El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-03-19

A recent DuDllcdJlOu ny buC LII luis"
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy,
shows that the blast furnaces of Great
Britain are coming every year to rely
| more on the foreign ores, and that the
mines of Spain are furnishing a very
large part of the supply, the Malaga
Serpentiues of Spin being exploited
by English companies for both nickel
and mag uetite.
In France during last year $4,000
persons were engaged in mining, OF
| whom 10000 we're men, $500 were
boys between 10 and Is years of age,
5000 were boys under Is, and :, POO were
woman and girls, and the total value
of their products was $40, 900, 900 francs
at the mines. The women were en-
ployed only in surface works, their en-
ployment under ground being now pro-
hibited by law.
According to the Department of
Mines and Geology of the Argentine
Republic the years output (presum-
ably for 1880 was by weight in kilo-
grammes: Cod, 474; silver, 1O,21O:
copper, 3S9, 900. These amounts were
exported to Germany, E. gland, France,
Belgium and Italy.
Tests have been made of mineral
that proved to be stream tin which
! came down from places in Lemhi COun-
/
gold, and is said to exist in paying
quantities. Last fall some 500 pounds
of it was saved for the purpose OF test
ing.
The Rock land Gold II ming company,
OF Nevada county, Ariz has completed
its hosting and pumping plant on the
Kentuck and Alpha ground at Grass
| Valley, and is now taking the water
out of the 300-fOot shaft and Slopes. All
| reports of this mine, which was shut
| down many years ago, confirm the
opinion that it will be q good one when
developed. The property is on a
parallel vein 1000 feet distant from
she famous Idaho, which has produced
$26, 000,0 COO.
The use of steel and iron in the con-
structiOn of surface plants for coal
mines is being seriously considered by
the more thoughtful mine owners and
operators in the west. The cost is
said to be from Is to Is per cent, more
in Illinois or Indiana than wood, while
| the depreciation in iron or steel is less
| than One-half that of wood. Again,
| steel or iron tower requires mora care
full planning and construction, but 1t
lasts longer and can be renewed and
used at another mine when the one at
which it was built has bean worked
out and abandoned, while the wooden
| tower cannot.
At a recent meeting of the German
Geological society, the president,
| Geheimer Hauch ecorne, made COM
| mupicatiOn as to the find of coal in east
Africa, between the Nyassa and Tan
ganyika lakes by Bergassessor Born
| hardt, who was induced to under take
this exploration through coal having
| been observed IN a stream. He noticed
| Il seam m. thick, with a second over
lying it of about half the thickness, in
| cutting II KIN. northeast of the Nyassa.
| The seams only contain coal of two de-
scriptions, one shining coal (Glauz-
kohle) that blisters and cakes even in
| The flame of spirit lamp: and the
other dull coal (Mattk ohlel. The
seams occur alternately, showing on
analysis per cent, and Is per cent of
| ash content, with 1000 metric heat
units respectively. at the suggestion
of Bergassessor Bornhardt the Nyassa
| cOal was compared with some coal
brought from the Transvaal by Ber-
grath Schmeisser, on which it became
evident that the Goals from both dis
tricts are of the same geological age.
The Engineering and Mining Journal
says: There are signs that boom
5 being carefully worked up for Alas
ka, chiefly by the transportation COM
|
all the work possible in the spring.
| Alaska showed a considera BILE increase
| in gold production last year. and part
| of this gain came from the Yukon re-
| g.on, though it is difficult to ascertain
| exactly what the yield of that district
| vas. There seems to be no doubt that
! GOOD placer ground has been found at
| Forty mile creek and other localities
on the upper Yukon, and that some
|
| word of caution is needed, however,
| and prOspectors should con ider the
| matter carefully before starting for the
far north. The journey is expensive
and difficult one; full outfit is neede d,
| and it must be remembered that the
| working season is very short, while
| the winter is long and severe and the
| very high. No one ought to undertake
the trip unless he is prepared to live
| through the Attic winter and support
| himself through the long idle season.
| y rush of uupre pared and poorly sup
| oiled miners to the Yukon country Will
be inevitably followed by much trou BILE
and suffering next winter"
A fire-damp explosion in the rcck-sal
mine at Akna-SlaUina, Hungary. forms
| the subject of a communication by
Oberin enieur Kremnitzky to the Ban
| NdSZaul 6S hOnaSZaUli dDOk. L ne rock
! salt deposit is 2 200 m. long by maxi
mum width of LOO m, dipping from
90 degrees to 6S degrees, and a sect on
| of the me assures in downward order
shows vegetable earth, sandy gravel,
salt, clay and rock salt. The archives
of the mine prove that it must have
been worked from a very early period,
while systematic working dates from
1716. The greatest danger hitherto en-
countered has been from water break
| ing in, but on the morning of August
%, though the Inspecting fore man
found the ventilation satisfa tory with
out anything unusual, singular rum
| bling noise was heard on the surface,
while the buildings shook, and soon af-
| er this some of the men who came up
stated that an explosion had occurred
in the southern workings. iniuring two
men severely and one man slightly.
The three men stated that gas had sud-
| denly burst into the southern workings
and exploded at their open lamps.