The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-03-22
UTAH MINES ALIVE
WITH RARE METALS

In their weekly Know Utah" Iette,
", Il, Child &, Co. have the foilowin
o say in part regarding the possibilitie
II Utah as producer OF the rare meta Is
The rare minerals are rare in Utah
as they are everywhere else. and
there is no reason 10 fear that an
excessive output will make them a
drug on the market, but the discov-
erles that have been made in the few
years since prospectors have learned
to look for and recognize unusual
metals encourage the hope that their
presence will be more fully demon
strated and that they Will add ma
tel1ally TO the income OF the state
vanadtum, uranium, tungsten bis
muth and e.Dtlmony are the uncor-
mon minerals that occur most fire.
quently In the ore OF Utah, We have
potash. sntimony, quicksilver, mica,
selenium and cadmium. too. SIX or
seven years ago graphite was count
ed as among the mineral resources of
Box Elder county. but an eXami1a-
tlou by government experts failed to
confirm the expectations of the pros
pectors who located the supposed
Green River, Grand county, is the
center Of rare metal production at
this time. In the last two years
several small shipments of uranl-
um-vanadlum ore have been made
from that vicinity and several rare
metal mining con,pa MES have be-
gun operations there. The Deep
Creek country, in the western part
OF the state, is the home of the
tungsten and bismuth. Antimony
occurs in Garfield. and potash is
among the mineral possessions OF Pi-
ute county, In the southwestern part
OF the state. Quicksilver, also, has
been found in Piute county and in
Mercur, In Tooele county,
Manganese has been gathered from
the deserts OF Grand county. Molyb-
denum is known at Alta and I'm the
West T1ntic mining district. Reports
have been received of the discovery
OF one or two small specimens OF
pitchblende, but these have not been
confirmed by competent authority.
Many mines are producing rare
metals without knowing 1t, Unless
the rarer constituents Of the ordi-
nary metallic ores do not come to
light prior to the smelling and re-
fining. This is true of cadmium,
sselenium and, to a lesser extent Of
Cadmium. for example, is by
product recovered in the distillation
Of ZINC ores. selenium is extracted
per refneries. Bismuth is BY
product of electric lead refining, COM
Ing like seenIum from the anode
mude. AS the ores from which the
reB1duaTy material is collected come
from g great number OF mines, il is
as much an impossibility to tell which
mine furnished the rare element as IL
Is for parents to decide where the
bad dispositions Of their children
originated.
The smelling companies and re-
hneries whIch treat the lead or OF
Tlntic, the zinc ore OF Pnrk City
and fintic, and the copper ore OF
Bingham, are producers Of blsmuth,
cadmium and selenium, so 1t NAV be
assumed that come Of the ores from
the camps named would show
on anal lysis the elements mentioned.
not TO speak OF a long list OF sub
stances that interest nobody but the
chemists.
Excluding the smelter products be-
cause OF the lack of proof as TO their
pareDtage the list OF rare metals
actually marketed from this state
narroWs down to uranium, vanadium,
sutimony, quicksilver and manganese
These sales have been small. but.
considering the extreme scarcity and
small consumption OF the substances,
the record Is one Of which the state
need not be ashamed.
II has been a notable achievement
TO show that such minerals really eX-
isl here. With this certainty and
better knowledge of their appearance
and manner Of occurrence, II may be
predicted that production will grow
uuite as fast as the market for the
-, ra Substances.