Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1921-06-23
ORE DRESSING
SPECIAL STUDY
Big Mine Companies Encourage
Scientific Research Work
in Ore Concentration.
DEPLETION or IRON ORES
There Is an Annual Demand for
$4,000, 900 Tons of Low-Grade Va
riety-Direct Result of Les
sons Taught by War.

New York.-America' fast thinning
deposits are yielding more and more
grudgingly the 1JO0OOOO tons of iron
ore annually consumed in this coun-
try, according to authorities at Colum-
bia university, where the upbuilding
Of ore dressing laboratories is being
foStered by big outside enterprises.
Profit from a bountiful supply of
high-grade ores was easy in the old
days, it was said, but now to reap
even Il small margin of gain enormous
tonnages of low grade ores, requiring
highly specialized scientific knowledge
and skill, must be treated.
The application of scientific knoWl-
edge gained in college laboratories is
facilitated by the cooperation of the
universities and the Industries, Arthur
f. Taggart, professor of ore-dressing
in the Columbia schools of mines, en-
gineerng and chemistry, said in CON
nection with an announcement by the
trustees of a gift of 81 500 for the pur-
chase and installation of new equip
ment for the university's ore-dressing
laboratories.
This gift, by the Miami Copper
company for the promotion of research
in the problems Of ore concentration,
is further evidence of the generous at
ttude on the part Of many company
officials toward the engineering
schools" Professor Taggart said.
Another Lesson From the War.
1T is direct result of the lesson
taught by the war that much of the
knowledge gained in pure research in
the college laboratory can be rapidly
and protitably applied to commercial
technical operations by proper CO.
operation between the technical stats
of commercial organizations and the
Investigators In the universities.
The Importance Of thorough and
specialized training in ore-dressing has
been recognized coincidentally with
the rapidly increasing demand for
scientific and technical knowledge i'm
posed on concentrating mill operators
by the constant diminution in grade
Of metallic ores available for exploita-
tion. In the old days Of high-grade
ore deposits no special knowledge was
necessary to make a profit out of the
treatment Of the ores mined.
According to w. G. Swart, mining
and metallurgical engineer of Duluth,
in an article written for Engineering
Foundation, which Is fostering indus
trial research on a nationwide scale,
each year there are consumed in the
United States about 75,OUo,OOO tons Of
iron ore. Known deposits meeting
this requirement are being rapidly
depleted The economic utilization Of
low-grade ores Is the solution Of this
problem
"To treat the present-day, low w-grade
ores at a profit requires the handling
of enormous tonnages on very small
margin of possible gain" Professor
Taggart continued "The successful
initiation and direction Of such prof.
ects call for the highest scientific
knowledge and engineering skill.
Since no two problems OF ore treat
ment are alike, training in the subject
properly takes the line of a thorough
grounding in fundamental principles,
with each lesson pointed, where pos
sible, by an experiment with typical
piece of mill apparatus. Such train
ing for the general student in mining
and metallurgy fits him for attack on
the usual concentrating problems that
will arise in his engineering expert
ence.
Intensive Training.
The man who plans to be Spe-
cialist in ore treatment needs more
intensive training This may be OBJ
tained either in the field or In school,
but such a man will save time If he
does part of his preparation In
school where the experience of an in
StructOr Is available for direction Of
his efforts and help in his difficulties.
For such student intensive research
into some difficult and, preferably,
slightly explored field Is the best of
all training.
His calls in later work will mostly
come only because others have failed
in the solution Of the particular prob
lem, which usually means that 1t Is
new and difficult. Hence, his training
must teach methods of attack and aid
the development of the students i'm
asination, initiative and analytical
ability. Research as outlined will do
this, or it will make evident the lack
of such qualities, without which sue
cessful specialization is impossible,
and thus save much labor and dis
appointment.
"Co-operation between the universi-
ties and the industries of the country
has been the subject of much thought
within the last few years and many
plans have been put forward to make
such cooperation effective and profit