Winner, ISHS Best of Illinois History Award, 2019 This first-ever pictorial record of the people and methods of the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District from the 1900s to the 1990s covers early and modern means of extracting, hoisting, processing, and transporting the mineral from mine mouth to end user. Nearly one hundred images carefully selected by author Herbert K. Russell show early pick-and-shovel extraction and open-flame lighting as well as primitive drilling methods and transportation by barrels, buckets, barges, mule teams, and trams, in addition to the use of modern equipment and sophisticated refinement procedures such as froth flotation. Russell also provides an overview of the many industrial uses of fluorspar, from metal work by ancient Romans to the processing of uranium by scientists seeking to perfect the atomic bomb. Preserving what is known about the industry by miners, managers, and museums, this detailed and fascinating pictorial history looks both above and below ground at fluorspar mining.

A social and occupational health history of the St Lawrence fluorspar mines.

This SME classic is both a reference book for the working engineer and a textbook for the mining student. This hardcover edition gives a brief history of surface mining and a general overview of the state of surface mining today--topics range from production and productivity to technological developments and trends in equipment. This extremely useful text takes the approach that exploration and mining geologists must be expert in a number of fields, including basic finance and economics, logistics, and pragmatic prospecting. Readers will find material on all these topics and more. The book's nine chapters include: Introduction, Exploration and Geology Techniques, Ore Reserve Estimation, Feasibility Studies and Project Financing, Planning and Design of Surface Mines, Mine Operations, Mine Capital and Operating Costs, Management and Organization, and Case Studies. The book is fully indexed.