Mining Laboratory Apparatus.

The installation of the machinery in the stamping and sampling room of the Rotch Mining Laboratory is now nearly finished. One of the tanks is not yet ready, and the troughs for conveying the material from one machine to another have not been placed and the three fifteen horse power motors which are to furnish the power are still to be set in position. This work can be completed without difficulty during the mid-year period, so that the plant may be used for the laboratory work in Mining 4 at the beginning of the second half year.

The capacity of the stamp mill is about fifteen tons a day. It will not be necessary to use it for more than a week, running six hours a day, but even so the amount of ore required will be considerable. It is probable that stone from local sources, containing pyrites, will be used, and mixed with broken slate, or the crushed stone employed in road building. The expense of transportation is likely to preclude the reduction of commercial gold ore, though it would be more satisfactory for purposes of instruction.

After the stamp mill is completed work will be begun on the assaying laboratory in the new addition to the building. It is hoped that the plant may be installed before next year, so that work with the smelting furnace may be done in connection with the course on the Metallurgy of Iron and Steel, which is given during the first half-year.