The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1904-07-01

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area and finally settled upon that
rtpart of the ore bearing formation
crossing T, So, r. "a, and have since
concentrated efforts there. It isl
[eafe to say that at no other point in
the entire Lake Superior region has
so much exploration, been done in.
the past few years, nor have so
many important results been at
tanned elsewhere. The Canistoe
company and others have seen that
their attempts might mean "a long
and costly undertaking, open only
to those willing to wait for results.
1t is now recognized that a Me-
saba ore down to IS per cent iron,
or perhaps a little ~leaner, is mer-
charitable without concentration.
The ore opened in T. IS, R. "a, seems
to average not far from 40 to As per
cent, though there is a large tonnage
of ore that can be sold without con-
c%entration, while much runs down
to 20 or Is per Dent. It differs from
much of the Mesaba ore in the fact
that the silica is not combined but
occurs as free sand. The ore, which |
is quite hard, occurs in layers of
variable thicknesses, up to several
feet, while the sand lies between,
sometimes as fine as flour and
sometimes as coarse as sharp beach
sand. The process of concentra-
ton is exceedingly simple, being a
mere wet screening with various
meshes, down to 80 and even 40
mesh. Drillings have shown little |
rock in that township. The ores lie
under from 40 to about 100 feet of
Esurface, and the beds are of vary-1
ing t~hicknesses up to 200 feet.
The Canisto company andits pre-
decessors have explored part of
some 1900 acres that is held under
option or lease in this township.
They have found ore enough to pro-
duce about 100000 tons of COM
centrates, and are still hard at
work. More than 200 men and nu-
merous drills, both churn and dia-
mond, are now employed on their
lands, under the supervision of E.
J. Longyear, who is doing the drill
ing, and of H. B. Rowland, who is
in charge of the development of
the mines. Two large working
shafts are being sunk, one to 200
and the other to 300 #. Drifts will
be driven in ore where variation in
character is noted and exhaustive
tests in concentration will be
carried out. It is believed from
what work has been done that a
simple tilted revolving barrel
screen will be sufficient to take out
sand enough to bring this lean ore
upto standard. Not much water will
be required, and this can be
pumped from the working. The
Canisteo company intends to put in
sufficient concentrating capacity in
units to provide for screening the
product of any mine. Methods of
concentration employed at the
Arcturus in the Snyder expert
ments will be simplifed material
ly, as results have already shown
they can be.
Of the r found by this COM
pany about Is per cent is sufficient
ly high grade to mine direct. In
addition about 100000 tons of
raw ore have been found, and this
will require, say, a Is per cent con-
centration. The company has com
pleted exploration on a few tracts,
but has others on which little has
, been done. It has spent from $780,
coo to $4,000 on individual tracts of
small size and has accurate in
formation as to a great deal of
property.
Once concentrated these ores will
probably be of excellent grade.
They will, be usually dry, for while
the average of moisture in Mesabi
ores runs up to between 10 and II
per cent, these screened ores, as
shown by Arcturus tests, average 3
per cent moisture. They will be
chiefly bessemer, for the elimina-
ton of sand seems to reduce the
phosphorus than proportion
ately. They will practically be a
hard, granular crushed ore, free
from dust, and it is hoped to bring
them to about 60 per cent iron.
Lands on the ore-bearing forma-
ton across this township that are
owned by T. B. Walker, of Minnea-
polls, are under the control of the
Great Northern road. This road
has aimed to secure an enormous
tonnage along the Mesabi, and MI.