The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-11-19

fiji Of the mining industry of the cn- tire Territory. During this summer
 work material and data will be SC
 cured for investigations and tests
 during the winter months. looking
 to the possible improvements in
 methods of mining as well as pre- i vpntion of waste and saving Of by
 products in the recovering Of values
 from mines or placers This field
 work will also give the men an op.
 portunity to examine prospects and districts where discoveries of miner. als of economic importance have been made and reported
 As soon as 1t is possible 10 obtain
 samples from the Nenana field the Station expects to make study of this coal with the view to it's utii-
 zation as fuel. There is no doubt that the question of cheaper fuel stands out above all other conditions and things of the Fairbanks district. for the question of quartz mining
 and the utilization of low-grade ores on any sort of scale is not only Impossible but unthinka ble under present fuel conditions, and even with the placer workings there are large deposits of low-grade ground which could be worked to advantage if the cost of fuel were not prohibit tive. The fuel in the Nenana coal field is Ignite which preliminary
 tests and analyses show to be d- rectly comparable to the lignites of
 North Dakota It contains high
 percentage of moisture, which will
 probably make it inadvisable to use
 1t in the raw state other than for
 local domestic purposes, so that it
 will be necessary to study and de
 termine the best methods for It's
 preparation for market. In the
 States, and especially in North Da.
 kota. this question has received great deal of study so that the work
 of the Fairbanks Station will be to apply intensively and particularly to the local conditions here facts that are already known and processes that have already been worked out by eminent specialists. The Station expects to experiment and make com parative tests under steam boilers with wood. with the raw Ignite as it comes from the mine, with Ignite that is dried either in the open air or in some type of kiln, with Ignite in which the drying has been car ried to the point of partial carbo- nization, and with briquetted Ignite, studying boiler efficiency, Clinkering. waste, and general suitability for steamng purposes. It will also make similar tests with the view to use
 n ordinary stoves and ranges for domestic purposes
 There are a number of other spe- cial investigations and studies which will also be taken up later, among which mention may be made of the cost Of placer mining; the utiliza- tion of different means of handling the gravel, from the small sluice box to the dragline scraper or the dredge; and the study of the meth ods and costs of thawing ground in the effort to discover means of de Creasing the cost or increasing the efficiency. The possibility of using electricity for this purpose should also be studied with a view to the establishment of a central electric power station at the Nenana coal fields. for this work, which, with large available fuel supplies. would be highly efficient, The Station will welcome any suggestions as to other problems or lines of Investigation which 1t could take up. the solution of which would be of benefit to the mining industry of the Territory.
 While the Fairbanks Mining Ex- pertinent Station of the Bureau of Mines is not as yet connected in any definite way with the Territorial Agricultural College and School of Mines, appropriation for which was made by the last Territorial Legis- lature, 1t is understood that as soon as the latter Is established and In running order the Station will CO operate with the School in much the same manner that various other Sta tions of the Bureau of Mines are cooperating with State universities and mining schools Outside.
 In the foregoing paragraphs We have endeavored to give a brief out line of the work of the Bureau of