Show FAMOUS MINING STRIKES by THOMAS E STEWARD tn ji 0 search for new mining methods HE governments sudy af 0 the fhe me iron district ends with 1902 and gives the shipments in that year us as tons of 0 ore seemingly the author considered tills this a tremendous figure perhaps one that would not easily be surpassed yet in the years of the lie world war minnesota shipped as high as tons of 0 ore in one war ear ani and duplicated that record in 1921 the iron ranges of 0 the entire lake superior district including wisconsin and michigan have shipped hipped 91 an aggregate of tons in a single year tills Is the increase of 0 a mining industry that began in 1892 1800 2 with the modest shipment of tons from the range jumped to tons in 1907 to tons in 1000 and as has been pointed out to in 1002 10 years after its opening notwithstanding the immense amounts of ore that lia have e been taken front from the iron mines of minnesota hundreds of millions of tons of high grade ore remain E estimates look jok forward to the exhaust hil lon of tile high grade ore supply in something like 30 years meanwhile the mines experiment station nt at the of minnesota is bending all 11 of its energies to tile the task of finding itene bene ficia tIng low grade ores so that they may profitably be shipped one method lias has been developed that makes it perfectly p possible sible to use the rocklike magD magnetite etite ores of the eastern range but the method Is expensive and can call be used only in years when the price of ore Is so high that these mines can be operated at a profit the state of minnesota Is now appropriating something like 2000 a year for use in experiments looking to the separation of iron from low grade ofes ores by a roasting or izing process that could be carried on near the spot where the ore was mined tills will be important it it Is developed because most of the smelters shelters sm elters using tills this ore are far away at chicago gary cleveland cleeland toledo or elsewhere cost of transporting the ore Is great the rich ores some of them containing from GO co to 03 65 per cent in actual iron can always be shipped but from 45 per cent iron on down to 25 per cent iron the ores are so lean that the shipper ls s paying an inordinate amount of freight on mere inere waste material that must be thrown away at tile the other end it if the minnesota school of mines station succeeds in accomplishing shing the method of izing it will add millions of dollars to the wealth that state will derive from taxes and will indefinitely pi pinions Iong minnesotan Min mining industry estimates place the supply of low grade ore ores 9 on oil the iron rang range ge at many billions of tons |