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By RAY LYMAN WILBUR

SINCE boyhood I have had a keen interest in mining engineering. To see the prospector with his pack outfit and his pan, followed by the assayer and the trained engineer, has always had -something of the lure of romance for me. It is appropriate that the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers should hold a general meeting in California, since this State has long been a home of mining engineering. Here, after the early open methods of mining, it has been necessary for the universities to train men in geology and mining, so that the earth could be penetrated and the rich ledges opened. In the eighty years in which the mines of California have been offering experience to the miners of the world, we have seen mining engineering evolve from a comparatively simple art, covered largely by rule of thumb, into a complex group of specialties, each utilizing the very latest discoveries in the various fields of physical sciences. Mining, too, has become a great business requiring large financial support and the most careful handling. Those mining engineers who have applied new processes in special fields have thus been able to give a wide-flung range to their activities in all parts of the world. The hand of nature in distributing minerals over the surface of the earth has compelled the mining engineer to become a modern pioneer, facing the heat of the tropics as well as the frozen regions of the north. There has been a marked cosmopolitan aspect to mining engineering, since the engineer had to go wherever the prospector discovered favorable leads. This has meant dealing with the harshest of conditions, the handling of labor of all sorts, the control of sanitary conditions, and relations to all forms of transportation. Naturally this has called on some of the very best minds in all countries to unlock the stores of hidden wealth. To make them available for civilization has been the job of the mining engineer.

Jan 1, 1929

By Charles L. Kimbell

In overall aggregate, the world's mineral industry in 1987 experienced a more satisfactory year than in 1986, at least insofar as its performance could be assessed from traditional statistical indicators. Production, trade and consumption seemingly advanced in the case of the majority of commodities, and prices for a number of commodities advanced. It was by no means certain, however, whether 1987 investment in mineral industry ventures would top the levels of 1986, when, in the case of petroleum industry investment expenditures there had been a sharp decline, this in contrast to evidences of a slight upturn in steel industry investment. World crude mineral output value was estimated at more than $1,084 billion, and the value added by minerals industry processing of this material probably raised the total value of the industry's production from primary materials to more than $2,600 billion constant 1983 dollars. Less easy too assess was the value of mineral commodities moving in international trade, but with a resurgence in oil prices from the 1986 levels, an increase above the 1986 $500 billion mark seemed assured. There are no comprehensive aggregate statistics on mineral consumption comparable to those on production and trade, but quantitative growth recorded for most major commodities suggested a favorable trend, particularly when coupled with a general (though by no means universal) upturn in unit prices.

Jan 1, 1989

By Charles L. Kimbell

The year 1979 was a period of increased activity for the world's mineral industry, distinctly in contrast with 1978 when estimated world crude mineral output value declined slightly and most phases of the industry's activity were somewhat curtailed. In 1979, most major mineral commodities recorded significant gains in output, with a substantial number achieving new record highs; details on trade levels for 1979 were not available, but increases over those of 1978 were expected on the basis of partial data. Consumption of most commodities edged higher; in some cases the higher demand levels were met largely through draw-downs of stocks accumulated in recent years, while in other cases notable output increases were required to meet demand. Actually, 1978 was not a bad year for all elements of the mineral industry if changes in output levels of the various commodities are considered as a measure of performance. There were far more individual commodities registering production increases between 1977 and 1978 than registered declines, but some of those reported as declining were relatively major commodities (bauxite, aluminum, copper and zinc were notable), Moreover, the upturn in productive activity in 1978 was not matched by increases in profits. However, 1979 was unquestionably a year of renewed expansion efforts, although some commodity areas, most notably the steel industry component, were still experiencing difficulties.

Jan 1, 1981

By G. H. Lind

The Minerals Tertiary Education Council (MTEC), over the past decade, has worked closely with Australian higher education partners in metallurgical education to build capacity in this discipline to deliver high quality graduates for the Australian minerals-industry. This paper explores the benefits of industry engagement through a national innovative collaboration, the Metallurgical Education Partnership (MEP), and specifically the final year Process Design Project (PDP), over the four year period from 2008-2011. Some of the benefits discussed in this paper include outcomes of the student experience during an industry-intensive workshop, collaboration between higher education providers and aligning graduate attributes to meet industry requirements.

Sep 1, 2012

By A. T. Yu

The energy crisis and the resurgence of mining activities highlighted 1972-73. Added to the impetus for more effective materials handling systems has been the continued upward trend of inflation and labor costs. The need for addressing the fundamentals has led to the trend toward an overall systems approach to materials handling problems.1 The decision to move forward with large mining ventures such as the $150 million Hibbing taconite comple2 and the immense Carajas iron project must base themselves on indepth studies of a host of factors viewed in the context of an integral mine-transport-market system. What's important is that each ton of pellet or ore must be an economical commodity at the end users' furnace. The project can still be viaable even if certain components in the entire network appear to be individually costly.

Jan 2, 1974

By K. C. Liddell

Chemical processing research made notable advances during 1986. This overview is necessarily brief. It is intended, though, to give the flavor of selected areas where recent activity has been high. At the 1986 Annual Meeting of The Metallurgical Society, a symposium was held on hydrometallurgical reactor design and kinetics. R. G. Bautista, R. J. Wesely, and G. W. Warren edited the resultant proceedings volume. This is the first available volume on this subject. It includes 26 papers on fundamental kinetic studies, modeling of reaction kinetics and reactor performance, and pilot and production-scale operations. Metals discussed include silver, gold, platinum, titanium, cobalt, nickel, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron. Agitated tanks, heaps, dumps, pachucas, pressure auto-claves, electrolytic reactors, liquid membranes, and fluidized beds are among the reactor types covered. An international symposium dealt with iron control in hydrometallurgy. It was sponsored by the Metallurgical Society of CIM, the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, The Metallurgical Society of AIME, and Gesellschaft Deutscher Metallhutten and Bergleute. J. E. Dutrizac and A. J. Monhemius edited a proceedings volume containing 41 papers. These covered many areas of process chemistry, solvent extraction, precipitation, treatment of pickle liquors, impurities, residues and the environment, and process selection. Precious metals Concerning precious metals processing, the US Bureau of Mines IC 9059 is noteworthy. It includes papers presented at a USBM briefing at the Western Mining Conference in Denver. Topics covered included ion exchange, staged heap-leaching direct-electrowinning, and mercury precipitation during cyanide leaching of gold ores. Also dealt with were carbonaceous gold ores, carbon adsorption and desorption, heap leaching, the carbon-in-pulp process, and precious metals recovery from electronic scrap and solder. R. C. Sandberg and J. L. Huiatt (Journal of Metals, June 1986, and USBM RI 9022) developed a method to recover silver, gold, and lead from a complex sulfide using ferric chloride, thiourea, and brine-leach solutions. Gallium Gallium recovery was also a subject of considerable interest. Much information on this topic is proprietary. But two papers described solvent extraction of gallium. V. P. Judin and R. G. Bautista (Metallurgical Transactions B, 1986) developed an equilibrium model to separate gallium chloride from aluminum chloride. Tributyl phosphate was the extractant studied. T. Sato and H. Oishi (Hydrometallurgy, 16, 1986) investigated gallium extraction from sodium hydroxide by using Kelex 100. Data were given on the equilibrium distribution and the extraction kinetics. Galena Interest continues in recovering lead by hydrometallurgical processing of galena. J. E. Dutrizac; S. H. Kim, H. Henein, and G. W. Warren; and M. C. Fuerstenau et al. (Metallurgical Transactions B, 1986) all investigated leaching of PbS by ferric chloride. Dutrizac reported parabolic kinetics and reaction control by outward diffusion of lead through a porous layer of elemental sulfur. Kim, Henein, and Warren, however, reported that two leaching reactions occur. A nonoxidative reaction produces H2S and there is an oxidative leaching by ferric ion. Acid dissolution was found to predominate when the acid activity to ferric activity ratio is high. Surface chemical reaction was reported to be controlling. Fuerstenau et al. also reported that mass transfer through the sulfur layer is rate determining. But they believe that the species transferred are chloro complexes of ferric ion. In other work on lead, A. Y. Lee, A. M. Wethington, and E. R. Cole, Jr. of the USBM described an environmentally acceptable hydrometallurgical alternative to the smelting of lead concentrates (RI 9055). Uranium In spite of depressed prices, much work has been reported on uranium processing. R. G. L. McCready, D. Wadden, and A. March-bank (Hydrometallurgy 17, 1986) described the nutrient needs for in-place leaching by T. ferrooxidans. They reported the optimal conditions for uranium solubilization. L. E. Eary, H. L. Barnes, and L. M. Cathles (Metallurgical Transactions B, 1986) carried out an experimental and modeling study of uraninite dissolution. They concluded that ferric ion preferentially leaches uraninite in pyritic ores. Hydrogen peroxide was found to be less selective. A. Vuorinen, P. Hiltunen, and O. H. Tuovinen (Hydrometallurgy 15, 1986) studied redox and precipitation reactions of iron and uranium in leach liquors. P. T. Chiang (Hydrometallurgy 17, 1986) reported on the effect of uranium loading in the DEPA-TOPO process to separate uranium and iron from wet-process phosphoric acid. F. J. Hurst (Hydrometallurgy 16, 1986) conducted a fundamental study of the separation of uranium from phosphoric acid by DEPA and TOPO. D. E. Chia and W. C. Cooper (Hydrometallurgy 16, 1986) reported on bench and pilot scale work to recover uranium by the HIMIX process. They reported that the acid consumption to produce an eluate suitable for yellowcake

Jan 5, 1987

By R A. Medower

This paper provides a glimpse into the future of minerals processing with emphasis on æAutomation InnovationsÆ for the new millennium, particularly those involving advanced process control and innovative new applications of process control technology in 2007.

Jan 1, 2000

Mining and mineral processing makes a vital contribution to AustraliaÆs national export income, and our society today is critically dependent on its products. Despite the importance of this industry, its operations often come under scrutiny because of its high potential impact on local environments û both social and ecological. The challenge for the minerals industry today is to make the most responsible and best possible use of the national resource base, maximising overall resource utilisation.Research efforts and industry implementation of improvements have been moving in this direction for a considerable time already, and the industry has a long history of process innovation and improvement in Australia. Examples range from the early development of gold cyanidation and mineral flotation to more recent work undertaken under the auspices of AMIRA or through the various CRCs and research organisations such as the AJ Parker CRC for Hydrometallurgy, the Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment and the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre.However, the nature of research and innovation in the mining and mineral processing sector is changing, as the industry itself copes with the pressures introduced by globalisation, industry consolidation and commodity price cycles. Large firms that have historically maintained a tradition of corporate technology and a culture of innovation are moving to outsource their technological and research competencies and are adopting æfast-followerÆ mentalities. At the same time, the challenges of sustainable development that need to be addressed are many-faceted, multidisciplinary, and require a holistic approach for significant achievements to be realised. Many sustainability issues, particularly those pertaining to environmental and safety issues, are shared across large sections of the minerals industry, and are seen as æindustryÆ problems beyond the scope of a single company.In this environment, collaborative research efforts are becoming the dominant mechanisms for building on past innovations and ensuring the continued success of the mining and mineral processing industries within a framework of sustainable development.

Jan 1, 2004

By Norman B. Davis

THE ceramic group of industries is comprised of those engaged in the manufacture of cement, glass, artificial abrasives, whiteware, including earthenware, stoneware, porcelain tableware, porcelain sanitary ware, electrical porcelain, floor and wall tile, porcelain enamel on metals, refractories of all kinds, sewer-pipe and structural clay products, such as terra cotta, brick, and hollow tile. The various sub-divisions of the industry produce a wide range of articles on which we depend for our creature comforts from day to day, perhaps to a greater extent than we generally realize. The industry, in turn, depends on a great number of minerals, and chemical products derived from minerals, and it is the object of this brief paper to present a list of these with notes indicating the particular applications. In order to bring home the importance of the industry to your daily life, stop and consider the many things around you accepted as a matter of course. Cement provides the smooth surfaces of many of our highways, city streets, and sidewalks. It enters into nearly all types of construction, alone or in combination with other clay products. Glass we hardly appreciate because we can see through it so easily, but it is there to serve us in windows, doors, and other light-transmitting structures. Glass is the universal means of transporting liquids and beverages, our beverages are usually served in it, and, with the recent development in fine spun glass textiles, there is a possibility of glass clothing in the future. Chinaware, a general term for table dishes, may be earthenware (not vitrified), semi-porcelain, or bone china, but it is before us three or more times a day ?and we seldom think of the minerals that have made these products possible. Floor tile, wall tile, and other ceramic specialties for interior and exterior use and decoration please the eye and provide sanitary surroundings.

Jan 1, 1938

One of the great attractions of academic life, for those who enjoy the opportunities of university teaching, is the continual contact with some of the most able young minds which each rising generation produces. So when I was asked to give a paper at t

Jan 1, 1994

By Karl S. Hughes

ANY one of the mining engineers who spent three years under the benevolent and protective custody of the military forces of His Imperial Nipponese Majesty will admit that he has survived a most disagreeable experience, but our friends here in the States all demand that we tell them something about our thrilling adventure. Many of the younger men who were on Luzon in December 1941 joined up with the Army, either as civilian technical employees or through their reserve officer status. They served through the Bataan and Corregidor defense and had five months of thrills and hardship, if that is what constitutes adventure. Unfortunately, too many of them are not alive to tell their stories. But for most of us, our internment as alien civilians was just one long, drawn-out pain in the neck. Yes, we starved; yes, we contracted beriberi, dysentery, typhus, dengue, and for a while had no quinine to fight the ever-present malaria; but these things are not exciting, neither is the account of them interesting. Our contingent from Mindanao, 250 .in number including 25 mining men, went through one period of starvation at Davao. When the activity of the Allied fleet interfered with the importation of staple foodstuffs, and the natives stopped bringing fruit and vegetables into the market, the food situation became acute, and in December 1943, with stocks in sight and in prospect insufficient to provision their own soldiers, our custodians decided that we must be moved to Manila. The story of that ten-day voyage in an antiquated Jap freighter is too disgusting to tell, but hardly more adventurous than the account of a game of solitaire.

Jan 1, 1945

By Chee Theng

"Keep calm and carry on mining. That has long been the conventional wisdom in the mining industry, a largely cyclical one that has weathered roller-coaster booms and busts. But in the years from 2002 to 2016, an unprecedented steep rise in commodities prices that lasted a decade and then took a sharp turn downward had made it hard for gold and silver miners to stay the course.“The last 15 years highlighted some of the structural and inherent challenges that our industry has, from product price uncertainty to long lead times to the capital intensity of our business,” said Mitchell Krebs, president and chief executive officer of Coeur Mining, who was the luncheon speaker at the American Exploration & Mining Association’s 122nd Annual Meeting held Dec. 5-9, 2016, in Reno, NV.Looking back, Krebs said, “We were given this enormous gift of a commodities super cycle, and the industry kind of blew the opportunity.” While gold prices rose 319 percent and silver prices rose more than 200 percent over the 2002 to 2016 period, the XAU index of 30 gold and silver mining companies’ stock prices went up by only 20 percent.Entering 2016, precious-metals prices have made a comeback, with gold rallying strongly from a six-year low at the start of the year. This time, the industry is ready. Companies are leaner and meaner, with lower costs, reduced debt and an increased focus on higher grades and quality ounces. Although opportunities were missed in the past, the industry has got its act together and is now well positioned to take advantage of a price upswing and even to show profits when prices fall, as they did in August 2016, pushed down by a strong dollar."

Feb 1, 2017

By Bob Snashall

"We could blow that damned fort out of existence if we could run a mine shaft under it!," claimed one Union soldier eyeing Bobby Lee's Petersburg defense line protecting Richmond and Jeff Davis. Puncture the line, take the hill behind, and the Confederate capital would celebrate Yankee jubilee, 1864. That was June. At 4:15 am, July 30, mine boss Henry Reese, sergeant, 48th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, gingerly entered the mine, dark and muddy. Something had gone wrong. The mine, set to go off at 3:30, hadn't exploded. It had to be checked. The main mine gallery, 1.5 m high x 1.4 m wide (5 x 4 ft) narrowing at the top to 0.6 m (2 ft), forced Reese into a tuck run. Some¬where up there in that 155 m (511 ft) stretch running 6 m (20 ft) under the rebel works, moisture may have doused the charge. Or maybe a fuse splice went awry. Or maybe there was live fire steaming like a locomo¬tive towards 3.6 t (4 st) of black powder. Perhaps now Reese wished this sprint was shorter. For the mine boasted a record break¬ing distance in military annals. Lieut. Col. Henry Pleasants Credit goes to Lieut. Col. Henry Pleas¬ants, commander of the 48th, who overheard the soldier's claim for what a mine could do. In peacetime, Pleasants had been a railroad engineer working on the Sand Patch Tunnel. He later switched to mining, working for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. He even married the daughter of the editor of The Miners Journal. Grieving over his wife's early death, Pleasants plunged into the ven¬ture of war. This Union officer took the mine idea to the brass. Headquarters was less than enthu¬siastic. "The chief engineer of the Army and the rest of the regular Army wiseacres said it was not feasible," Pleasants wrote to his uncle. The pros scoffed, ticking off a list of horribles: No mine has ever gone that far, men will suffocate and be crushed, the rebs will countermine, the men will be trapped. Still, Pleasants eked out a signal to proceed. In the meantime, the miners of the 48th had commenced to dig anyway. It was like the 48th to proceed against the odds. The 48th Pennsylvania Volunteers The 48th had been recruited from Penn¬sylvania's Schuylkill County, anthracite coal mining country. The mines had been torn with strife over wages. Strikes and rioting were prevalent. Murder was not unknown. This "Buckshot" resistance centered in Pottsville, PA. It forced the governor to call in troops. Coal was in high demand to run the war machine. Pennsylvania operators worried that a military draft would stir up violence, closing the mines altogether and further shift¬ing business to emerging Illinois mines. Men lit out for the western gold fields in the tens of thousands. Secret societies bred in the mining camps invited draft agents to dance at the end of a rope. Jobs threatened by cheap, victorious South¬ern labor were one warning intended to get immigrant miners interested in the war. Operators gave miners time off to help de¬fend Philadelphia during Lee's thrust to Gettysburg. Even so, the draft spawned new violence and troop intercession. Soldiers were not welcome. The dust had barely settled when into this Pennsylvania "minefield" marched the 48th on a recruitment drive. The 48th had been in Lexington, KY on guard duty. When it came time for the regiment to pull out, the townspeople had prevailed upon authorities to extend the regiment's stay. Finally ordered to move out, the 48th was feted by a hanky-waving, tear-dropping send-off to the lyrical lament Auld Lang Syne. And Kentucky fancied itself to be rebel. Striding smartly into the Pennsylvania coalfields, the 48th attracted 400 recruits and marched off under regimental colors specially made by the proud citizens of none other than Pottsville, PA.

Jan 1, 1989

By Andrzej Wala, Henry P. Cole, Perry David Passaro

Cognitive representations and misconceptions of flow through circuits is an area which has received little attention from science educators, cognitive psychologists, or accident investigators. Misconceptions are also called Aristotelian thinking. They involve a person using primitive unscientific ways of reasoning to make decisions about events (Piaget, 1929; Nussbaum & Novick, 1982; McCloskey, 1983). The use of such primitive concepts leads to errors in reasoning about scientific and technical problems. The existence of misconceptions is well documented among children, adolescents, and adults involved in learning science concepts (Piaget, 1929; Cole & Raven, 1969; Clement, 1982; Mistrell, 1982; McDermott, 1984; Richardson, 1987). Concepts of flow through circuits are important because miners' conceptual errors about these aspects may be, in part, responsible for two fatal mine disasters. On at least two separate occasions, methane gas explosions occurred in underground mines when separate ventilation systems were connected (Elam, Fuller, Carter, Cavanaugh, Fesak & Painter, 1983; Fesak & Cavanaugh, 1984). A review of these disasters indicates that conceptual errors made by miners may have resulted in the accidents (Cole, Wala, Haley, & Vaught, 1987). In this study, co-author Andrzej Wala, stated that his research had "identified conceptual errors that may have caused the miners in these disasters to make fatal mistakes" (Cole et al. 1987), p. 167. Further exploration of these conceptual errors by Wala has led to the hypothesis that misconceptions of basic aspects of flow distribution changes in mine ventilation circuits, are at least, in part, responsible for some mine disasters caused by errors in ventilation systems (Wala & Cole, 1987). Why should these conceptual errors occur? Ausubel (1963) suggested that students come to a new area of study with their own conceptions or preconceptions about how a process operates. Furthermore, these preconceptions may be in conflict with the empirical data from the discipline. In such cases, learning becomes a process in which new concepts must displace or be re-molded from stable concepts that the student has constructed over many years (Clement, 1982). Given the existing research with misconceptions and the work of Wala and Cole (1987), it was hypothesized that experienced miners; either working miners, students of mining engineering, or professional mining engineers, harbored misconceptions about the formal or conceptual aspects of mine ventilation circuits. The misconceptions hypothesized to exist involved flow distribution changes in complex mine ventilation circuits; specifically, how does flow distribution change when a ventilation circuit pathway is altered? Given this information, the following research questions were proposed. Research Questions 1. Do experienced miners and mining engineers harbor misconceptions about mine ventilation systems? This question was addressed by: A. The administration of the Cutthrough Ventilation Arrangements (CVA) exercise that measures subjects' performance level when making decisions about major ventilation changes when connecting two mine sections;

Jan 1, 1989

By Jennifer J. Swenson

El presente texto describe los problemas de deforestación, precios e importaciones de mercurio en la minera artesanal aurífera de Madre de Dios. En ese sentido, a medida que la interconexión de la economia mundial avanza, es más difícil que países en desarrollo aprovechen las fuerzas lucrativas de la demanda global para lograr una sostenibilidad social y ambiental. En consecuencia, los países en desarrollo contienen un peso ambiental desigual en relación con los países desarrollados qie importan materias primas. Como ejemplo de ello, el precio del oro aumentó, así como la minería aurífera informal y no industrial en los países en los países en desarrollo y el mal manejo del mercurio en el uso del oro, repercutió en el medio ambiente y los mismos mineros, al igual que el problema de la deforestación. Por ello, se plantea un programa para enfrentar dchos problemas en la región de Madre de Dios y reducir el aumento de la minería informal.

May 1, 2012

By Juan Rayo

Minería sin residuos o Wasteless Mining (WLM) es una innovación tecnológica global que apunta a eliminar los riesgos ambientales generados por escombreras y relaves, por medio de una combinación de los procesos de explotación subterránea por hundimiento y de espesamiento de relaves hasta convertirlo en pasta. La condición ideal ocurre cuando ya existe una explotación a tajo abierto y se migra a explotación subterránea por hundimiento, en cuyo caso el déficit de volumen para alojar el relave en pasta lo suple el antiguo tajo. La cavidad resultante del minado por hundimiento puede contener algo más de 2/3 del residuo generado; el otro tercio se coloca en el tajo pre-existente, en obras subterráneas abandonadas, en un depósito sobre zonas de subsidencia delimitada por pretiles o en una relavera menor. Durante la explotación de mina por hundimiento, hasta extraer 1/3 de las reservas no hay cráter de subsidencia. Entre las principales ventajas de la WLM, el artículo cita: mínimo uso de suelo y quebradas para depositar residuos, bajo riesgo de filtraciones y/o producción de aguas ácidas, bajo consumo de agua, ausencia de vibraciones o polvo por voladura.

Sep 30, 2017

By Doris Hiam-Gálvez

El presente trabajo describe las últimas tecnologías que mejoran la minería en América Latina y la eficacia en el procesamiento del mineral. Así también se revisa el modo innovador de energía a través de la fundición de sales con energía solar, particularmente en regiones desérticas de América del Sur. Cada tecnología ofrece mejoras sustanciales en eficiencia, capital, y costos operativos y contribuye a la reducción el impactom ambiental de las operaciones mineras.

Feb 1, 2012

By R. P. D. Graham

It is almost exactly two hundred years since the foundations of the mining and metallurgical industries in Canada were laid. There '."'as nothing spectacular about this early start. It had to do with the most basic phases of these industries-the mining of coal and iron ore, and the manufacture of cast and wrought iron. At several points along the coast of Cape Breton island, coal seams may be seen outcropping quite conspicuously, and it is probable that they had been observed, and possibly worked in a small way, in very early times. However that may be, these coal seams have the distinction of being the first in North America of which there is any printed record, reference to them appearing in a volume by Nicolas Denys which was published in Paris in 1672. Regular coal mining in the district did not commence until about fifty years later, however. The metallurgists started their operations along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. Here, at many points between Montreal and Quebec, are to be found deposits of bog iron ore, and in 1 730 a furnace for smelting such ore was established on the St. Maurice river. The St. Maurice forges continued in operation until 1880, and throughout that long period they were famed for the fine quality of castings produced, and also for a-superior wrought iron.

Jan 1, 1924

By E. S. Moore

To properly understand industrial conditions in Spain it is necessary to consider the early history of the country. Spain is very backward in many lines. They use the sickle for cutting grain, and plows for cultivating the land, which resemble those of Biblical days. In the great mining camp at Bilbao only one steam-shovel is in use, although about two hundred million tons of ore has been produced, and this almost entirely from open cuts. It is the lack of industrial development, such as is found in many other countries, which permits large mining enterprises to be controlled almost entirely by foreign capital, although Spain is such an old country, and which permits mines opened in the days of the Phoenicians to still operate. Such deposits in America would be exhausted in a comparatively few years. The Phoenicians are supposed to have reached Spain about 1100 B.C. and to have worked some of the properties in the Rio Tinto district. The Carthagenians invaded the country about 236 B.C., and they were driven out about 205 B.C. by the Romans. The Romans ruled until 483 A.D., when they were overthrown by the Visigoths. Then, about 711 A.D., the Moors from Africa became prominent and they were finally expelled by the Spaniards in 1492. Spanish power reached its zenith under Phillip II, during the latter half of the 16th century, and since the close of that century the country has lost its prominent place among the nations. There are some evidences of revival in the development of good roads, the construction of a satisfactory network of railways, and the building of magnificent thoroughfares through the capital city, Madrid.

Jan 1, 1927

By JESSE L. MAURY

ONE OF the most hopeful features of the current depression is the discussion which it has en- gendered of ways and means to counteract similar recurrences in the future. 1t is widely recognized that fruitful attack will be directed toward the steady employment of labor, through which the purchasing power of this preponderant class in society will be maintained. S. A, Lewisohn's article' has presented the major factors to be considered; the physical suffering and mental torture endured by those who are deprived of income through no fault of their own, the direct economic losses' sustained in the degradation of 'great, numbers of our population and the disintegration of efficient working forces, and the prime responsibility of owners and managers.

Jan 1, 1931