Fluorspar mining and milling in southern Illinois

Author

Henry William Hurst

Abstract

"Fluorspar is fully as necessary a material in certain phases of steel manufacturing as the metal that enters the furnace. Without it, the basic open hearth practice probably would not have reached its dominant position among steel-making methods. Of the entire output of fluorspar, 80 to 85 percent is used in basic open-hearth and electric furnaces as a flux and detergent and there is today no known substitute.

The mining of the ore on a large scale requires extensive underground workings, much the same as is found in metal mines. Since high extraction can not be accomplished the milling of the ore is very easy.

Small scale operations are rapidly disappearing as the ore near the surface is mined out. Deep mining necessitates a large investment in expensive equipment.

Three large companys now practically control the output of this district. One of these, the Hillside Fluorspar Mines, has the newest mine and mill eraboding the latest mining and milling methods, and therefore will be used as the source of information for the following pages.

Location of the District. The Illinois fluorspar district is geographically located in the extreme southern part of the state. Geologically it is a part of what is generally known as the Kentucky-Illinois fluorspar field which covers part of Hardin and Pope counties in Illinois, and Crittenden, Livingston and Caldwell counties In Kentucky"--Introduction, pages 4-5.

Advisor(s)

Forbes, Carroll Ralph

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Degree Name

Professional Degree in Mining Engineering

Comments

Five folded plates in back of book are included here as supplementary material.

Publisher

Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy

Publication Date

1927

Pagination

33 pages, 7 plates

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 28).

Geographic Coverage

Illinois

Rights

© 1927 Henry William Hurst, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Fluorspar -- Illinois -- Hardin County
Fluorspar -- Illinois -- Pope County
Mines and mineral resources

Thesis Number

T 524

Print OCLC #

5958710

Electronic OCLC #

951810420

Link to Catalog Record

http://merlin.lib.umsystem.edu/record=b1069098~S5

Recommended Citation

Hurst, Henry William, "Fluorspar mining and milling in southern Illinois" (1927). Professional Degree Theses. 301.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/professional_theses/301