MINING

Evening Star, Issue 17234, 26 December 1919, Page 4

MINING

MOUNT LYELL. In connection with the annual report of the Mount Lyall' Company regarding the North Lyall mine, there is more than one interesting feature to be noted (states the 'Mining Standard'). The average value of the 64,141 tons sent to the smelters during the period was over 7£ per cent, copper, or nearly 1 per cent, more than the average value of the 78,000 tons smelted the previous year. This incresss in value was due principally to the phenomenally rich ore from No. 49 stop© at tho I,looft level, the material from here forming a very appreciable sweetener Tor the ordinary grade ore from other parts of the emine. This high grade "bank" of ore has to a limited extent been supplemented by the excellent ore produced from No. 41 stope at the northern end of the I,looft level, where there is still a big body available for extraction between the present workings and the I,ooßft level. RUSSIAN PLATINUM. During the civil war in Russia 27 socalled platinum dredges have been sunk in the Ural region, but the less of these out-of-date contrivances is not to be deplored, and it is to be hoped that in the future they will be replaced by modern dredges-. The platinum output of Russia, which before the war averaged about 150,0000z troy annuallv, sank to 80,000oz in 1917. The Iss field, by far the most important, if worked extensively by dredges for 10 years with an annual output of 500,000z, would probably be exhausted, and _it is thought improbable that other platinum fields will bo discovered either in the Urals or elsewhere to take the place of this field.