The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-04-16
THE PRICE OF MoNazIrE.
An Alleged Corner Among the Buyers
The Miners Advised Not to Sell.

An Alleged Corner Among the Buyers
The Miners Advised Not to Sell.
Piedmont Headlight.
The monazite buyers in our county
seem to have gotten up q corner, and
80 reduced the price that it does not
pay for mining. This is u plot to de-
raud our people. and we advise them
to stop mining n thus reduce the
output. Their monaZite will not spoil,
and when the price advances, you can
resume operations. The New York
paper, in reviewing the monazite dis
Govery, say that there has never been
enough yet discovered to supply the
demands of the city of London alone.
This Is q valuable mineral, and where
pIoperly cleaned, is worth from fifty
cents to 81 per pouGd. Buyers here
average about seven cents. The mona
ute centre is around Shelby, N. c., but
1t is found all over partanburg. The
parties who buy it not only get mona
zite, but find other valuable minerals
in the sand, including gold, all of
which they ave Now, this is u new
business with u people, aud they are
completely at the mercy of the few
buyers. You had better hold up on
mining for awhile, so as to investigate
the business, for we believe you are
losing fortunes by selling at the price
paid. There Is hO reason for the re-
ductiOn in price, as there is q demand
for u thousand times as much as pro-
duced. The Headlight has tried to
find out something about the business,
but the men who use it are evidently
in collision with their agents,
and will not give away any inf0rma-
ton. But it's real value must come
out soon, and then u people can go
to work understandingly. New de-
deal OF mining Is going Oh. The
Messrs. Finch, near Fairmont, are
working regularly, while Mr.. Davis
Whitman finds that his bottoms are all
underlaid with the monazite sand.
The Associate Reformed Presbyte-
rian prints the following facts about
monazite from Prof. Reid, of Erskine
College, which will prove interesting
to u readers:
"The name is derived from the
Greek monddo, to be solitary, OF &C
count of its rarity, and is accordingly
spelled m0ndstte. 1t is Il mineral of a
brownish-byncinth red color and Uc-
ours rs small, brilliant, nattened crys-
tails. AS it IN into the market, it
has somewhat the appearance Of
Cp''So Shto. IL 10, nO"oNoT, inuCD
heavier than ordinary sand. Its
chemical composition is complex, be-
ing u normal phosphate Of the rare
metals, cerium, l@anthanum and tho
rum. It's value IL due to the presence
of the latter metal, which is extracted
from the mineral aud used by certain
German houses in the manufacture Of
patent gas burners.
Until within the last few years it
was an extremely rare mineral, but is
now being found in considerable guam
titles in the beds OF streams in a few
counties Of North ard South Carolina,
bordering the mountains. OF course
it has found its way to the streams from
the adjoining hill-sides aud mountains,
and Is separated from the lighter
sands by washing. Monazite sells now
in the local markets for from 800 to
$l5O per ton, though increased pro-
duction with the present limited de-
mand is causing it to depreciate in
value. Just within the past week the
report comes that large quantities of
it have boon discovered in Brazil, al
ready famous for its minerals"