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----

'Ik?e mining industry' Fame i;oLifle Spruce Pifie area a few years after Qle C i v i l
-2
T . 3;;o Yaliees came down from i~iassaci~usetts t o mine sheet n i c a to s e l l t o tile
stove zznrtfzcturers f o r windor-is i n heating stoves.

A t Ynis tine vie ne b o d of rniiling was very crude; i t rfis done only - t.iit h p i c k
and shove;. %ley $=re mining mica f m n l the soZt veins. Latzr they progressed to
hmd d r i l l i n g aic! blasting. Hw.d d r i l l i n g was q u i t e an a r t i n the =ea. One lrtm
. r.:ould hold a d turn Lie s tee1 1.Jh~1.eotle or two o t n e ~rnen would drive Itne s tee1 wits1
haiiaers. In s h a f t nining, the muck and water uas renoved bjr hail6 winches c a l l e d
windlasses.

A S m L 1920 a i r compressors and jack hammers cane i n t o use. mese xere perhaps
tile greatesic iaproveaent t n a t has ever come to the a r e a ' s irtlnini; Jadus'cry. Later
gasoline h o i s t s , a i r d r i v e water pumps, a d all, e l e c t r i c a l ec;ui~rrient. i;iica
citii?~:
nining has, f o r hie p a s t few y e w s , been very nodern m a e f f i c i e n t .

C1zy aad j i g n i c a n i n i ~ ghave both rnodel*nized i n much the szqe manner. A t

f i r s t , t h i s mining t ~ z sdone by hydraulics, r ~ i t r lthe plarir, built s o +that tne v e t
ore icould f l o r ~to i t by g r a v i t y * A s "he p i t got deeper, -a wet clevaior was placed
in a s h a f t i n t h e cerrter 02 the quarry, "iien the ore xas wasned to tne eievator
anci given erlough l i f t t o flot; to the plant. In n o s t of *esz p i t s the ore tras
bored arid s h o t up with low grzde d y n m i t e or blacii polder .
A t present, p r a c t i c a l l y a l l the clay and j i g mica is inined with power silovels,
bulldozers, anci drag iines, znd then tne ore is hauled to toe plants by cirrnip txucks.

Feldspar xas f i r s t nined i n the Lpruce Pine a r e a around trie year 1911. Tnz
crude ore t a s shipped to East Liverpool., Cihio, to be groma. ?he aetnod OL mining
was very crude, and a l l the d r i l l i n g was done by hand. The method of c o ~ o i n y an^
. sorting was a l s o crude, *since there were ~ n l ywhecL~arroiijsm a haildcars to rmrk
w i t h , a d h e r e uere no e x ~ e r i e n c e dniiners i n tne area.

As a i r coinpressor and jack hamer d r i l l i n g c a i e i n t o use, the method of ninino

iliiprovod. R e niucking nethod tias hiproved by the use of skips anu h o i s t s , then
dmp ' s ~ c k sand Den~psterdumpsters. ,411 the d r i l l i n s was done * r i b jacfi hawsers,
2nd bench shoating was used by a l l the l a r g e r niners. Three or four i i n e s cf holes
were d r i l l e d on a 321 x 4' p a t t e r n 10r to 1st deep, tiien benches viere s h o t - usua?l$
' v i t h d e l q r e1ec'r;ric czps.

U i i h the camins of the iiotz?tion plaiits 1

' 3 ' w r i ores, tke fiiilining foreman haci to
face Zle p r u b l e ~of prociucing 600 to 800 tons per Ciay, :meieas he had only aeen
producing 30 t o 50 tons per day i n the crude spar minis. Ihe f l o w t i o n p l a t feed
is a l a s k i t e rock. 'lilis is a very hwa, tough rock t~ d r i l l ana shoot. It corupaes
to granite, only i t has more mica and f elaspar than grmi-ie.

Tne f i r s t q u ~ c r yf o r a f l o s a t i o n p l a n t v2s s b r t e d w i t h four jack kxzners*

d r i l l i n g was holes on a 41 x 4 1 pdttern 20 f e e t deep. it soon Provgn
that is rLetrlod could n o t keep eilough rock s n o t doun t o keep fne p l a t running.
t

i
 2 62~0317

Ille n e x t nletiloci t h a ~was t r i e d has proveri t o be the s t a n d a r d ltletnod f o r

d r i l l i n g and srlooting roctr f o r the f e l u s p a r f l o t a t i o n p l a n t s . ?Llo v::ragon rills
r.1i th :.,-/I d r i f t e r s a r e used i n each quzrry ( m e i n eacil q u a r r y i f the p l a n t has
t t ~ oq u a r r i e s ) . Ti-ie h o l e s a r e d r i l l e d on 6' centex's h o r i z o n t a l t o tile f a c e , mu
v e r t i c a l l y they a r e s p i e d t o be a s c l o s e a s p o s s i ~ l et o 61 a t tile b o t t o n of the
h o l e s . Ihc h o l e s w e d r i l l e d Llj1 deep t,li th a 211 tungsten c a r b i d e tipped b i t .

'DI(L: i l c i g l i ~or.' the bench t o be s h o t 'i\rilJ, vary fr~rn201 t o LO! high and from
lUut t o 2001 long. kn i d e a l s n o t is a bench 301 h i g h snd 1501 long.

Looking a t toe v e r t i c a l l i n e s of h o l e s i n a 301 high bench, &he bottom hole

is d r i l l e d 61 t o 81 deep on m o u t a k5 degree s l o p e . The n e x t h o l e is d r i l l e d 201
deep on a 2 0 degree slope. 'Ihe tilird h o l e is d r i l l e d 4 b 1 deep n e a r l y f l a t . Tne
n e x t s i x h o l e s a r e spaced 18 inches i n f r o n t and 5' t o 6 f e e t i n the back. A s you
can s e e f r m t h i s p a t t e r n , trlere w r l l be a l o t of dynmiite i n tne bottom bacii and
bottom f r o n t of the s h o t . 'Ihere w i l l n o t be much dynanite i n the t o p f r o n t of
"the sllot. Zhe srlot is loaded w i t h 60 perceiit d y n m i t e and s h o t t . ~tin inillisecond
e l e c t r i c d e l a y caps with t h e top h o l e t o go first.

?his nlethod of d r i l l i n g and sllooting has proven v e r y s a t i s f a c t o r y i n q u a r r i e s

ui th 3/4 yard s h o v e l s and 5,000 pound drop b a l l s . ?he heavy load of d y n m i t e b
i n the bottorn of trle srloc r e s u l t s i n the bottom or^ tne p i l e beiny sno t up very i
with lobs of f i n e s . 31e l a r g e rocks a r e on the top of the p i l e ana r o l l clo
the p i l e is being dug, and the r o c k breaker has a v e r y good chance t o g e t t

The c o s t p e r ton f o r t h i s kind of siiooting is a s f o l l o w s :

Per t o n
Ciplos ives $C. 1 2
B i ts 0.02
5t e e 1 0.91
Labor 0.12

,&n.other metnod used i n the a r e a is v e r t i c a l d r i l l i n g with a i r t r a c

the b l a s t i n g is done w i 'ch ammoniun n i t r a t e . Tne s h o t is d r i l l e d 7 1 x 7
401 t o 6-51deep
i n this kind of s h o t .

?he s t a n d a r d
h o l e s a r e b1or.n c
p u t i n t n e bottom
dotm t o t n e dl-nan
of tire hole. A
primer cord. ?he
ground f o r connec
(100 pounds n i t r a
~ ~ h i cish s telme d t n niillisec
' with tne back row
 3 62~0317

?he c o s t of t h i s n!etr~od ol;' blasting is, a s f o l l o t ~ s ;

Per ton

Lxplosives $0.06
B i ts 0.026
Sixel 0.02
Repairs 0.02
Lmor 0.04
Hisc. 0.01
Total l'ib
;$0.
You can r e a d i l y see the advmtage 02 this mettzod of shooting, m i c n c o s t s $0.1'76
per ton with unci10nit.m n i t r a t e , c o ~ l g a e dt o ; p C l , j l f o r d ~ r n a i i ; esnaoting. Anober
&vantage is that t h e face of trie s h o t does not have to be scaled to d r i l i v e r t i c z l l y
as i n horizontal driliing.

'Pie dis;icivan"cges of m ~ o n i u mn i t r a t e ssnoo tiny, compared to dynamite shooting,

are as follotjs: ?he second benches have t o be c l e a r of loose a1d cracked rocir.
This usually talres a d a y o r two, and is very hzrd on a dozer or f r o n t end loader.
me holes have to be b l o - i dry, since n i t r a t e l o s e s its e f f s c t i f i t g e t s wet. 11
the holes a r e wet, 6ynunite has t o be s u b s t i t u t e d f o r n i t r a t e , iihicb brings tiie
cost up. ?he breakage is n o t as good, and inost ort' ttlle l x g e rocfis a r e i n t h
bottom of the p i l e , which makes i t nearly irnpossibie to dig wi-tli 3/h yard shovels.
This a l s o results i n more work f o r tile drop b a l l machine as well as hie crusher.
A s a r e s u l t , the operating c o s t s are higher f o r a l l tfiree pieces of equip men^.
Crushing and grindilly a r e a l s o slowed dom. It is hard to control t r ~ eshots tirib1
n i t r a t e . Somes tines the tarow-out w i l l be close, alld some times r ~ q yout. O c c a ~ i o n a l ~ j r
a small rock will go i n t o o r b i t . You can depend on one out of every f i v e or s i x
shots bzing c l o s e to a f a i l u r e .

1 f e e l s u r e t h a t mmoniunt n i t r a t e hzs i t s p l z ~ ei n the e;rplosive f i e l d , de-

pending on the type of rock being s h o ~ ,but 1 a l s o I e e l t h a t i n alaskitc: rock,
dynamite, tnough nore S p e n s i v e , is tc~eexplosive f o r t n i s t.lori:.
'
'DIE g r e a t e s t improvement i n the method of our open p i t mining has been tile
us?. of a drop b a l l machine. liinen our quarries were f i r s t opened, uz used block
hole d r i l l i n g and shootiny t o do a l l orz-I secondary breakage, AS we ha6 t o malie
a feed f o r a 20 x 36 jaw crusher, the rock had to be bsoken p r e t t y small. It
took three jack Rmmers operating t o keep -trle d r i l l i n g done 20s t n i s operation.
?hey would d r i l l a o u 300 ~ holes psr aay, and snoot twice p a r day. ?he snovel
anti a l l okiier equipment had t o be moved our, of the quzrry f o r each shot. Tile cosb
was very high, as e l e c t r i c caps c o s t 15 cents each. It was a l s o unsafe d r i l i i n ~
close to tile shovel ana trucks, and a l s o d r i l l i n g over a muck p i l e .

It is my t h i n k g t h a t a rock breaker in a quarry is worth more to a coliipany

than aqy otner machiile they can purchase if there is much secondary breakage t o
be clone.

A 3/4 yard snovel w i t i l a 401 boom can handle a 5,500 pound drop b a l l very
well. % i s ball c2n be worn down to mou L 4,000 pounds and g e t good breakage, i f
the rock is n o t too large. A 1$ yard machine c m s t a r t wi-ch a 7,000 pound b a l l ,
and wear i t dam t o 4,500 pounds. A 2f yard machine can start with a 12,000 pound
ball.