Show four corners properties new mining minin activities at old camp venura the drift mining company operators orators era tors of one of 0 the uranium mines belonging to the huge four corners uranium corporation Is the subject of this uranium story and the pictures presented here four corners owns uranium and oil properties in the four states of utah colorado arizona and I 1 bew new mexico their holdings at old camp venura about 17 miles from green biver river utah are leased to various mining companies for op aeration the four corners group of 6 or 7 mines at this location are quite close together therefore it was very interesting to note that there were several different meth of mining used by the dif ferent companies operating there we believe cinat a description of mining operations used in ring this precious uranium ore will be of interest to many people the most conventional method which is used at present by the drift mining company is describe ed here the track on which the tram car runs links the area in the mine where the miners are digging ore to the bin which re ceides and holds the freshly mined ore the bin pictured in front of and above the truck holds about 30 tons of ore and is placed about 16 feet above the ground the trucks are filled with ore by going under the bin and having the ore pour into them from above since anticline no 5 is a new mine its tracks are only feet long the tram car emerges from feet underground and is pulled pulle on the track to the top by a hea heavy metal cable the power being fu turn dished by an eng engine ine near the bin the tram car holding one ton of ore is stopped on the track di erectly above the bin here joe baker quickly and expertly sorts the true ore from rom the county rock and then dumps the ore into the bin the compressor sitting on ground level near the entrance to the mine furnishes to pounds of air pressure to operate the mine machinery the air pow ered jack hammer is used in the mine to drill holes in the rock about 6 feet deep blasting powder is then put into the holes and set off to break out the ore joe baker said that he believes that the electric powered jack hammers recently put on the mar ket are not as efficient as the air jack hammers which are the type he uses the compressor also turn furn ashes the air power to operate the slusher a double drum hoist boist the jack hammer though it is a rugged machine used to drill hole into the rock is also a fine precision instrument all jack ham mer parts have a tolerance closer than that on cars something as fine as a hair will stop operations said joe baker he then related the cost of some parts of the jack hammer A chuck which holds the drill steel to guide it costs about 17 50 the vital part of the jack hammer which converts air power to drilling power is made up of three parts called the valve guide de valve and valve chest v aich ajack costs 70 00 A piston 0 n for a jack hammer costs in the neigh boyhood of each the average pay for miners or drillers in this area it was report ed is 2 00 per hour the muckers duckers who get both good ore and waste out of the mine receive about per hour next week s article will be a continuation of the four corners operations at old camp venura near green biver river utah green river is reputed to be the only town in utah that was not first settled by mormons the first mormon church was brought to green river by the D S gillies when they came to live here in 1901 |