CONFIDENTLY EXECUTED We carry THE 00 MILLION YEARS & U BOOM By AL LOOK 1 ri'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiin.fiiiiiiiiiiiiaHiiiiHai.iuiuiiiiiii.igiiiiiiiiiHiiiaiiiiiiniHinittiiiihi iiiiani'tiHii'ii'iiiiiiiHiiiiuiitK .TOO SMALL AN INCR EASEMENT TO JUSTIFY THE INVESTMENT IN A PRECONCENTRATION FACILITY. But what if the mill could pay some added premium for savings on inbound freight or from the advantage in milling a higher grade feed? At first blush, it looks like an attractive possibility. It is ... . except for the unfortunate fact that mill contracts are so written that the price paid for the concentrate goes down as the grade of the mill feed increases. Hence the mill cannot pay more for and the material upgraded on his sit to miner is forced ore. And here is an area where the frustrations of the Uranium industry are complicated by the reI fell striction of information. sure the American operators in this field would like to know if their Canadian counterparts, who are also producing yellow cake for the AEC, have this same restrictive clause in their contracts and if not why? But as bleak as this situation is under present conditions and Circular 5 price for ore, consider what it may be like after March 31 1962 when the concentrate wil be $8.00 per pound. price Take this example: ore. A mine producing .20 A mill showing a rovery of 90, treating ores on a ton LOW-COS- C. O. G. Minerals Corp., of Den- T PRODUCE ARONUD 6 TONS TO SHIP 1 TON AT OF .20 1 (TO TAKE CARE OF UPGRADING LOSSES) HE NETS $114, OR $19 PER TON OF ORIGINAL ORE MINED AND THIS AND TREATED. SHOULD COVER THE COST OF MINING, PRECONCENAND SHIPPING TRATION AND SHOW A REASONABLE PROFIT AS WELL. It would seem quite clear that if this miner is going to stay in business he must preconcentrate his ore. Though we have illustrated the contractual difficulties peculiar to the Uranium business, we would be gravely in error if we implied that these were our only problems. The truth of the matter is that a really effective low cost preconcentration technique has yet to be demonstrated. Reduced to the bare essentials the technical problems facing us in the upgrading of uranium ores are two in number. First is the problem of severances or breaking apart the gangue and the associated uranium minerals, and second is the separation of the severel constituents. Unfortunately this is somewhat of an over simplification. The bulk of the known deposits of uranium minerals in the U. S. occur in sediments with the values occurring as coatings on sand grains of widely varying size or as inter-sitia- l filling between the grains of gangue. Furthermore, the frequently occurs in a variety of different physical char- h Everything for the Builder I Blanding, Utah Phone 2587 60-7- 0 n y Slovens Lumber & Hardware sand-slim- e hope I am correct that the subject is one of increasing interest Gau-di- n at MIT, Mariacher at the Col orado School of Mines Research Foundation, various members of the AEC Staff at Grand June tion and Winchester, and the work at the Bureau of Mines at Salt Lake City on the Mardun Concentrator, have all added to our knowledge of the problem. The work of Dr. Lord and Prof. Lilge in Canada, supported by Eldorado Mining and Refining Ltd. shows encouraging results in the flotation and heavy media wet treatment of primary cyclone ores. A number of industrial from their experimentation cerns have contributed a great with wet and dry attrition mills and various techniques. A particularly interesting approach is that taken by Dr. Maurice Tripp of the Tripp Research Corp. of Dallas, who suggests processing the ground rock in such a way as to convert the different uranium bearing minerals to a new synthetic mineral with selected physical properties, which can be utilized to effect a separation of it from the gangue. But the technical problems are still with us, and much more work remains to be done before we have a solution. 1 will conclude with the following observations: 1. The American Uranium business, both the industrial and government segments thereof, must work to bring about a better balance between exploration and utilization, development and conservation of our natural resources of this fissionable fuel. Exploration subsidies, production bonusus, guaranteed prices are valuable and necessary helps to the industry, but do no t in themselves emphasize the principles of conservation. 2 .. The American Uranium in- - Rebus Rota Club Holds Regular Meeting The Rebus Rota Literary club held Its regular meeting Friday of last week, with Mrs. Pieter Dygraff as hostess. Mrs. June Kinnaman, county cancer fund director, was guest She showed two films speaker. SAN JUAN ELECTRIC I ELECTRICAL Sales, Service on All Types of Electrical Installations TV-Rad- io Phone 90 Monticello, Route Repair Box 23 Utah 1, Durango, and made a strong plea in support of the fund campaign. At this meeting new officers for the coming year were elected. They are: Miss Isabelle Redd, president; Caroll Flom, vice president; Golda Strong, secretary, Anne E. Hyde, historian and Lovina Redd and Sarabeth Blanck, program committee. The club will meet again on May 3 at the home of Carroll Flom. Club officers announce the silk quilt made by the organization in now finished and ready for display in the merchants stores of the city. The club gives a scholarship each year to a deserving graduate of Monticello high school and the fund for this project is raised from sale of Members tickets for the quilt. Your Support will be say, appreciated. i producers unless they can make the fullest use of the advantage of higher grade feed and hence increased production of existing mills. 3. A cheap effective preconcentration method must be found, and while industry must redouble its efforts to Peace is the promise and redevelop such a process or ward of rightness. Mary Baker processes, government tech- Eddy. nical assistance and encouragement through modification of the contract provis-sion- s PLUMBING HEATING Is essential. New Installations If these things can be brought Remodeling about through the cooperation of Repairs industry and the government, the A Complete numbing & miner will be able to sell his ore, and our natural resources will Heating Sales & Service Store Locally Owned & Operated be utilized under the best prinof conservation. ciples Further Monticello than that, it will help to prelude the possibility of the Plateau bePlumbing & Heating ing dotted with uncompetitive Monticello, Utah Phone 121R1 ghost plants when the present contracts purchase expire. , SEETHE . . . SAN GRAND FINANCE Located Across Street From The Postoffice FOR Signature Loans . Automobile Financing Mortgage Loans . Furniture Financing Home Improvement Loans . Insurance Intemational Correspondence School R. N. DALE, Rep. SAN GRAND FINANCE Colo. Monticello, Utah Phone 156 llM!llilllll!l! New models range from Pickups through 33,000 lbs. GVW Other Trucks, to 96,000 lbs. GVW, round out world's most complete truck line. INTERNATIONAL NEW Golden Anniversary NEW ACTION -- STY LI NG MORE USABLE POWER! BUILT TO COST LEAST TO OWN1 I Come in and see the crowning achievement of fifty years of truck building the new Golden Anniversary Internationals. with now, low silTheyre Action-Slyle- d houette, wider cabs for greatest driving and riding comfort. They feature new long-lifquiet engines with more usable power including the most powerful six available in its field. Yes, here are the trucks that more than ever before are built to cost least to own! De sure to see them, today ! e, Now Golden Jubilee Pickup 1 A look of action from front to be k. Longest pickup body in its class! Viriest cabs, biggest Sweep-Arounwindshields, i.une usable horsepower. d CONTRACTING dustry faces the problem of being unable to compete with the larger, lower cost con-de- sand-slim- e moval of the values in the coating and interstial matrix material by this material and discarding the barren sands, a conventional sand-slirseparation. But no univesal-leffective means has so far been found to accomplish a complete severance. Too often, the uranium minerals are not cleaned I n ' acteristics. The ideal physical method of preconcentrating woud be the re- Free Estimates on Your Building Needs EVERYTHING FROM HANGING A SCREEN DOOR TO BUILDING A BUSINESS BLOCK off the gangue particles or the gangue is crushed too, leaving a fine mixture of minerals and gangue which resist all the blandishments of the ore dressers art Because there are may be as much difference in the yhysical characteristics of any two of the uranium minerals, as between them and the gangue, any conventional ore dressing technique effective in rocevering one mineral may fail to collect the others; and a significant portion of the total Or the uranium may be lost. failure to segregate the fine gangue results in too low a concentration ratio to be economic. Ofter both happen, and to date field results of physical perconcentra-tiohavent been to encouraging. Brinker has reported the V.CA. operation at Monument of both Valley recovers the uranium and vanadium, with concentration ratios from 5 to as much 6.5 to 1. Prof. Keating of Colorado School of Mines states that the wet concentrator of The Shawano Development Corp., near Baggs, Wyoming, which operated only a few weeks before the freeze up last fall, was able to upgrade .10 ore to .30, but recovery figures arent available. I understand that pilot runs of a patented pre concentrator by the ver were so promising that a commercial plant has been built and will soon go on stream in the White Canyon area. Somewhat greater success has been indicated for chemical preconcentration treatments where the ore is exposed by grinding, basis. The mill will pay the miner leached out and precipitated as a We at Vitro 90 of $8.00, or $7.20 per pound crude concentrate. LESS have done considerable laboraof Uranium in his ore tory testing of such a scheme milling charge and penalties. Lets pick a figure out of the which produces high recoveries at air and say this charge might concentration ratios of 15 or better to one. The main problem is be $20 a ton. The mill credits the miner theh relatively largee capital cost with 4 pounds U308 at 7.30 of such a plant. Union Carbide Nuclear announced last fall plans pound or $28.80. Less the milfor the erection of two preconcenNet etc. $20.00. ling charge, to mine per ton of ore at mill trators which are understood to employ a combination of $8.80. separation with a precola-tioOBVIOUSLY, UNLESS THE leach of sand and tailings. To SHIPPER HAS A LARGE MINE LOCATED my knowledge, no operating reNEAR THE MILL, THE $8.80 sults are as yet available. There has been a lot of excelWONT COVER HIS MINING LET ALONE THE lent research and even pilot plan COSTS, work done in the general mineral FREIGHT OR HIS PROFIT. I Suppose, however, this same field of preconcentration, and miner was able to preconcentrate before shipment to his ore to 1 the same mill: The mill would credit the miner with 20 pounds U308 ton at $7.20 pound, or $144.00. Less milling charge and penalties. Due to higher reagent cost, etc., lets assume this charge to be $30.00. Net to miner per ton at mill is 114.00 SINCE THE MINER MUST ura-miu- : Thursday, April 25, 1957 New Traveled!1! More leg and head room, lower overall height and bigger glass area than any comparable vehicle. Extra-lo- loading height. Seats eight. Third door standard. New Panel I Only panel available with extra third-doo- r on the curb side. Make deliveries faster, more efficiently. Style and power thats a real asset to your business ! or New Design) Short Cob-Forwa- rd 89-inc- h dimension with conventional type engine accessibility. Full-siz- e cab and doors. Maximum maneuverability. bumper-to-back-of-ca- b New Tractors ! 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