MINING LABORATORY

Mr. G. S. Raymer, of the Mining Department, has completed the plans for the new Mining Laboratory which were intrusted to him, and the firm of Frazer & Chalmers, of Chicago, is now at work upon the estimates and will probably construct the machinery.

The ore dressing room of the laboratory will be in the old baseball cage of the Carey Building, a room thirty by eighty feet, which will have to be dug out to a depth of four feet for the purpose. Another building, about thirty by eighty feet, will be built adjoining the present one on the east side. It will contain the metallurgical and assay rooms. These three rooms will be a memorial to the late Hon. John Simpkins '85, and will probably be known as the "John Simpkins Laboratories." Work will begin in the old cage immediately, but the addition will not be commenced until spring. Plans for the latter are now being drawn up by Mr. Raymer and Mr. Sauveur.

The ore dressing room will be fitted up in the most complete manner and will be one of the best college plants in the world for teaching the principles of ore dressing. Since the room is designed especially for teaching and not as a typical mill or commercial sampling works, the machines will be made as few and small as possible. The machinery of the laboratory will be operated by means of three motors and will be divided between the sampling, concentration, and stamping departments.

The sampling department will show the various constituents of the ore and will consist of a crusher, rolls, and automatic sampling machine. The concentration department will be made up of fine rolls to crusher the rock, revolving screens to sift it, and jigs in which to wash the ore free from the rock. The ore which will remain too fine for the jigs will be subsequently treated on slime machines, which will show what machine should be used for the different ores. The stamping division will have a complete but simple set of machinery.