The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-12-14

tanned, and that from government own
ed ore at least. radium can be supplied
10 the hospitals OF the army, navy ana
nublic health service at a cost not ex-
ceeding $4,000 per gram, or one-thiru
Of the price that had been asked by
foreign producers.
Incident TO this work methods Tor
determining radium, concentrating tile
low grade carnotite ores and extracting
uranium and vanadium from carnotite
we're developed.
The metallurgical investigations Of
the bureau of mines have been confir-
ed chiefly to the smelter smoke PROB
lem. the treatment of low grade ana
complex ores and to the safety ana
health of employees at blast furnaces
and steel works.
In its endeavor to find ways of Less
ening damage to vegetation and to an
imals and of recovering and utilizing
substances being wasted in smelter
smoke, the bureau cooperated with the
Selby and Anaconda smelter commits
sions. The report of the Selby COM
mission, published as a bulletin by the
bureau OF mines, has received much
attention and the methods of proceed
ure described are being followed IN
other metallurgical smoke investlga-
tions both in this country and abroad,
The Anaconda commission is continu-
ing it's Investigations. Each commits
sion has been entirely independent OF
the bureau of mines, but the director
of the bureau has served as member
of each, and the bureau has cooper
ated in the Investigations. Especial
attention has been given the removal
of sulphur from smelter gases.
Investigations of methods Of treat
ing the low grade and complex ores OF
Utah and adjacent states are showing
what new methods are needed or how
old methods should be improved to
treat millions of tons of ore that lie
unworked because of the lack of eff
cient and profitable methods for saw
ing the contained metals.
Summarized, the principal results of
this work have been the development
of brine teaching process for ex-
tracing lead from low grade and COM
pick ores; the development of pro-
cess for the recovery of lead and zinc
from lead-zinc sulphides; the applica-
ton of flotation to the recovery of the
lead in carbonate ores; the develop
ment of a process for the recovery of
zinc from low grade, complex ores of
that metal; and the development of
process for the production of zinc dust
from solutions of zinc.
The Investigations of fuels and min
ing equipment have thrown light on
the process of combustion in furnaces
and gas producers, and have led to the
design of more efficient boilers. The
development of an improved type OF
breathing apparatus for use by rescue
men in mines after explosions of fires,
and the demonstration of the precau-
tons that should attend the use of
gasoline locomotives in mines, are
results of this investigation.
The petroleum investigations have
shown that the enormous wastes of
natural gas and petroleum which have
attended the development of gas and
oil fields have not been confined to the
gas that escaped into the air, to the
losses by fires and to the evaporation
of oil in reservoirs and tanks, The I'M
seen wastes underground through i'm
proper methods of drilling and casing
wells, by which gas has dissipated in
to porous beds from which it can not
be recovered, or water has drowned
out oil fields before more than small
proportion of the oil has been obtain
ed have annually resulted in decreas-
ing our national wealth by many mil
lions of dollars.
The bureau of mines has shown how
these wastes in production can be very
largely eliminated by improved meth
DDS of drilling, especially by sealing
porous beds with fluid mud and by
making suitable provision for the con-
troll of high gas pressures. Also, the
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