Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-03-21

lOItIuOSJ GIlBlUetIS III Iile Country, III
Guiding two U.S.G.S. reports. All have
been favorable, leading to the expen-
diture, according to r. w. Wilson, the
present owner Of the chief claims, Of
Sl5OO0O in preliminary development
work. The ore is of such high quality
as to be comparable with that used
in the manufacture Of Swedish steel,
but it has been impossible to develop
it, owing to the Pittsburgh-plus group
which has nullified every effort to
open it up.
It has been commented that the
same powers which have steadfastly
headed off the Running Wolf iron ore
development conducted the campaign
which prevented the opening OF the
chrome ore deposits near Red Lodge.
Discouraging reports, some OF them
which have by recent development
been proven to be actually fraudulent
as in the case Of the great faulting
claimed in the Red Lodge deposits
were issued whenever deal for de-
velopment was pending. This discour-
aging influence extended even into
state organizations, only to be sudden
" dissipated when government agen- (
cy opened up the Saltwater deposits.
Accordingly, it was no surprise when
a systematic effort began to prevent
the opening of the Running Wolf de- /
posts as a war measure One engineer
who claimed to represent the govern /
ment examined the properties by
driving as close as possible in an auto,
accompanied by a crippled man as
guide, and then gave wide publicity
to his findings that there is nothing
at all in the Running Wolf deposit
E. N. Goddard of the U.S.G.S. last
June visited the property two or three
times without the knowledge of the
owners, unaccompanied by anyone who
could show them. The extensive de-
velopment work, seen by biologists who
made their reports 20 to 80 years ago,
has all caved in 1t will require con-
siderable manual work to open them
up.
The strangest part of the Goddard
report is that he found high sulphur
content in the ore while other engi-
neers have noted particularly the abb
sence of sulphur and low phosphorus
content. The facts are known to lead
ing steel companies, also by the Ana
conda Copper Mining Co., and the
Clark interests, the latter having pre-
pared to take over the deposit just
before the sale to the A. c. M.
Dwight Woodbridge, one of the out !,
standing mining engineers of this
country, reported on the property in j.,
1916 when the workings were open to !
examination. woodbridge disagreed
with earlier theories that the ore is 2
a gossan, saying that this ore is likely :
to maintain its character to a consid-
cradle depth and to prove a deposit :
of importance, at least from the point =
of view of tonnage represented therein. =
THE only important deposit of iron =
that I have seen or know of that pre-
sents an aspect at all similar to this
one is that of the Trafikastiebolags :
Oxelesund at Kiiruna- !,
Vaara, Swedish Lapland where the ore ?
S enclosed between walls Of porphyry,
gray and pink; the analogy fails some y
What when pursued, but stands closely y
enough to be remarkable. Kiirunavaara =
pres are enclosed between walls Of y
'yenite porphyry that extends for =;
widths of two to three miles; this ?,
Mountain ore is in a syonite porphyry :,
hat Is but narrow, in both cases sedi- " "
nentary rocks surround the porphy- o. ,.
les; the sediments in Lapland are -
and scistS intruded by -
)orphyries and amygdaleidal flows, ~ ~
While the sediments In Montana are ~
imestones, shales and states, intruded ~
y porphyries and dioriteS The Mon -
ana ore is hematite, that of Lapland =,
S magnetic. But these are Emergencies E
hat are not serious in their nature
md do not affect the fact of broad =
imilarity !.
"Kiirunavaara is one of the great m
mines of the world, with a proved ton or
lage Of high grade ore amounting to co
bout one billion tons; it is known to in
xtend to depth Of more than 1000 IN
eet below the outcrop, while the orig ar
nal depth, before the SUBMITS of the ar
Mountains had been subject to extern
I've erosion, was far greater than that"
woodbridge shows In his report Is -
representative assays which gave an d
average of 1884 percent
ron, .O32 phosphorus and 697 percent up
thca. One sample showed LOT phos- da
horus which brought the average up. -
ut .265 would be more nearly correct, II
lie stated ILL.,
Speaking Of sulphur, he said: "A
Usual examination of the above sam
lies did not show the presence of
llphur In any Of them except NO. 10 II
nd that was assayed for sulphur with
ne result stated. do not think that II
ny Of the rest have sufficient sulphur
affect the iron. No Is sample was u
aken in tunnel on Ruby No. claim -
-hich tunnel cuts through an IRON
'alneo porphyry carrying small crys-
lis OF pyrite. take 1t that this has II
0 bearing on the question of sulphur
the ore as whole, and that Won ii
eed have no fear on this score.
THE pig iron Of the United States II
made from ores that give. as
neral average, but little more than II
percent iron; the steel of the south
made from ores that yield, on the
'erage. about 50 percent iron and the
ost desirable Of which contain ia
e neighborhood Of IS to 10 percent
ne. This lime being IN excess OF the
les (or acid) content Of the gangue.
"a in fll1xing the ore and there are