The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-04-26
What is Monazite?
The question answered.

be taken in monazitc. The mining
of it has gotten to be m industry in
certain loca litics. In answer to the
numerous inquiries made at our office
we publish the following Especial to
The State" from Ga fney, by Mr.. +.
c. w. who has witnessed the whole
process of mining, washing and mar
keting. He says:
"a few months ago rich deposits
Of monazitc were found not far from
here across the North Carolina line.
As the North Carolinians were max
ing money out Of mining it, search
was made for the ~rneral in this
county (Spagtanburg), with the resnlt
that deposits were t"und and mines
opened up. AS this is new industry
in this State and as most Of The ,State's
readers are probably not very we'll
informed as to the properties of this
article and the uses - which is put,
| shall endeavor to rvc them such in
formation as [ was able to obtain in
the limited time az my disposal acre
this afternoon.
The deposits are found in great
abundance within tnrcc or four miles
of this place in the l.-- ofstreams and
from two to four feet deep in bottom
lands. The metal varies in color
according to its purity. but the best
is of rich yellow 'lor and granular
in structure. Mix, with the mona
zitc is considerable !;ofd and iron and
little platinum, tic first and last
named being, of course, quite valuable
themselves. The metal is obtained
very much as gold-by digging earth
and all together and washing in
troughs. Probably as many as 1900
hands are employed in mining and
getting the metal ready for shipment.
They are paid fror' 60 cents to 81 a
day. The monaZlr rings in Gaiincy
from 5 to q .2.:E II, pound. 1t is
shlppeu in SANS SSuo piounns each
and only liz carload lots. The frei .ht
rate from here to the dcstina ton of
most of it, Gloucester. n Y, is j9cts.
per 100 pounds. 1t is used for
incandcscent gas burners, in
what is known as the Welsbach light.
\ gas Jet used with Il monazitc
burner consumes only one. third Of the
gas it would use without tie burner
and gives Il light equal to that of
three or four ordinary incandesccnt
electric hght-. The burners cost about
81 90 each, but will last quite 4 while.
1t is said that ) per ounce is paid
for the ashes obtained frem the bur.
ncrs. About 100000 pounds per
month are shipped from this point.
The money paid to the miners is quite
an item in the merchants Saturday
sales. The discovery of the metal
has enhanced immensely the value of
some lands in this neighborhood. The
substance has been found on lands |
that were SO badly worn ont as to be
scarcely saleablc few months ago, |
but now the owners are getting some
thing like SO Il day for the royalty |
on the metal. The principal shippers
from this point are Carroll 4 Carpcn-
ter, l.. w. Campbell and - Smith, /
the last named having come from !
New York to engage in the business.
Ncarlyall shipments arc made to
the Wclsbach Light Company of
Gloucester, n. Y. though some of
the metal goes to Dresden, Germany.
| have heard less talk of hard times
here than in almost any town in the
State. Probably this new industry |
together with the presence ola cotton
mill here is part explanation of this.
On the grounds that the rcgiStra-
ton act of 1892 was unconstitutional: