The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-14
Preparing Mica for Market at
Topeka Plant.
Soon Will Run Mill Night and
Day, Double Shift.
MICA is HIGH GRADE.
Great Demand for Ground Mica,
Product of This Mill.
Important to TOpeka's Factory
and r. r.. Interests.

Two men, their hands, faces and
clothing covered with silvery dust, are
operating steadily Topeka's latest in
dustry, the Mica Mining and Milling
company's plant, owned and operated
by Topeka people. The plant is locat-
ed at 119 North Quincy street.
1--WE have our machinery installed
and adjusted now" said S. B. Rohrer,
president of the mica company, land
since last Saturday afternoon the mill
has been running steadily. We will be
running a night shift within a few
days, bringing the capacity of our mill
up to five tons day.
-Four grades of mica are now be-
! ing milled,'' as Mr.. w. B. Thomas ex-
planned, "the eight-mesh, or the coarser
mica is used in roofing, heat and sound
| insulation. The next finest, or thirty
mesh, as it is designated technically,
| is used for electrical insulators of all
kinds; the sixty-mesh is in great de-
mand for hard-rubber work, lubricants
fire and acid proof paints. The air
float, or the finest powdery mica, is
needed badly for high-grade lubri-
cants.''
yesterday we sent samples of the
company's ground mica to the Patent
the Rubberoid Manufacturing COM
pany, Franklin, o.; the Sal Mountain
Asbestos Company of Porter, Ind, and
the Parafine Paint Company, of San
Francisco. These companies are al
ways in the market for all the mica
! obtainable.
I'VE have waited until we were run
ming the mill steadily" continued Mr.
Thomas, until the mine at Riberar
New Mexico, had been properly devel-
oped to furnish abundance of raw mica
| before we attempted to get in touch
with the mica market Once we bic
for the mica contracts, we Will be
crowded day and night to meet the
demand.
'At the other end of the line. al
Ribera, N. NJ, the mine superintendent
has been tunneling into the mica
mountain, developing the property, cut
| ting through from one fissure vein OF
mica to another to enable more men
to work and produce more for ship
ment to the Topeka mill.
sMica mills and manufacturing con-
Germs using mica in their products have
experienced shortage Of mica fol
years. The development of the To
peka company's mine at Ribera ant
the construction of the Topeka mill viii
fill a long felt need in the mica mar
ket. Then there is an abundant AM
unlimited supply of mica out there II
the Topeka company's New Mexico pro
perty. The mica hill at Ribera covers
an area of about seventy-five acres, al
though their claim contains two hun
bred acres. Running north and soutf
across that hill, the mica assure veins
from four to eight feet thick, crop ou
at intervals of from eight to fifteer
feet across the entire seventy-five acres
Each fissure of mica extends a sohe
vein across the entire hill and dowI
an Understandable depth.
TN other mica deposits, assure veins
have never been known to pinch GU
or become exhausted as is the case witt
other minerals" explained Mr.. Thomas
'the development now being made OF
this property gives US access to
mound of mica one hundred and seven
ty-five feet high and covering seventy
five acres. There is enough mica OBJ
tainable from this level to keep tax
Topeka plant running night Ind day
for fifty years. Dropping to lower
level another hundred feet may be ia
| ken out across the entire hill.
"The mica market is steadily ad'
vancirg No huctation in money OF
| markets effect the demand and sale O
mica At present the lowest grade mica
| is selling at $3.50 a ton while the i'm
est or air float is SIS a tom
The company officials are contemplat
ing the addition Of lubricant plant IL
| the near future.