This deposit has been worked by several short irregular drifts and open cuts. The crude ore was hauled 5 miles in wagons to the river at Cave in Rock, where it was washed in a log washer, loaded into river barges by wheelbarrow, towed up the river to Shawneetown, and there transferred to railroad cars. In June, 1922, plans were under way for the erection of a small washing, jigging, and grinding mill at the mine. Illinois Fluorspar & Lead Co. (Cave in Rock and Lead Hill mines).— The Illinois Fluorspar & Lead Co. was in the process of formation in June, 1922, and as an organization had not worked its properties, which comprise the old Cave in Rock and Lead Hill mines. These mines, located west of the Spar Mountain mines and about 5 to 6 miles by haulage road from Cave in Rock, have been worked intermittently by different parties for many years. The underground workings were not accessible but more or less caved open-cut workings indicated that part of the ore was of the bedded type, like that at Spar Mountain, and part like that worked by the Ohio Valley Fluorspar Co. Stock piles at the mines also showed that a large proportion of the fluorspar could be recovered as acid and enamel grades and it is probable that a small amount of optical fluorspar could be obtained. No milling equipment had been installed, but the company was planning to erect a mill at a barge landing on the river about 3 miles directly south of the Lead Hill mine and west of Cave in Rock. Chicago Fluorspar Co. (Stewart mine).-The Stewart mine of the Chicago Fluorspar Co. is situated in Hardin County, Ill., about 5 miles in a direct line northwest of Rosiclare, at the terminus of a 312-mile spur from the Golconda branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. The ore deposit consists of a nearly vertical vein with a strike of about N. 25° E. Only part of the vein contains fluorspar, but in the workable parts a fluorspar width up to 7 feet has been found. The deposit is opened by a three-compartment timbered shaft cut about 8 by 16 feet in the hanging wall, with two hoisting compartments and a ladderway sunk about 300 feet. The vein at the bottom of the shaft was stated to consist of solid calcite containing no fluorspar. The only level which has been worked is about 188 feet below the surface. At this level drifts on the vein have been run about 500 feet from the shaft in each direction. Most of the ore so far produced has come from development openings and from taking up the bottom of the drifts as breast stopes. Much of the ore is very soft, gravelly, and mixed with mud, shale, and limonite nodules. Mud runs have given much trouble in the past. The walls on the 188-foot level are of solid limestone. Milling. The ore is trammed by hand to the shaft, dumped over, and sledged through a grizzly with 8-inch-square openings. The ore drops to a crosscut on the 245-foot level. The ore is hoisted to the surface in buckets holding about 1,000 pounds, and dumped over a grizzly with 42 by 5 inch openings, where the coarse waste is discarded and the coarse ore sledged through. This mill has a rated capacity of 6 to 12 tons of crude ore per hour and makes about a 50 per cent recovery. The maximum production of fluorspar concentrates in the past has been 40 tons in an eight-hour day. The chief mill product has been gravel-grade spar, but some optical spar is recovered from the picking belt. The power plant consists of a 150-horsepower Heine-type handfired water-tube boiler; a single-stage steam-driven air compressor with a capacity of 213 cubic feet of free air per minute; a small twocylinder, single-drum geared hoist; and a 60-horsepower slide-valve mill engine. Other Illinois mines.-In addition to the mines described there are a number of small mines which have produced a few hundred or at most a few thousand tons of fluorspar each during their entire past periods of production. These mines have not been important enough in the past and development has not progressed far enough to warrant description. COSTS OF PRODUCTION IN ILLINOIS Generalized estimates of the cost of production in the Illinois field can not be given due to the varying size and nature of the different mines. Probably no two companies have even approximately the same costs or the same distribution of costs. Although much detailed information on this subject was obtained it can not be used without revealing confidential statistics. In general it may be stated that before the World War production costs and sales prices were nearly equal. Price cutting and competition from imported spar allowed the principal producers little or no profit. During the war the demand was very high and prices for prompt delivery of gravel spar rose from about $6.50 to as much as $40 or $45 per ton, production increased tremendously, and all the most available ore was removed as rapidly as possible. At the same time production costs increased very greatly. Under these unusual conditions some companies made fair profits, although much of the tonnage was contracted for at old prices and the producers did not obtain full benefit of the highest price levels, Immediately after the war the operators faced permanently increased costs, due to much greater depth of mining and higher costs of labor and supplies, and abrupt decline in demand, with potential keen competition from imported spar. Prices were forced down from the war-time prices of $40 and over to $16 or $17.50 per ton for gravel spar. Although these prices were much higher than those before the war, they did not enable even large producers to operate at a profit because their expenses were so high. After the passage of the tariff act of 1922, which placed a $5.50 import duty on fluorspar, the producers could raise their prices about $4 per ton, a margin which allowed a small profit. Except for a short period during the war Illinois producers have made little net profit in the past. It is also evident that production costs will not decrease, but must increase. If our fluorspar resources are to be developed to their fullest extent, prices must be high enough to pay for the increased costs and allow a margin for prospecting, development, and the working of narrow veins in depth. WESTERN KENTUCKY The topography of the western Kentucky fluorspar district resembles that of the Illinois district, with a few important differences. Most fluorspar deposits are far enough from the Ohio River and so high above the general ground-water level that they are not flooded as readily, and pumping problems have not been unusually vital. Furthermore, weathering has been much more pronounced, or the products of weathering have not been so extensively removed by erosion, so that solid-vein outcrops are not common. General conditions here have already been described under "Prospecting." With the exception of the comparatively few mines 200 to 500 feet deep, most fluorspar mining in this district has consisted of small open cuts or shallow, unsystematic workings in residual deposits of disintegrated gravel fluorspar. Undoubtedly much of the past Kentucky fluorspar production has come from workings less than 100 feet or at the most 150 feet deep. The following fluorspar mines in western Kentucky were examined by the writer or gave him adequate information in the summer of 1922, Kentucky fluorspar mines Operator 1 Kentucky Fluorspar Co.. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do.. Do. (Moore & Davis, Tabor and Asbridge John Hodge.. Nancy Hanks. Cullen... Tabb fault, 221⁄2 miles southwest of Mexico, Ky. Corn fault, 9 miles west of Marion, Ky. Tabb fault, railroad spur, 1 mile southwest of Tabb fault, three-fourths mile southwest of Mex- Tabb fault, 3 miles southwest of Mexico, Ky. Tabb fault, 4 miles southwest of Mexico, Ky. Hodge fault, 5 miles west of Mexico, Ky. Evening Star fault, 12 miles west of Mexico, Ky. Do Liberty Bond (Wat- Stevens fault, 10 miles southwest of Marion, Ky. son). Pope.. Lovelace Holly. Big Four. Keystone. Commodore. Klondyke.. Royal.. K-K. 2 Former or subordinate names in parentheses. Do. Hodge fault, 61⁄2 miles west of Mexico, Ky. Hodge fault, 9 miles west of Marion, Ky. La Rue and Glendale faults, 9 miles west of Columbia fault, 5 miles west of Marion, Ky. Latrobe fault, about 31⁄2 miles north of Smith- La Rue fault, west of Marion, Ky. Perigen fault, 91⁄2 miles west of Marion, Ky. 3 Fault, shipping point, and haulage distance by nearest route. Ship via barge on Cumberland River. Several other mines have been rather important in the past, but now are idle and are reported to be worked out. Some other small mines and prospects have probably been as important as some of those mentioned, but now are either idle or very small producers, or it was impossible to obtain definite information regarding them. Many such small mines are opened and worked intermittently, but have little permanent effect upon the fluorspar industry. The following descriptions of individual properties made no attempt to cover all mines now in operation. By far the most important deposits from the standpoint of past, present, and probable future production are those on or near the Tabb vein system, from Mexico, Ky., west to the Yandell mine, a distance of about 32 miles; the deposits on or near the Columbia vein system, from a little north of the Mary Belle mine to perhaps the Keystone mine, a distance of about 3 miles, probably rank second. Other deposits of moderate size are widely scattered over many major and minor fault systems, chiefly in Crittenden County. Many of these smaller mines are fairly important producers, but they have not as yet established important reserves; in fact, the ore has usually been removed as fast as it has been uncovered. TABB VEIN SYSTEM The Tabb system probably comprises a number of closely spaced, approximately parallel, and nearly vertical faults rather than a single fault. In some places only one vein has been discovered, but in others as many as three parallel veins are found. Sometimes several parallel veins all contain fluorspar, but more often one or more of the veins is probably barren and the fluorspar mineralization alternates back and forth from one vein to another. As is common in the western Kentucky district, the surface of the vein usually consists of a widened and enriched zone of residual disintegrated gravel fluorspar, mixed with clay and sand, of variable depth, often 100 to 200 feet. In this zone the ore width is. also extremely variable, ranging from a mere trace to over 60 feet for short distances. In the deeper and solid parts of the deposits the width of fluorspar is probably somewhat narrower than in the surface zone, but few data on this subject are available. At the Blue and Marble mine on the 200-foot level, an average width of 7 feet of solid fluorspar between solid limestone walls was observed for at least 325 feet. Haffaw mine.—The Haffaw mine, owned and operated in 1922 by the Aluminum Ore Co., but now by the Franklin Fluorspar Co., consists of about 1,000 feet of the Tabb vein about 1 mile southwest of the railway station at Mexico, Ky. A spur from the Illinois Central Railroad has been constructed to the property. Shafts. The mine has been opened at several places by vertical shafts, but most of them were in the vein and have caved. The present working shaft is sunk on the footwall side about 140 feet south of the vein at the 200-foot level. The shaft has 3 compartments, 2 hoistways, and 1 ladderway, each 4 feet by 5 feet 4 inches in the clear, and is sunk to a depth of about 300 feet. Mining. Most mining has been above the 200-foot level, where the vein and the walls are so soft and disintegrated that hard-rock methods could not be used. In this zone close timbering is necessary; even then keeping workings open is difficult. When visited the mine was flooded and the underground workings could not be inspected, but mine maps indicate that most of the ore has been extracted unsystematically, particularly in the uppermost workings. The ore is hoisted in buckets of about 1,000 pounds capacity, and trammed to the mill. |