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Show Pare 2 Modern Methods Used fox Mining Gilsonite at Colorado Plant Radically different and improved methods of mining Gilsonite have been developed for supplying the type of ore required for the new refinery and coke processing plant of American Gilsonite Company at Gilsonite, Colorado,' near Grand Junction, and for other Gilsonite products. Gilsonite occurs as a solid hydrocrabon in relatively narrow, vertical fissures that run for several mile3, along the surface of the earth and may go down as deep as 2,000 feet. Mining this unique mineral has always presented problems. The earliest method was to pick T Teamwork Makes Their Scheme Work Tiny iron crystals, so small that a billion of them take up less space than a grain of table salt, super-toug- h products produce teamed with Automotive engineers renylon. in an material the cently tested auto leaf spring insert. lit passed all Mrock and roll performance tests with flying colors even in extreme tempratures ranging from 20 below to 130 degrees above zero. The teaming of iron .and nylon is symbolic of the teamwork that exists between the automotive and oil industries on the job of improving conditions and products for the drivingest folks on earth. when oil-bas- ed Bureau of Mines Prints New Book A comprehensive listing of technical articles concerning the extraction of nickel and cobalt has been completed by the Bureau of Mines and is available to the public, the Department of the Interior announced today. Prepared by R. B. Bauder, a chemist at the Bureaus Southern Experiment Station, Tuscaloosa, e volume conAla., the tains more than 1,600 references and abstracts for the period Jan159-pag- uary 1929 to July 1955. The bibliography is the outgrowth of metallurgical research conducted by the Bureau, on behalf of the General Services Administration, on Cuban laterite, which contains both nickel and cobalt. The University of Alabama cooperated with the Bureau in compiling the bibliography. The report, Information Circu- Bibliography on Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel and lar Friday, December IS, WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY 7805, 1955, Cobalt, January 1929-Jul- y is available only by purchase from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C., at 70 cents per copy. It is NOT for sale by the Bureau of Mines. WESTERN MINERAL SURVEY - CIRCULATION Phone EM Street NEWS 421 Church 2402 Curtis St., Denver ADVERTISING Box 2608 ALplne EM 49 Suit Lake City, Utah 2402 Curtis St., Denver ALplne Entered as second class matter at Salt of March 3, Act under Lake City, Utah, 38 1879. Subscription rates: $5.00 for two years; for one year. Please mention Western Mineral Survey when writing to advertisers. Advertising rates on application. $3.00 Editor L. M. HILL All news appearln gin the Western Mineral Survey Is obtained from sources believed to be reliable but no responsibility Is assumed for accuracy of statements. Reproduction of any material from this publication must have written permission from the publisher. . away at the ore, letting it roll down an incline, where it was loaded into buckets and hauled to the surface. Until a short time ago, most Gilsonite was mined by mechanical modifications of this method. Although it will not bur nin the solid state, Gilsonite dust is highly explosive and this hazard is an one in the old mining methods. Two new wet mining methods have been developed by the company over the past four years. Both methods reduce the explosion hazard to practically zero and reduce the need for hand labor in the actual mining operations. The first step in the new methods is to sink a deep shaft into the Gilsonite vein. The vein must be at least six feet wide, and the shaft is initially sunk to over 850 feet in depth. Next, drifts or tunnels are dug from either side of the shaft into the Gilsonite vein. These tunnels are cut by means of a jet cutting car, equipped with two different types of cutting heads, depending The walls will be timbered almost solidly with timber. About every 350 feet of 'depth, a pillar of ore approximately 30 feet thick will be left horizontally between the walls for major protection and strengthening. This type of mining eliminates the hazard of Gilsonite dust Transportation of the ore in water eliminates the possibility of dust becoming airborne in these large underground caverns. Ore destined for the refinery is pumped to the surface, dewatered, crushed and then recombined in a tank with a portion of the water which carried it from the bottom of the mine. This slurry is prepared in the proper pumping inpro-a portion and then cleansed process that drops out the sand, rock and other tramp material. Gilsonite is an exceptionally pure 1957 mineral and there is simply no foreign matter in the material itself. Sulfur content is very low and there are only traces of other minerals. After cleaning, the material is stored in 5,000 barrel tanks. The tanks are agitated to keep the material suspended, and from these tanks the Gilsonite slurry is pumped through the pipeline to the refinery 72 miles away. ever-prese- nt on the type of ore mined. Some types of Gilsonite ore contain tiny cracks or fractures. In these veins, a powerful jet of water, issuing from a Vi" nozzle, with a presure of 2000 pounds per square inch, is played on the surface of the ore. The stream of water penetrates the tiny fissures, the ore breaks apart and falls to the bottom of the drift. The drifts are cut on a rising grade of apThe degrees. proximately 2 water that cut the ore, with the help of some low pressure water, washes it down the drift to the main shaft, down the shaft to a sump. The large lumps of ore are before encrushed to minus and water The tering the sump. are ore Gilsonite minus the to the sump pumped from surface with centrifugal pumps. tool Another type of condeveloped by the company sists of a long rotary drill armed teeth. The with carbide-tipped drill cuts a large swath through the ore and, meanwhile, streams of water pour out through the teeth, keeping the ore constantly wet throughout the entire operation. Again the ore is washed down the drift, to the main shaft, is dewatered and hoisted to the surface. At the surface, the ore is crushed and introduced into the water again and flows by gravity Bopipeline to a drying plant at the nanza. At the drying plant, material is removed by plus- material screening. The minus--4 a centrifuge. The is put through and the Gilsonite centrifuged screen the Gilsonite from plusfluidized a to sent are mixed and bed dryer, where hot air is blown through the Gilsonite until it dries to less than 0.5 moisture. This is a continuous process drier. The product from the drier is again screened to the various sizes required for the trade. The effluent from the centrifuge is piped to flotation cells where the Gilsonite and water are separated without the addition of reagents. Both types of cutting tools are mounted on a new and unique chassis developed by the company. It is operated by air power. Mounted on it are two hydraulic booms similar to the drilling jumbos used in the mining industry. These jumbos support and guide the cutting tools. When a drift is completed, the cutting machine returns to the shaft, begins a new drift and repeats the entire operation. Every 50 feet of depth, a floor will be installed for overhead protection. ore-cuttin- Mechanical cutter developed by American Gil sonite Co. at work in a Gilsonite vein. Car- bide-tippe- d teeth cut a swath through the ore, Stockpiling Gilsonite at the refinery after it is Ore coming through the pipeline de-water- which is kept constantly wet. powered by compressed air. i The cutter Is ' may be fed either to the stockpile, or go to the melt plant. ; |