Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Science
Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Geology, Economic; Mines and mineral resources
There are two operating companies, the Climax Molybdenum Co., a
subsidiary of the American Metal Co., of New York and Denver, and
the Molybdenum Products Co., of Denver. Both of these companies have
erected mills having daily capacities of 200 tons. The mill of the
American Metal Co. started continuous operation about March, 1918,
and that of the other company was completed shortly afterwards. Both
companies claim that they can enlarge the capacity at short notice.
The writer was in the mine of the American Metal Co. Evidently a
considerable part of the mountain is molybdenite, and without doubt,
a very large tonnage can be produced. The Jackling interests recently
acquired the adjoining properties owned by the Pingree Mines Co., but
in 1918 had not built a mill or carried out any serious development
work.
Another very large group of deposits of molybdenite lies near Empire,
Clear Creek County, Colorado, on the eastern slope of Red Mountain,
at an altitude of about 11,000 to 12,000 feet. The deposits are 14
miles from the Empire station of the Colorado & Southern Railroad and
are owned by the Primos Chemical Co., of Primos, Pennsylvania. The
ore-bearing bodies consist of three veins of low-grade ore. The ore
zone, that is, the ground included between the footwall of Vein No. 1
and the hanging wall of Vein No. 3 where cut by the tunnel, is about
200 feet wide. The veins vary greatly in width and are not particularly
well defined, thin veinlets and stringers of ore running into the
walls. The Primos Chemical Co. has worked these mines off and on for
several years. About three years ago it built a mill near the mine, but
production has been rather intermittent. This company has probably used
all of its concentrates for making ferromolybdenum at its own works in
Primos, Pennsylvania.
A small mill has been erected at Pitkin, Colorado, in connection with
the mine at that place owned by the Pennsylvania Molybdenum Mines Co.,
of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. A number of other deposits of considerable
interest are found in Colorado, especially around Breckenridge,
Summit County. Here the pegmatite veins consist largely of muscovite
and quartz, with some feldspar, and carry biotite, chalcopyrite and
accessory minerals. The difficulty here is to separate the molybdenum
from the copper minerals and also from the mica, most of which floats
with the molybdenite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account