The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-02-02
REASONS FOR
LOCATING
FERTILIZER FACTORY IN MT.
PLEASANT.
:av II. D. RuHM.)

SOho III 1OCdlluS lGl IillASI IdCIOI
les at Mt. Pleasant, to go into all Of
which would be to take up more
space than the limits of this article
will allow. A consideration of one OF
two paramount reasons will therefore
suffice
First and foremost is the effect on
the rock supply. Hardly any fertilizer
factory in the country uses phosphate
rock of a lower grade than 65 per
cent, very few use lower than 20 per
cent, and the very large bulk of these
factories use rs per cent, and the
most of them try to buy rs per cent.
From the high grade rock they make
an acid phosphate containing Is per
cent. available phosphoric acid. From
the low grade, or 65 per cent, they
make from 10 per cent. to Is per
cent. goods, according to the other
good or bad qualities of the rock. The
customary acid phosphate sold to the
trade contains. from IL per cent. To II
per cent. available phosphoric acid,
and to make this the manufacturers
of the high grade Is per cent. goods,
mix it with a filler to reduce the
grade to that required by the market.
Thus, to make IL per cent. acid
phosphate the user of high grade rock
takes 1883 1-3 pounds of Is per cent.
: ~ D
pounds of ground cinders or other
cheap heavy filler, and has his u per
cent, that he wants for sale
Now to make this rs per cent. rock
out of even the ordinary high grade
rock of the Mt. Pleasant field, the
miner first pays his laborer to dig the
overburden off of the entire deposit
He then pays him to throw away
about one-fourth of the vein of rock
as it lies to get rid of the dirt. Then
all this is put on the wood and the la
borer is again paid to throw away
another one-fourth of what is left in
screening out the rock from to dirt
Then thehigh grade Is per cent. rock
is selected from the resulting mass,
leaving about one-third that vii. make |
some rs per cent and some 20 per |
cent, the latter of which is generally |
ground. The first and second AS,
however, are absolutely thrown away |
and in such shape as to render it !
probably impossible to ever recover |
it again. So out of a given deposit |
ZIG is entirely wasted, GIG goes into
lower grades, and only about GIG or
"a is left to make export.
Now if the manufacture was con-
Quoted right in the phosphate field,
where no question would arise as to
freight or the dead material, when IS
per cent. acid was desired, rs per-
cent. rock could be used, which would
be only in very rare cases. For the
lower grades, instead of throwing
away this immense amount of rock,
the acid phosphate could be produced
of the grade required at once by
using a lower grade rock, which would
permit the entire vein to be utilized.
BY making high grade acid phosphate
and reducing with a filler, the result
ing product would depend for it's
quality on the degree of excellence of
the mechanical mixture, which is al
ways an unknown quantity, depend
ing on the personal equation of the
and the excellence of :
the machinery.
By making the acid phosphate di- /
rectly of the grade required, the mix
ture is a chemical one, and hence, as
absolutely perfect as can be made.
Now this feature of the question :
as summed up, to the follow
ing: 4
Three-fourths of the deposit is all i
hat is now taken out of the ground, y
yet the other one-fourth will easily y
hat is thrown away out of the q
mined, will run easily &C per cent.
he next 1-16 20 per cent, the next
,-16 will run IS per cent and the r.
;-16 will make rs per cent, or better. /,
Jay 70 per cent Equating these with a
heir proper weight, the mean of the a
,ntire vein would be very nearly II G
,er cent, which would make a 16 per u
ent. acid phosphate, which is as high
IS any one ordinarily requires.
Hence we see that with factories
ocated here at Mt Pleasant, for every E
tons now available for use, we K
would then have 16 tons, an increase y
f nearly rs per cent. If on the unit, II
asis the rs per cent. rock were worth
4.30 per ton, which is below the pres
MT market. the II per cent. rock would q
e worth at least 1925, making rea- a
enable allowance for lower unit n