216 MINERAL RESOURCES, 1920—PART II.
AMETHYST AND TOPAZ.
Amethyst
and topaz are reported by J. E. Hood, 431 South Main Street, Butte,
Mont., to have been found in 1920 about 18 miles southeast of Butte.
The claims are undeveloped, but sufficient work is said to have been
done to expose the gem material.
CORUNDUM (SAPPHIRE).
The
mines of the American Gem Mining Syndicate, in Granite County, and
those of the New Mine Sapphire Syndicate, in Fergus County, Mont., were
operated in 1920, and their output, which includes nearly all the
sapphire produced in the United States, was greater than in any
previous year except 1913. According to a statement of an official of
the New Mine Sapphire Syndicate, the demand for industrial sapphire is
increasing every year, and the output of the syndicate's mines is
engaged for two years ahead.
DIAMOND.
The
Arkansas Diamond Co., Little Rock, Ark., which owns the Arkansas mine,
in Pike County, continued testing by pits and washing by hand in 1920
and is reported to have recovered several hundred carats of diamonds,
valued in the rough at several thousand dollars. Operations on a larger
scale have been planned, and at the present time (October, 1921) the
company is reported to be installing new machinery in its screening and
jigging plant for washing the surface material in the field. The
concentrates from this plant will go to the grease tables. In
September, 1921, the laborers digging test pits on the property are
reported to have picked up a white diamond weighing 20J carats. S. H.
Zimmerman, the engineer and general manager of the company, is quoted
in the Arkansas Gazette of October 9, 1921, as stating that it was a
"fairly good stone." The property of the Arkansas Diamond Co. is
described in an article entitled "Diamonds in Arkansas," by Samuel W.
Reyburn and Stanley H. Zimmerman, published in the Engineering and
Mining Journal of April 24, 1920.
Howard A. Millar2,
of the Kimberlite Diamond Mining & Washing Co., 2014 Railway
Exchange Building, St. Louis, Mo., reports that the company holds a
lease on the Mauney mine and owns the Ozark and Kimberlite mines, at
Murfreesboro, Ark. Its two testing plants, which were destroyed by fire
January 13, 1919, have not been rebuilt, but further exploration work
was carried on, and as soon as conditions become normal activities will
be resumed on a larger scale. In the recoveries of gem material the
deep canary color and the mahogany shade of brown are said to be
especially worthy of mention; blue or pink stones and occasionally a
"frosted" or etched white stone are also reported. Mr. Millar states
that fragments and fractures were noticeable in the surface material
but that with slight depth in the undisturbed volcanic ground these
features have almost disappeared. From a careful analysis of several
thousand diamonds it is reported by Mr. Millar that on a color basis
the mine-run yields white stones 40 per cent, brown 37 per cent, yellow
22 per cent, and bort 1 per cent. The policy of the company has been to
withhold information on pro-
a Personal letter, Mar. 7.1921.
