Saline and Hydromagnesite Depos 'Its O British Columbia

BRITISH COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF MINES Hon. W. J. ASSELSTINE, Minister JOHN F. WALKER, Deputy Minister

BULLETIN No. 4

Saline and Hydromagnesite Depos ‘itso British Columbia

by J.M. CUMMINGS CONTENTS . Page

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I . OCCURRENCES OF SODIUM AND MAGNESILIM SP.LTS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

SALINE DEPOSITSSALINE ...... 1

Sodium CarbonateLakes ...... 1

Green Timber Plateau ...... 1 General i'jescription of Soda Lakes ...... 3 Eighty-Three Mile Lake ...... 5 Goodenough and Safety Lake 6 Lake No . 6 ._ ...... 10 Liberty Lake 11

Snow White Lake ...... 12 Rob and Nan Lake ...... 13 Last Chance Lake ...... 14 Margaret Lake ...... 17 Anita and LelaLakes ...... 18 ;Y hite Elephant ;Yhite Lake ...... 20 Rose Lake ...... 21

Hutchison Lake lllll.llll :." ....._....--lll-l__ ". 22 Other Lakes Other ...... 24 Page .

CHAF'TER I (Cont'd.)

Su lphate LakesMagnesium Sulphate 40

CHAPTER 2 . TECHNOLOGY AND USES~OF SODIUM AND MAGNESIUEBSALTS

Commercial Possibi1ikfe.s ...... -.- ..- 72

Sources and Uses ...... -.- .. 72

(ii) Page . 'CHAPTER 2 (Cont'd.)

Sodium Carbonate ...... 72 Natural ...... 73 Manufactured 76

Sodium Sulphate ...... :: 77 Natural ...... 77 FJanufactured ...... 85

Epsom Salts "...... 87

Prices ...... 88

Production and Consumption ...... 90 British Columbiaand Alberta 90 Canada 91 United States 92

Exploitation of British Columbia Deposits:...... 95

References ...... 99

CHAPTER 3 . OCCURRENCES OF HYDROMAGNESITE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Occurrencesin:

Caribooand Kamloops Districts ...... 102 Meadow Lake ...... 102 ?matson Lake ...... 108 R is ke Creek Riske ...... 110 .. Clinton ...... : ...... 1: ...... L ._...... 112 S ix ty -o n e Mile CreekSixty-oneMile L: 113 , .. West Cariboo Block ...... 114 ...... * ...... SpringhouseArea ...... : "...... 114 ..I .. ~ Other Deposits ...... _..I_...... I...... -...... 115 ...... Atlin Deposits ...... 115

M inin g andMining Transportation ...... 119 /i. .) ... Summary ...... 122

(iii) .

Page . CHAPTER 3 (Cont'd.)

Mineralogy 123 Microscopic Examination 123 Chemical Examination...... :...... _I...... -...-...... -.-..... 124

Origin of Deposits .....__.I....._..._._...... _._.._._...-...... 126 ...... Beneflclatlon -- 127

References ~ ._ II ..... 129

CHAPTER 4. TECHNOLOGY AND USES OF MAGNESITE. HYDRO- MAGNESITE. AND OTHER MAGNESIUM COM-S ... Comercial Posslblllties ...... -...... -.----...--.-....I 131 -Refractories 131 .. .. Production and Markets 134 Markets and Production Canada - : ... 134 United States.. 135 'World...... 137

Refractory Possibilitiesof Hydromagnesite- 140

Cements and Insulating Materials

Caustic Magnesite Caustic . 144

ProductionMarkets and .-- 146

Oxychloride Cement 146 Cement Oxychloride Possibilities for manufacture of Plastic

Magnesiafrom Hydromagnesite ...... ~ 149

Basic . Magnesium Carbonate...... _...l.....__.._L____.____ 150

Metallic MagnesiumMetallic .. -. 151 Chemical and Other UsesOther Chemicaland . 155 References ...

Technology and Markets...: .-. 157

I General ...... I__I,.___I_ 158 Introduction

Deposits of sodium and magnesium salts occur in varj.- ous parts of the interior of British Columbia. Most of them have been knownfor many years and some commercially exploited on a small scale. The more importantof these deposits were investigated by the writer during the summer and autumnof' 1937. The present report brings togetherinfomation based on this field work as wellas previously published report$;..

The deposits discussed herein are restrictedto those of sodium carbonate; sodium sulphate, magnesium sulphate,and hydromagnesite. The last, although not commonly considered in the same category as the others, is sufficiently allied in origin to merit its inclusion in the present work.

Many compounds, related to the above are found in nature. Most important are common salt, potassium salts, salts of boron, marl, and gypsite: The first three are not knownto occur in commercial quantities in British Columbia; the last two, although relatively abundant, have insufficientcomer- cia1 value at present to merit their separate inclusion. Occurrences of Sodium and Magnesiun Salts in aritish Colurnbia

Saline Deposits

Smallundrained lakes containing concentrated solutions of sodium andmagnesium salts, are found inthe Clinton, Chilcotin,Ashcrcft, Kamloops andOkanagan areas. Three fair- lydistinct types of brine occur inthese: the first is composed largely of sodium carbonate, the second contains both magnesium and sodium carbonate, and thethird is composed pre- dominantlyof sodium sulphate. Lakes in whichsodium carbonate is theimportant constituent rarely contain appreciable amounts of otherconstituents; the others, however, are more variablein composition.

Sod.ium Carbonate Lakes

The best kn0.m sodium carbonate lakes in British Colum- bia are those of the Green T'imber Plateau, north of Clinton. Several of thesehave yielded sal soda commercially for a number of years, and plants were erected at three in unsuccess- ful attemptsto produce soda ash. Shipments of sal soda have likewisebeen made from a lakenear Cherry Creek, 12 miles west of Kamloops. Unexploitedlakes containing sodium carbonate brine lie along the Kamloops-Vernon road, east of the Thompson Riverand 7 milessouth of SpencesBridge, and near the Nemaia.valley roadsouth of Hanceville.

Green Timber Pl.ateau- (See Map 2)

The GreenTimber Plateau is bounded by the Marble Moun- tains on thesouth-west, the Praser Iliver on thewest, Lac La Hache valley on the north-east, and theBonaparte River'on thesouth-east. It is flat or gently-rollingwith an average elevationof 3700 feet,mantled with glacial drift, and fores- tedlargely with jackpine. Basaltic lava flows underliethe areabut outcrops are rare, the type exposure being in the Chasm.

The climate of the region is severewith a rangeof temperature from 90 degrees or more in summer to a minimum of 30 to 40 degreesbelow zero in winter.Precipitation avers.ges

-1- MAP 1. (Key-map.) Showing location of known saline deposits in British Columbia.

-2- 9 to 12 inches, with 3 or 4 inchesrepresented by snow. For May, June,July, August and September, precipitation totals 5 to 8 inches; mean temperatures for these monthsrange from 47 to 60 degrees.

Drainagelines are few, poorlydeveloped and even non- existentover much of thearea. Shallow undrained lakes abound,ranging in size from pools a few yardsin diameter to fairly large bodies of watersuch as Green Lake and Mea- dow Lake. Nearlyall contain alkaline brines of various d.e- grees of concentration;in some, sodium carbonate is theonly importantconstituent, in others,notably the largerlakes, minoramounts of different salts are present.

The writerspent several weeks in the autumn of 1937ex- miningthe alkaline lakes of the Green Timber Plateau. Re- examinationswere made of a number of lakeswhich have been, or are being workedand aboutwhich considerable information hasbeen published. Others showingevidence of alkaline brineswere sampled. Many of theless accessible lakes were notvisited; some of theseundoubtedly contain brines compar- ablewith the more dilutebrines analysed. On theother hand, thearea has been carefullysearched for lakes of possible commercialvalue by local inhabitants and it is unlikely that any of present economic interest havebeen overlooked.

GeneralDescription ofSoda Lakes

The sodalakes under discussion are essentially simil.ar with theexception of Last ChanceLake (Map 2, No. 10). X11 occupy gentle depressions in drift representing very res- tricteddrainage basins, and are small, shallow, and without apparentoutlets. The depth of brinevaries in general wi.th the season of the year, being greatest in the spring after run-offand least in the autumn; certainlakes are completely dry by the end of the summer. All lakeshave, apparently, contained considerably rnore water at one time than they do at present.

Lake bedsare composed of soft black mud several feet deep. The same mud, usuallycovered with a thinwhite ef-. florescence of dried sodium carbonate,surrounds the shore!- lines to a width of 20 feet or more. In mostcases the for- est edgeextends practically to the mud line.

Apartfrom a species of small redcrustacean, the lakes areapparently devoid of life. A mostinteresting feature:, however, is thepresence of swarms of black flies around tihe waterline of the more concentratedlakes. These areusually

-3- I

Ip I

MAP 2. Showing location of Soda Lakes on Green Timber Plateau. Geology from Ksmloops Sheet, Geological Survey of Canada, G. M. Dawson. so numerous as to form a blackring around the lake, a foot or more in width. The flies 'arenot found associated with dilute brines and hence are at least an indication of a hj.gh degree of sodaconcentration. A reddish-purple,spiky plant, commonly called the "salt plant," grows in the mud surroundingthe lakes. Its asheswere a principalsource of sodaash in Europe before the invention of theLeblanc process.

Ingeneral the various lake brines are dilute to conoen- trated solutions of sodium carbonatecontaining minoramounts of othersalts. The sodalakes proper, however, containbrines withspecific gravities ranging from1.048 to 1.125, in which -sodium carbonateconstitutes 92 to 95 percent. of total solids. In certain of these the concentration of sodium carbonate by theend of thedry season becomes such that the brines are super-saturated in respect to wintertemperatures, and crystals of natron (Na2C03.10H20) areprecipitated.

Inshallower lakes of highconcentration, natron is de- positedover the entire lske bed, forming a clean solid layer up to 9 inchesthick of interlockingcrystals. In lakes of lower concentration large branching discrete crystals may form,whereas indeeper lakes exposed to a prevailingwind, a layer of natron is commonly depositedonly on the windward shore. Under normalconditions the natron, known as winter- crystal, is re-dissolvedin the spring with increase in temperature and influx of more water. If, however, thedeposit is buried or covered with mud so that dissolution is inhib- ited, at least a part may remainthrough the summer to beaug- mented duringthe following winter. In this way a bed of permanent crystal may accumulate.

In general, sodium carbonate is presentin the soda lakeseither in solution, or aswinter crystal, or permacent crystal. Only one lake (L.ast Chance Lake, Map 2, No. 10) on the Green Timber Plateau is known to contain 8. deposit of permanent crystal,although another (Goodenough Lake, Map 2, No. 4) has a highproportion of disseminated crystals in its muddy bed. In the autumn of 1937 tenlakes contained brj.nes of specificgravity greater than 1.040, butin only three of these(hap 2, Nos. 7, 11 and 12) didcrystals formduring the winters of 1936-37and 1937-38. Of theothers examined six had specificgravities greater than 1.010, theremaining seven ranging down to 1.002.

Eighty-Three- Mile Lake (Map 2, No. 1)

Eighty-ThreeMile Lake lies several hund.red feetwest of theCariboo Highway near83 mile. In October,1937, it ICOV-

-5- eredapproximately 30 acres and contained brine to a maximum depth of about 2 feet. A brine samplehad thefollowing composition:

(1) SpecificGravity at 16 degrees C. - 1.0485. P er cent. solidscent. Per - 4.85%.

Composition of Solids

97.2% 2.8 trace trace trace

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria.

(2) All carbonateand bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

No winter-crystal was forming at the time of examination, and it is understood that none has occurred in recent years.

A sample of brineobtained in the autumn of 1924(Ref. 3, p. 95) had a specific gravity of 1.040 at. 22 deg. C:, equivalent to 1.0412 at.16 deg. C.

.As,suming anaverage depth of 6 inchesto one foot, tbe amount of sodium.carbonate.insolution-would be from >OOO to 2000 .tons.

Goodenough and Safety Lake (Map 2, No. 4)

GoodenoughLake lies about500 feet, and Safety Lake about1400 feet south .of the west end of Meadow Lake.Both warecompletely dry in October,.19%7, and it is understood thatthey have been for several years. In each lake the sue- face was covered with a white encrustation from one-quarter to 1 inch.thick. The area of the.encru.station in Goodenough Lake. was roughly 16 acres, and that of Safety Lake 5 acres.

The extremesoftness of thelake beds made detailed in- vestigationimpossible. However, .a pitabout.,40 feet from. the shore at the northern end of GoodenoughLake showed the surface efflorescence to be underlain by 8 inches of greenish muddy materialcontaining 50 to 75per cent. natron crystals, beneathwhich was blackoozy mud. About 1 inchof-similar crystal-charged material was notedunder the white surface layer of Safety Lake. The following description of Goodenough Lake in October, 1924, is quoted from a report by Goudge, Departmentof Mines and Resources,Ottawa (Ref. 6, p. 86):

"In October,1924, there was a deposit of pure wintercrystal, averaging about three inches in thickness,covering 14 acres of the bed of Goodenough Lake. Thisbed was composed of interlocking crystals of natron and was hard andcompact. 1t.resteddirectly on thelevel mud bottomof thelake. On top of thecrystal was a thin film of brine one-quarter to 1 inch deep. In thewestern part of thelake there were sev- eralcircular openspaces 2 to 8 inohesin diameter in thecrystal bed. Theseopenings were fringed with per- fectly-formednatron crystals andappeared to mark spring orifices but no flow was observed.

"The mud beneaththe winter crystal is, to a depth of 2 1/2 feet, impregnated with natroncrystals. These crystals whichoccur individually, and the ma- jority of whichare very perfect in outline, comprise about75 per cent. of themixture of mud and crystal. Thesecrystals do notdissolve with the winter crystal in the spring but remain as a permanentdeposit qf very muddy crystal. "

The following analyses are,quoted, from.th.e. swe report (xef.6, p. 87):

Analyses of Crystal, Goodenough Lake - I Winter Crystalor Muddy Permanent Natron from.Surface Crystal- 0.44% 48.88% "" 6.47 0.35 trace "" 1.37

"" ""

"" 0.39 0.05 "" 0.81 "" 0.70 "" 97.65 43.19 -

(Theseare recalculated on a 100 per cent. water free basis.) HypotheticalComposition of Residual Brine

SpecificGravity at 22 degrees C - 1.108 T otal per cent. solidscent.Totalper - 13.35% 6.54% 2.03 6.87 3.19 14.16 67.16

Goudge describesSafety Lake as fo'llows: (Ref. 6, p.88).

"SafetyLake--is a small lakehaving an area of only 4 1/2 acresat water level (October 1924).

'When the lake was examined there was no crystal ofany kind visible, but it containedbrine to an averagedepth of 6 inches. The chemical analysis of this brine is shown below...

"The mud beneaththe brine was very soft anddeep."

HypotheticalComposition, Safety Lake Brine

SpecificGravity at 22 degrees C. - 1.091 Total per cent. solidscent. per Total 9.57%

KC 1 - 3.97% E@, E@, (HCOg)2 - 4.23 Na2S04 - 0.39 NaCl - 3.96- NaHC03 - 4.94 Na~C03 - 32.51 Hoffmann mentionsthe occurrence of natron in Goodenough Lake in the Geological Survey of CanadaAnnual Report for 1898 (Ref. 8, p. 11 R). The following is excerptedfrom his description:

"The deposit at the time of its examination--the close of tke dry season-was found tocover the whole of the bottom of thelake, which has an area of not lessthan twenty acres, up to S or 10 feet of its margin,and to have a fairly uniform thickness of from 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 inches, but to thin down at theedges toabout 2 inches. It was coveredby about 3 inches of water,but in the spring and early summer, after

-8- themelting of the snow, it is said to beincreased to a depth of some threefeet more or less. The deposit would, it hasbeen estimated, represent approximately twentythousand tons of material."

The following analysis was made of fresh winter crystals:

Na2C03 35.54% NaHC03 1.34 NazSO4 0.14 NaCl 0.02 H20 62.89

Hoffmann further refers to a dark greenish-grey stratum upon which the crystal bed rested and notes the numerousna- tron crystals distributed through it. The lakebrine had a specificgravity of1.1085 at 15.5 degrees C.

Reinecke(Ref. 9, p. 61), examined Goodenough Lake in September, 1919, at whichtime the area of the lake was roughly 15 acres. No mention is made of thedepth of brine,but thefollowing analysis represents a saxpletaken from there- mains of anold stock-pile on theshore of thelake:

Ka2CO3 53.2i Na2SO4 0.14 Water 46.47

At present the only sodium carbonate in Goodenough Lake occurs as muddy permanentcrystal, the sodium carbonate content ofwhich is probablybetween 3000 and 5000 tons. It is instructive to examine thefollowing tonnage estimates for the years in which data are available:

Date Area of brine or Estimated tonnage of Na2C03 wintercrystal Permanent C rystal Crystal Crystal

Hoffmanr Autumn 20 acres Reinecke Autumn

Goudge Autumn 1924 14.51924 " 2300 90) Writer Autumn ) 3000 to 1937 none none none) 5000 I

-9- Unfortunatelyinsufficient information is available to permit .an intelligent estimate of the quantity of permanent crystal. Even allowingfor a possibleincrement to this,. however,through the years, there has been a definite diminution of the amount of sodiumcarbonate in thelake., Records showthat'not over 600 tons of natron,equal to 200 tons of sodiumcarbonate, has been removed for commercialpurposes.'

Ins924 the brine of Safety Lake containedabout 300 tons of sodiumcarbonate.. Today none is presentother than that represented by a one-inch layeriof greenish mud and crystal amounting to nomore than 80 or 90 tons of sodium carbonate at- best. i

Goudge notes(Ref: 6, p. 86) that the elevation, of the surface of the brine in Safety and Goodenough Lakes'.ivdsap- proximatelythe same as.that in Meadow Lake.This' is worthy of mention insofar asthe water now is apparently muah lower in Meadow Lake than it was at the time of his examination.'

Lake No.., 6.(Nap 2, No. 6)

Lake No. 6 is about 1 1/2 milesnorth-west of Little mite Lakeand one mile north of LibertyLake. It,,,islong andnarrow, occupying a shallow depression in.gent3y rolling country/.e,xWhen visited in October 1937 it contafn.edeaq average of 8 Ilches of brineover an area. o?'@aoi..es i l'be surrounding mud was practically free o'f the typioal alkaline efflorescence andsoda flies were absent. No winter-crystal was presentand none is known to haGe formed here in past years. The brine is a'relatively weak solution of sodium carbonateas shown by thefollowing analyses:

(1) Sp. Gr. at 16 deg: C: - 1.033 Totalsolids - 3.2%

Composition of Solids

(2) Na2C03 - 00.5% Na2SOq - 14. G,% NaC 1 - 5.5% MgS04 - tr .. C aS 04 - tr .. (1) Analysed by Chief Assayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

Froa the above analysis the qilantity of sodium carbonate

- 10 - contained in the brine would beabout 180 tons.

Reinecke(Ref. 9, p. 611, examined thelake in the early autumn of 1919 at whichtime brine, with a specific gravit;y

6 inchesto one foot.

thenorth shore. The originallake bed occupied a longnarrow shallowdepression. %hen visitedby Reinecke (Ref. 9, p. 61) in 1919two lakes were present,the larger covering 15.6 acres to a depth of 10inches, the smaller covering 9.5 acres to a depth of 1 foot.

The followinganalyses were made of samplestaken by the writer:

BrineSamples - Liberty Lake

(1) 8p. G. at 16 deg. C. - 1.1255 T otal solidsTotal - 13.78%

Composition of Solids

- 81.5% - 11.7.% - 6.5% - tr. - tr.

(1) Sample of winter-crystal from stock pile on shore

(2) NazC03 - 88.79% Xa2SO4 - 11.02% Insol - trace h!gSO4 - trace Ca, C02, GI, Al, Fe,and PO4 - absent

Note: Above analysisrecalculated to 10% water-free basis. Sample as analysedcontained 14.2% water.

- 11 - (1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonate expressed 6s carbonate.

Goudge mentions that crystal was known to form in 1924 in the lake underdiscussion, although he made no exmination. Records do not show the amount of natron harvested. from Li- bertyLake. Several hundred tons have been shipped, however, and stockpiles along the shorecontained in 1937, at least 400 tons. The slabs of wintercrystal in the stock piles were 4 to 5 inchesthick andwere composed of clear crystsls covered with a white powdery coating..

When visited the lakgcontained approximately 1500 tons ofsodium carbonate in solution. No permanentcrystal-bed is known to occur. In 1919 brinein the larger lake examined by Reinecke (Xef. 9, p:61) had a specificgravity of 1.135, that inthe smaller 1.160. On thebasis of this, andassuming the compositionto be the same as today,the amount of sodium carbonate in solution st that time would have beenroughly 5000 t 031s .

Snow Xhite Lake (Map 2. No. 8)

Snow WhiteLake, a shallowlake covering 9 acres, lies about one milewest of the Canoe CreekRoad. In OctoSer1937, it containedabout 8 inches of brine, of which thefollowing analysis is typical:

(1) Sp. Gr. at 16 deg. C. - 1.050 T otal solidsTotal - 4:88$

Composition of Solids

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarb.onate expressed as carbonate.

NO deposit of winter-crystal was present when examined norhas any formed for severalyears, The remnants of a stock Pile, however,were noted on theeast shore, and it is understood that shipments have been made.

- 12 - ,.The followinganalysis (1) represents a samplefrom the old 'stock pile:

Analysis of crystals from old stock pile

(2) Na~C03 - 59.3% Insol - trace Na2S04 - nil NaCl - nil WSO4 - nil

Note: analysiscalculated to a 10% waterfree basis. Sample contained 16.3% water..

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonateexpressed as carbonate.

The quantity of sodium carbonatecontained in the laker brine when examined.xould approximate 400 tons.

Hob and Nan. Lake .(Map 2, No. 9)

Rob and Han Lake is on the east side of the Canoe Creek Road about 12 milesfrom Chasm Station.Brine, covering little more than half of theformer lake bed, averages 16 inches/ in depthover 2 acres. The bottom is muddy and no permanent crystal-bedocc rs. A brine samplehad thefollowing composition (1): \ow! Sp. Gr. at 16deg. C. - 1.065 Totalsolids - 6.3%

Composition of Solids

(2) Na2C03 - 86.5% Na~S04 - 6.5% NaCl - 7.5% Mgsoq - tr . CaS04 - tr .

(1) ChiefAssayer. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

In October1924 (Ref. 6, p. 90) brinecovered 29 1/2 acresto a depth of 18 inches. Its composition was as'follows:

- 13 - Sp. G. at 22 deg. C. - 1,104(equivalent to 1.106 TotalSolids - 11.29% at 16 deg. C.)

-Comgosition of Solids 72.18% 4.78$ 6.52% 5.52% 5.65% 5.35%

In the autumn of 1919(9ef. 9, p. 61) brinecovered 60 to 80 acres to a maximum depth of 2 to 4 feet; it had a specific gravity of 1.070 at 20 deg, C. (equivalentto 1.071 at 16 deg. C.)

There is no record of crystalshaving formed in Rob and Man Lake. The quantity of sodium carbonate in solution was about11,000 tons in 1919, 5700 tons in 1924,and 2600 tons in 1937.

Last' ChanceLake (Map 2, Nod

Last ChanceLake lies to the east of Bob and Man Lake, fromwhich it is separatedby a low ridge 450 feetwide. The lake is unique among the others of theregion in containing a large bed of permanent crystal in the form of circular bowl- shapedmasses separated by mud.The area of thebed in which "bowls"appear is 29 acres, of whichabout half is underlain by crystal.

The crystalareas are almost circular andrange from 4 to 70 feetin diameter.. They areseparated by slightly raised ridgesand areas of soft black mud, heavily encrusted with driedsoda, and in places strewn with boulders, among which angularbasaltic fragments are conspicuous. Very littlebrine was present when examined inOctober 1937, being confined to aboutone-half inch over the crystal bowls. In June of the same year the lakecontained about 8 inches of brine over the entiresurface.

The writer was not equipped to test thedepth of crystal present. This, however, was done in some detail by Goudge in October 1924. From drilling and test pits on some 30 bowls hefound them to range in depth from 1 to 10 feet, with an average of 3 1/2 feet for all. The fallowingdescription is quotedfrom hisreport: (Ref. 6, p. 88)

- 14 - "Some 30 of the crystal masses in all parts Of thelake bedwere investigated as to depthand shape by means of a longchisel-pointed iron bar. The results may besummarized by stating that all themasses are bowl-shaped, thatthese bowls are deeper along the centre line of thelake than near the shore and that .they aredeeper in the western end than in the eastern end of thelake. The averagedepth of bowlsover the whole lake is 3 1/2 feet.

"Pits weredug in several of the crystal bowls but no depthover 4 feet was attained on account of the pits being flooded by the rapid infiltration of brine throughthe porous crystal. These pits proved, however,that the clean compact crystal showing on the surface is only a fewinches deep and that below it the bowls are composed of verylarge interlocking crystals,. The largecrystals, presumably natron crystals, are darkened by included mud and the interstices between them are filled with fine silt. There arealso irregu.- larly-shaped masses of mud included within the bowls.

"In many cmes there is inapproximately the centre of each crystal bowl, a tiny solution channel extending from the bottom to thesurface. No flow of brine was observed coming up throughthese channels.

"The amount of crudecrystal in Last Chance lake is, on a preliminaryestimate, placed at 70,000 tons.''

The following analyses represent samples taken by the writer: (1)

Top chystals from Old Stocl pools 1 inchthick Pile

92.32% 84.5% tr . tr. Na SO 4.00 tr . I Mg2Oa4 tr . tr. tr . tr . 1.5 14.5% nil nil - Note:analyses recalculated to a waterfree basis. The first samplecontained 15 per cent combined water,the second 2%. (1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonateexpressed as carbonate.

- 15 - The analyses be1o.N are from Goudge's report: (Ref. 6, P. 89)

Analyses of Crystal, Last ChanceLake

Surfacecrystal ,Crystal at Stock Pile 3" thick depth 1-2 ft.

96.2E 63.41 49.s5 0.70 0.63 0.65 NaCl 1.40 1.49 1.58 0.10 1.39 2.13 CaC03 " " tr. 1.1s 8.59 tr . 0.41 25.49 45.99

Note:Analyses calculated to 10% waterfree.

Analyses of brinesamples taken by the writer and by Goudge are given below:

\Triter (1) Goudge ref.^ 5, p.89)

Sp. G. at16 deg.C. - 1.1565 Total solids - 14.38% Total solids - 17.99%

Composition of Solids Composition of Solids

(2) Na$03 - 63.0 Na~C03 - 57 .s4$ Na2SO4 - 22.5 NaECO3 - 3.. 78 NaCl - 15.0 NaCl - 6.53 MgS04 - tr , Na SO4 - 26.05 Cas04 - tr . tdg ?HCO3)2 - 3.64 KC 1 - 2.31 Sp.G. at 22 deg.C.-1.146 (equivalent to 1.148 at 16 deg.C.)

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Both carbonate and bicarbonateexpressed as carbonate.

Reinecke(Ref. 9, p. 61) gives a specificgravity of 1.170 for the brine in the autumn of 1919.

On the assumption that the lake contains 70,000 tons of crudecrystal, as estimatedby Goudge, the amount of sodium carbonate present would be about 17,500 tons.

- 16 -

Margaret Lake (Map 2,-___ No. 11)

Margaret Lake is a smallshallow lake, roughly circular in shape,lying about one-halr' mile north of theold 70 Mile House-Meadow Lake road. In October1937, brine covered 4 1/2 acresto an averagedepth of 1 foot.Tinter-crystal was forming at thetime of examination, a layerabout half an inch thickalready covering the eastern half of thelake bed. The bottom is fine black mud and no permanent crystal deposit is known tooccur. Shipments of natronhave been made from Mar- garet Lake at onetime or another,but the total amount re.- moved is unknown.

In October1924, (Ref. 6, p.92) brinecovered 5 acres to a depth of 6 inches to 2 feet, and a rim of winter-crystal 8 to.10 inches thick and 15 feet wideoccurred around most of thesouth-eastern shore. The centralpart of the lake was filled with large radiating clusters of crystals.

The followinganalyses represent samples of brine and crystals taken by the writer in 1937, and Goudge in 1924:

ivriter(1) -Goudge (Ref. 6, p. 93) Brine Brine

Totalsolids - 13.38% Totalsolids - 11 ;07% Sp.G. at 16 deg. C.- 1.125 Sp.G. at 22 deg. C.- 1.108

Composition of SolidsComposition of Solids

(2) Na2C03 Na2CO3- 95.556 - 7'7.28% NaCl -NdCO3 4.2% - 11.85 Na2SOq - tr . NaCl - 4.57 %SO4 - tr . Na2SOg - 0.17 CaSOq - Lr . Mg(HC03)z - 3.01 KC 1 - 3.12

C rystal Winter Crystal:TinterWinter Crystal

Na2C03 - Na~C0398.3% - 98.48 Na2SOq - nil NaHC03 - 0,. a 2 NaCl - tr. NaCl - 0.33 Mgso4 - nil Na2S04 - 0.22 - nil CaC03 - nil CaC03 - nil Mg(HCC3)2 - ni1 Insol. - 1.7% Insol. - 0.35

Note:Both samples recalculatedto a 10% waterfree basis.:Triter's sample contained 15.8% combined water.

- 17 - (1) Chiefksayer, Victoria. (2)Both carbonate and bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

The approximate amount of sodium carbonate,in solution and as winter-crystal, was 850tons in 1937, and 1000 tonsin 1924.

Anita and LelaLakes (Map 2, No. 12)

Anita and LelaLakes occupy parts of an original lake bed 65 to 70 acresin extent. The presentlakes, covering about 26; acres and 6 acresrespectively, are separated by 800 feet of dried mud strewnwith boulders. Around thelakes the mud is heavily encrusted with dried soda.

Brinecovered Bnite lake to an average depth of 8 inches and Lela Lake to 1 foot.when examined inOctober, 1937. It is interesting to note that in June of the same yearbrine stood about 1 foot higherin Anita Lake; in September1938, however,even less was presentthan in the preceding'autumn. Water-level is approximatelythe same inboth lakes.

InOctober 1937, a thin layer of winter-crystal was in the process of formation over the nuddy bottom of Anita Lake; none,however, was notedin Lela Lake. No deposit of permanent crystal is known to.occur 'in either.

The followingquotation is fromGoudge's report: (Ref. 6, p. 90)

"In October 1924, about 25 acres of Anita Lake was covered with winter crystal varyingin thickness fr'om 2 to Ci inches. On top of thecrystal there was brine to anaverage depth of 2 inches. Numerous circularholes from 4 to 1% inchesin diameter were noticed in the layer of wintercryst&. These holesappeared to mark the orifices of tinysprings, but, as at Goodenough lake, noflow of water was observed.In'the north-eastern part of thelake, just at thewater line, is a small spring,around which a considerabledeposit of cal- careoustufa has accumultited. The water of thisspring has a salinity of 2168 parts per million and it contains all the constituents present in the brine.

"The mud in the bottom of the lake is verydeep and soft and no crystals were observedin it.

"In October1924, there was a depth of brine in

- 18 - thelake (Lela Lake) varying from 1 to 3 feet. Along thesouth-western shore and extendingoutwards for a distance of about 70 feet, was a shelving bed ofwinter crystal, which was 9 inchesthick near the shore but gradually thinned out to nothing toward the centre of thelake. The crystal bedwas steadilyincreasing bothin thickness and extent when thelake was examined. A few clusters of crystals hadformed in the central partof the lake."

Analyses of brine and crystals taken by 50th Goudge and the writer follow:

writer (1) Goudge (Ref.6,p.91 and 92) Brine - Anita Lake Brine - Anita Lake

TotalSolids - 12.44% TotalSolids - 12.52% Sp.Gr. at 16 deg. C. - 1.117 Sp.G. at 22 deg.C. - ]..lo4

Composition of Solids Composition of So1id.s-

(2) Na2C03 - 93.2% NaZC03 - 63.96% NaCl - 6. C% NaHC03 - 6.83 Na2S04 - .5% NaCl - 16.23 MgSOl - tr . Na2SO4 - 2.33 C aS 04 - tr. Mg(HC03)z - 7.42 KC1 - 3.23 Brine - Lela Lake Brine - Lela Lake

Total Solids - 7.02% TotalSolids - 12.12% Sp.G. at 16 deg. C. - 1.0675 Sp.G. at 22 deg.C. - 1.115%

Composition of Solids Coiposition of Solids

(2) Na2C03 - 93.2% NazC03 - 70..55% NaCl - 5.8 NaHC03 - 11.51 Na2S04 - .8 NaC 1 - 6,.97 - tr . NazSO4 - 2 ,. 23 Cas04 - tr. Mg(HC03)2 - 4.82 KC1 - 3 ,. 92

WinterCrystal - oldstock Winter Crystal - Anita Lake pile - Anita Le (2) Na~C03 - 98.85% NazCO3 - 96.72% NaCl - tr. NaBCO3 - 0.73 Nazs04 - tr . NaCl - 1.04 %SO4 - tr. Na~S04 - 0.73 CaC03 - nil CaCO3 - ni1 MgC03 - nil ~gce3 - nil Insol. - tr. Insol. - 0.78 - 19 - -Winter Crystal - Lela Lake

(1)Chief Assayer, Victoria. Na2CO3 - SO. 17% (2) Bothcarbonate and bicar- NaHC03 - 0.42 bonateexpressed as car- NaCl - 0.77 bonate. Na2SO4 - 0.37 CaC03 - nil PdgCO3 - nil Insol. - 0.27

Note:Analyses of crystalsrecalculated to 10% water free basis. 3Yriter's samplefrom Anita Lake contained 14.9% water.

In 1919(Ref. 9, p. 61) onebody of water 85 acresin extentcovered both hnita and LelaLakes. This lakecontained brine to a depth of 4 feet in summer and 3 feet in winter. The Specificgravity of t.he brine was 1.055 at 1.5 deg. e. and the lake was estimatedto contain 65,000 tons of sodiumcarbonate.

3n the basis of Goudge's figures Anita Lake contained about'6000tons of sodiumcarbonate ii? solution in 1921 and Lela Lake about 2100 tons.Corresponding amounts in 1937 wouldbe 3000 tons and 550 tons,

Records are incomplete,. but, it seems;probable... that at least 3000tons of winter-crystal, equivalentto.:100ff'tdns of sodiumcarbonate, have been-harvested from Anita and Lela Lakes since 1918. When examined inthe autumn of.1937there were several stock piles of natronon the.north shore, harvested during the preceding winter; the crystal-slabs aver- aged 4 to .6 inches in thickness.

>-) >-)

ghite Elephant Lake, in .October.1937, c0ntaine.d brine to an average'depth of ~1 to Z feet over an-.area of 14 acres. It lies about, 1/4 mile' sduth-west 'of. Rose Lake, and 1/4 mile west of the Facific Great Eastern Railway.

The lake-bed is soft mud and rio permanent, crystal deposit occurs. The.muddyshore'line is heavilyencrusted with dried soda. In the'pastwinter-crystal has fomed andshipments been made, but nonehas occurred..within recent years.

The following brine analysis represents a sampletaken

'by the writer: (1)

- 20 - Brine - WhiteElephant Lake

T otal SolidsTotal - 8.3% Sp.G. at 16deg. C. - 1.083

Composition of Solids

(2) Na2~03 (2) - 97.5% NaCl - 2.1 Ke2SO4 - .4 MgSOq - tr. CaS04 - tr .

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria. (2) Bothcarbonate and bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

In 1937White Elephant Lake containedabout 2000 to 2500 tons of sodium carbonatein solution.

. RoseLake (Map 2, No. 15)

RoseLake lies directly cast of the Pacific Great $as- tern RailwayCoulson's Siding. InOctober 1937, it con-,' tained about 42 feet of brine over an estimated area of 302', PW acres. No winter-crystalhas formed inrecent years, although severalthousand tons were harvested from the lake between 1924and 1929.

$Then examined by Goudge in 1924brine covered 32 acres to anaverage depth of 2 1/2 feet. The followingdescription is quotedfrom his report:(Ref. 6, p. 93)

"Along the southwestern shore a solid bed of wintercrystal extended outwards for a varyingdistance of from 10 to 20 feet.Dotted over the whole lake were large clusters of soda crystals and these crystals were beinggathered by means of boats. Later on inthe season when thelake had crystallizedover completely, the bed of crystal near the shore was worked exclusively."

Analyses .of brine and crystals follow:

Tfriter(1). Goudge (Ref.. 6, p. 941 Brine - RoseLake Brine - RoseLake TotalSolids - 8.17%Total Solids - 12.02 Sp:G. at 16deg. C: - 1.0795 Sp.G. at 22 deg.C.-1.121

- 21 - Composition of Solids- -Composition of Solids (2j Na'ZC03 - 95.8% Na2C03 - 88.9% NaC1 - 3.9% NaCl - 4.32 Na2S04 - 0.5 Ma2SO4 - 3.98 MgS04 - tr . ~gca~ - 4.07 .CaSO4 - tr. KC1 - 1.58

(2) Crystal - Old StockPile Crystal

~a3~03 - 99.12 Na2C03 - 98.33 NaCl - tr . NaHC03 - 0.62 Na2S04 - tr . NaCl - 0.52 MgSO4 - nil Na2S04 - 0.21 - ni1 CaC03 - nil CaC03 - nil Nw3 - nil C1, PO4, Fe and A1 nil Insol. - 0.32 Insol. - .62

1. ChiefAssayer, Victoria. 2. Bothcarbonate and bicarbonate expressed as carbonate.

The amount'of'sodiumcarbonate in solution in RoseLake was about 6500 tons in 1937and 14,500 tons in 1924.

Hutchison Lake. (kap2, No.. 17)

Hutchison. Lake lies about 5 mile&.east of 70 Mile Station. It is long and' narrow,occupying a depre'ssion..withsteeply slopingbanks. Themuddy shoreline is heavilyencrusted with soda.

Brinecovered an area of about 15 acres in October1937, and'had a depth of at least 10 feet in the middle of the lake. Bo winter-crystal was formingand none is known to haveoc- curred.

From description (Ref ... 6,p. 95) the h$e has not changed materially insize since examinedby GoUZrge in 1924. In 1919 Reinecke(Ref ... 9; p: 62) states that. brine. covered 17 acres to an unknown depth.

Analyses of brinesamples taken by Reinecke, Goudge, and the writer follow:

- 22 - writer (1) Goudge (Ref. 6, p. Eeinecke95) "_ (Ref. 9, p. 61i

Percent Solids - 7% Percent Solids - 6.29% Fercent Solids - 4.23% Sp.G:at 16 deg.C: - 1.0685 S2.G. at 22 deg:C. - 1.059 Sp.G. at 16 deg.C. - 1.044

Composition of Solids -Composition of Solid_l Composition of Solids

N 01 I

(1)Chief Assayer, Victoria. (2)Both carbonate and bicarbonateexpressed as carbonate. Insofaras the average depth is difficult to judge, the total am0un.t of brine,hence the amount of sodium carbonate, canonly be roughly estimated. It seems probable, however, that.at least 12,000 to 13,~OOO tonsof sodium.carbonate is in solution in Hutchison Lake. -Other Lakes In addition to those described, many lakes on the Green Timber Plateapcontain dilute alkaline brines. The writer tooksamples from several of the largeror more concentrated of these.Analyses follow: (1)

- 24 - Ref. % Lake Map 2 Sp. G. Solids Composition of Solids

Na2C03 NaCl Na2.304 MgSO4 Cas04 MgC03

Long Lake No. 2 1.022 2.2% 41.0 4.0 45.5 3.7 5.8 _" jmite " No. 3 1.008 .76 82.5 3.7 5.6 8.2 tr . bfeadow " No. 5 1.004 .67 56.0 29.2 _" tr . 10.5 4.6 """ NO. 13a 1.017 1.60 94.0 5.0 1.o tr. tr . "_ """ It No.. 13b 1.0175 1.63 92.2 6.4 1.1 tr . tr . "- Green " No., 16 1.002 .42 79.5 _" "_ ti-. tr . la. 1

(1) ChierAssayer, Victoria. In a general way the above analyses maybe taken as representative of most of the alkaline lakesof the region. Not only are these abundant but numerousdry lake beds are also to be found. The suri'ace'of these is commonly crusted and cracked; some show a faint alkaline efflorescence. The writer drilled a numberof dry lakes to depthsof 3 and 4 feet to determine whether permanent orystal-deposits occurred; in no case, however, was anything other than heavy mud black and bluish clay encountered. -Kamloops Area A number of small undrained saline lakes, some dry, occur in the vicinityof Kamloops. Blthough most of these contain sodium sulphate as a major constituent, several contain relatively concentrated solutionsor crystal-beds in whichsodium carbonate predominates.

The climate of the region is severe with a temperature range from a maximumof 100 degrees or more in summer to a minimum of 20 or 30 degrees below zero in winter. Precipita- tion is variable from place to place, inbut general is low, the average annual rainfall in Kamloops being10 inches, of which at least half is contributed by snow.

WE- ?27 Lake No. 1 (Map 3, No. 1) Lake No. 1 is about1 mile east of the Kamloops-Cache Creek Highway, 12 miles from Kamloops, and three-quarters of a milesouth, and800 feet above the Canadian Pacific Railway along Kamloops Lake. It occupies a small, rather sharp,depression in rolling to hilly grass-covered country.

The lake lies close to the contact areaof an of pinkish syenite to the north,and basic porphyritic volcanios to the south. Its drainage basin is about450 acres in extent,'of which about three-quarters is underlain by volcanic rocks.

The lake was nearly drywhen examined October, 1937. The surface was covered by a heavy.encrustationof dried soda, underlain by 2 to 4 feet of soft black mud, beneath which a solid crystal-bed occurred. In September, 1938, a thin layer of brine covered nearly half the lake. The areaof the bed is between 3 and 4 acres, and it is understood that about3 acres are underlainby permanent crystal. The writer was not adequately equipped to de.terminethe depth and formof the crystal bed. However, in the Reportof the Minister of Mines for British Columbia, 1930, the deposit is mentioned (Ref.4, p. 196) and it is stated that holes drilled with a steam jet

- 26 - I N -3 I

MAP S. Ssline deposits in vioinity of Kamloops. GWlOgy from Kamloops Sheet, Geological Surrey of Canada, G. M. Dawson. encounteredfrom 1% to 36 feet of solidcrystal, without, in places,bottom being reached. If thesefigures are assumed as correct, the lake would containapproximately 100,000 tons of permanent crystals.In the same reportthe typical following analysis is given: - 63% HZ0 Insol - 1 - 5% Salts - 26-22%

Composition of salts

NazC03 - 9 2% NazSOq - 8% It is understood from the owner that analyses vary in respect to the proportion of sodium carbonateand sodium sulphatein different parts of thebed. Unfortunately the soft surfaceand the depth of mud made it impossiblefor the writer to obtain samples of the crystal-deposititself. Analyses.of samplestaken from the surface crust and settling tank.fo1- 'low: (1) .\ Recrystallized material Surfacecrust from settling tank

(2) Na2C03 - 57.9% 58.9% ' Na2S04 - 39.5 40.6 Insol - 1.1 tr : ni l nil CaO - nil MgOnil - nil PO4 - nil nil

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria.

(2);' Both carbonate and bicarbonate expressed as car-

' '' ' bonate.

Note: ,Analyses recalculated to 10% water free,basis. Samplesas'analyzed contained 15.8% and 14.w water respec- ti+ely.

From these it appears probable that,the proportion of sodium sulphate in the quoted analysis is too low to be truly representative.

The deposit was worked from 1931 to 1935and about 1000 %bns:,.oC impurenatron or sal sodashipped to Vancouverand Calgary. The method of recovery was to liquefythe crystal by means of steam, pump the solution to a settling tank to remove

- 28 - insolubleimpurities, and recoverthe sodium carbonate and sodium sulphate by recrystallization.

As mentioned on the basis of quotedthicknesses the lake may beassumed to contain about 100,000 tons of permanent crystals, or roughly 30,000 tons of sodium carbonate and sulphate.

Barnes Lake

BarnesLake lies about a quarter of a milewest of the Ramloops-VernonHighway, 17miles from Kamloops. It has an area of 35 to 40 acres and when visited in October, 1937., contained brine to an average depth of 6 inches over a'large .part of the bed. The muddy shoreline and dry portions of the bed are heavily encrusted with dried soda. Owing to thesoft 'bottom it was impossible to obtain a sample of thebrine.

No winter-crystal was present in Barnes Lake when examined. It is understood,however, that the presentwater- level is considerably higher now.than in the past, and thct crystals haveformed. In the autumn of 1932 a 3-inchlayer of natroncovered a large part of thelake; a sample of which, submittedto the Dept. of Mines for analysis showed the fol- lowingcomposition: (1)

Na2CO3 - 97.505 NaCl - .5$ Insol. - ,.% Fe203 -. .7%

(1) ChiefAs'sayer, Victoria.

Note: recalculated to a 10Wh water free basis. Sample as assayedcontained 58.9% water of composition.

The writer dri.lled several &-foot holes at various points about 15 feet from theshore. No deposit of solidcrystalr; was encounteredbut small',natron crystals were noted in the mu&.. The lakehas been drilled by severalinterested parties withconflicting results. Apparently, hmever, the muddy bottom contains a fairly 'high proportton of disseminatedcrys1;als and it is reported that a solid layer 3 to 6 inches thick was encountered at a depth of 6 feet..In view of the meagre data available it is impossibleto estimate the tonnage of sodium carbonate present.

Other Lake's

Otherlakes, containing sodium carbonateas a majorbrine - 29 - ,JG-*T constituent,. occur in the area. i3u- (Mag 3, No. 6), on the south sideof the Eamloops-Vernon nighway,14'miles from Xamloops, contains brineof the fo1.lcwin.g composition: (1; Totalsolids - 2.37% 8p.G. at 16 deg. C.. - 1.023

Compos'ition of Solids

(2)Na2C03 - 75.5% RaCl - 8.4% Na2SO4 - l8.s .- 2.3% Cas04 " tr . . (1) :'ChidT.Assayer, .Vidtoria.

(2) ' -Both carbonate and bicarbonate expressedcaw as botiate.

.+:.lake in the vlainityof Savona is reported to contain a cotxoentrated sodium carbonate brine. Others undoubtedly occtn- in the. region..

Chilootin Area (See Map1)

Several alkaline lakes occursouth-west of Hanceville, along.or close to, the old Nemaia Valley Road; others, many dry, are common elsewhere in theChilcbtin area..

In general the country is flatto gently rolling, drift covered,'and underlain by basalticflow rocks. The climate', is severe, maximum summer temperatures ranging ao.tbfrom 90 degrees, and minimum wintertemperatures from 30 'to 40 degrees beiow zero. Precipitation averages 12.inches annually at Big Creek, 6 to 7 inches being contributed by rainfall during the months of May, June, July, August, and September. Snowfall represents an additional 3 to 4 inches.

As the writer has not examined the alkaline oflakes this region the following descriptions are quoted from Survey of Resources Report, Pacific Great Eastern Railway Lands (Part 2, YOl. 2, %est Lillooet.Block, pp. 55-58-R.M. Logie,1929, Uripublished Manuscript).

Soap and Towdykin Lakes

"t3oap lake is situated on the Nemaia Valley road, apprdximately 14 miles from.the Chilco Ranch at Hanceville.

- 30 - Towdykin lake is abouthalf a mile in a north-westerly direction fromSoap lake. These two lakesare not con- nected by a strean but SoapLake is slightly lowerthan Towdykin lake ad in the latter there is quite a notice- ablecurrent in the direction of Soap lake.This current is probably due to the circulation of ground waters towards Soaplake. Neither of theselakes hasany apparentoutlet, andSoap lakecontains a more concentrated solutionthan Towdykin. The.main saltpresent 'in the solution is sodium carbonate.

analysis of Water from Soaplake Constituents I gallonGrainsper NazCO3 MgSo4 Trace , C aS 04 ::::: 1 Caw4 I Trace Nail Trace Sollector, R. M. Logie;Analyst, D. E. Whittaker, B. C: ' Department of Mines.

"These lakes are situated in an area that is almost entirely drift covered, and the thickness of drirt is at least 5 feet andmore likely well over 100 feet... The rock underlying the drift is probably Wioceneba- salt as occurrences of rocksolder than this are not known in theregion.--Springs are not known in the drainagebasin of theselakes, although springs may risein the lake beds.

"No crystal was observed in association with these lakes,.but scattered crystals of salts werenoted in the bed of Soap Lake. "

WhiteLake (KiliyulLake)

"An alkaline lake similar to Soapand Towdykin lakesoccurs about one and a half miles from the Chili GO Ranch at Banceville. This lakecontains salts similar to those of Soap lake but not as large a proportion'ispresent. An efflorescence of salts was noted on theshore of thelake, but they were only sparselydisseminated through the mud. h'o crystal bed was observed in connectionwith this deposit.

"31 - "The lake occurs in a region that has a very thick covering of glacial drift which is apparentlyunderlain byMiocene basalts.There is no apparentoutlet to the lake and thedrainage basin of the lake doesnot appear to bevery large."

Two other dry lakes are mentioned specifically by Logie; inneither did permanent crystal bedsoccur. Speaking generally of the saline lakes of theregion Logie says:

"A number of salinedeposits are scattered through- outthe northern section of theblock and are generally confined to areas underlain by basalt. ....Poison l&ke (dry) differs from the rest .of the deposits in that it is situated in an area where a greater part of the un- 'derlying formations belong to the Cache Creek series of Carboniferousage. The salts inthese deposits, as de- termined by analysis,are mainly sodium carbonate,and

sodium sulphate, with traces of magnesium sulphate, ' ,' calciumsulphate, sodium chloride, snd one deposit contains small quantities of potassium (;Triter's note--in Poisonlake sodium sulphate andcalcium sulphate predominate) :...The drainage basins of the lakes are not large and areconfined in general to small areas in the immediate vicinity of the lakes."

SoapLake, S,pences Bridge (FOap4)

Soap lake lies south of SpencesBridge about 7 milesby pack trail, andapproximately 2000 feet above the Canadian PacificRailway tracks to the west. The writer has not examined this lake and thefollowing description is quoted froh a report by L. H. Cole(Ref. 5, p. 25).

"The lake which lies in a depression in rolling plateaucountry is completelysurrounded b,y gently slopinghills and has no apparentoutlet. The country is sparsely wooded with bullpine and fir and the slopes are well covered with 'grass during certain seasons of the year:

"According to Drysdale therock ?.ormation of the surrounding hills belongs to the KakloopsVolcanic group of Lower Miocene age, and consist mainly of basaltic lavas and pyroclastics with younger mica arise- sites cutting themand formingcoarse agglomerates in the andesitic matrix.

"The lake is over onemile long and 1300 feet wide

- 32 - MAP 9. Soap Lake (after Cole).

"a.t itr;wi des It point, but in dry seasonsjit is rather a chain of lake; separated by aikali-coveredmud flats, and when visited in August1926, the eastern halfof the lake was dry witha white incrustation of saltsnot more than an inch in thickness. Only the western end of the lake containeda greenish-colored brineto a depth of 3 feet, underneath which a soft oozyoc- mud curred which could be penetrated by a polea depth to of 10 feet.

"The area of the western partof the lake inwhich brine occurredwas approximately 60 acres. The tonnage of salts present in the brine will run15,000 tons per foot of depth.

"A spring of potable water flows outof the hillside, 30 feet above the shore of the lakeon the south side. As the season advances the shoreline recedes, leaving an incrustation of salts surroundingthe lake. No crystal bed was encountered in any partof the lake. Information as to whetherthe lake ever becomes completely drywas not available.

- 33 - "A sample of thebrine from the centre of the western half of the lake was taken at a depth of 2 feet below the surface andanalyzed with the followiag results:"

Totaisolids - 14.6% Sp.G. at 22 deg. C. - 1.161

Composition of Solids

Na2G03 - 81.42% NaHC03 - 10.03% NaCl - 2.17 Na2S04 - 5.93 MgCl2 - 0.15 !&SO4 - nil KC1 - nil. K2C03 - ni1 Sodium Sulphatekkes

Lakes in whichsodium sulphate is themajor constituent are, as' far as known, found only in the Kamloops area. They are similar in formand occurrence to the sodium carbonate lakes of the same region.

Lake No. 2 (Map 3, No. 2) & -76 Lake No. 2 lies about one mileto the south-east of Lake No. 1 and at approximatelythe same elevation. The surface of theground is largely drift-covered,'but outcrops are common; the lake and its drainage basin are underlain by basic porphyritic volcanics.

The lake is about 7 1/2 acres in area andoccupies a sharpnarrow depression. Its drainagebasin covers approximately 900 acres. The lake was practicallydry in October, lCj.7, except for a small moistarea on thesouth-west shore suggestive of springs.In September 1938, 2 or 3 inches of brinecovered half its surface.

In the autumn of 1937most of the surface was coveredby winter-crystalabout 1 inchthick. Towards thesouth-east end of the lake the deposit was formed of.-circular areas separated by mud; even in the centre of thelake-bed a suggestion of thisstructure waspreserved. The mud formingthe remainder of the-Surface and surrounding the shore-line was heavil'yen- crusted wiCh.white efflorescence of dried salts.

About 6 inches of soft black mud occurring beneath the

- 34 - surfacelayer contained tiny disseminated crystals and smelledstrongly of hydrogensulphide. Underlying this over at least three-qJarters of the 'lake, was a deposit of hard massivepermanent crystals. The writer was notequipped to investigatethe depth of thecrystal bed or its extent. 1:n the AnnualReport of the Minister of Mines, British Columbia, for 1930(Ref. 4, p.196) it is statedthat 2 pits, 4 and 9 feet deep, weredug in solidpermanent-crystal and that two holes were drilled, one showing 7 feet of crystal. near the edge,the other 19 feet near the centre. On thebasis of thesefigures alone an accurate estimate of the quantity of saltsin the lake is impossible. On theother hand they do, inconjunction with the topography, suggest the presence of a largetonnage, probably from 100,000 to 200,000tons.

The deposit is described in theReport of the Xinister of Mines for British Columbia,1922 (Ref.2) and the following analysesgiven:

Compositesample of 6 Borings - (todepth 4')

Na2SOq - 83.8% WgO - .% Insol. - 15.1 Fe and A1 - tr .

Note: Recalculatedto 10% waterfree basis. Samplecon- tained 51% water of crystallization as enalyzed.

Samples taken by the writer. had the following analyses (1)

*site of 3 1-footpits Pure surface crystal

Na2S04 - 79.2% 99.2% MgSO4 - 7.2 tr . CaSO4 - 2.8 nil NaCl - -" .5 Insol - 10.8 .3

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria.

Note:Analyses recalculated to 10% waterfree basis. Samples as analyzed contained 36.7% and51.2% water of crystal- lizationrespectively.

Assuming that some 100,000 to 200,000tons of impure mirabilite is presentin the lake, the sodium sulphatecontent would amount to 40,000 to 80,000 tons,

- 35 - iVi5-73 Iron Mask Lake (Nap 3, KO. 5)

Iron Mask Lake is on thesouth side of theKadoops-Cache Creekroad about 6 milesfrom Kmloops. It is the first and largest of a series of smallundrained lakes occurring at in- tervals along the road for nearly 4 miles to the west.

The lake is roughlyhalf a milelong by 300 to 500 feet wide. The eastern end is covered with tailings from theold Iron Mask mine situated on the hillside above; the remainder was dryin October 1937, except for numerous shallowpools distributedover its centralportion. The depression in which the lake lies is flanked on the north by a low hill underlain by greenstone and fresher porphyritic basic volcanics, and on thesouth by the slopes of 1,ron Mask Hill, underlain by diorite. The basin of thelake is closedat the west end by a low divide.

InOctober 1937, the surface of thelake was heavily encrusted with a white efflorescence of dried salts, but no permanent layer of crystal was observed.Beneath the encrustation was softblack mud containing,in places, sparsely disseminated mirabilite crystals and smelling strongly of hydrogen sulphide. The writerput down a number of 4-foot holes but as the mud surface of the lake was too soft for traffic, these were necessarily restricted to a zone within 40 feet of theshore. A bed of solidcrystal was encounteredin only threeholes near the margin of the tailings dump, beneath 3 to 4 feet of' mud. The thickness of 'thebed was notdetermined.

The lake was partly drilled several years ago and it is understood that an area of 5 acres was estimated to be underlainby a crystal-bedfrom 5 to 12 feetthick, containing approximately 50,000 tons. The depth of overlying mud ranged from 3 to 5 feet.

At thetime of examination it was impossible,to obtain samples of 'thepermanent crystal and no analysesare on record. The followingbrine sample was takenfrom an old pit nearthe west end of thelake: (1)

Brine - Iron Mask Lake

TotalSoli.ds - 27.63% Sp.G. at 16 deg. C. - 1.240

- 36 - IRON MASK LAKE. (Map 3, No. 5.) Picture looking north-eastward. Note “crystal bowl ‘I surface of lake.

SODIUM SULPHATEDEPOSIT. (Map 3, No. 2.) Picture looking northward. Composition of Solids

Na2S04 ,- 35.8% MgSO4 - 61.8 Na2C03 - 2.0 NaCl - .4 CaSOq - tr. (1)Chief Assayer, Victoria.

Surface crystals formed on the lake later in the season: a sampleforwarded to the Deparbnent of Mineshad the follow- ingcomposition: (1)

- .s% Insol. - .2%

(1)Chief Assayer, Victoria.

Note: Recalculatedto a 10% waterfree basis. Sample asanalyzed contained 5.3% water.

Lake No. 4 (Map 3, No. 4)

Lake No. 4,about 4 1/2 acres in area, lies west of Iron Mask Lake in the same generaldepression, although its surface is 30 to 40 feetlower. The dividebetween the two is only about 10 feetabove.the surface of Iron KaskLake. Diorite outcropsalong the south shore.

The lake is roughly circular and the shorelinessteep. InOctober 1937, at least 5 feet of brine was present. The shoreline was encrusted with dried salts but no permanentcrys- tals werenoted. A sample of thebrine, taken by the writer, had thefollowing composition: (1)

Totalsolids 11.67% Sp.G. at 16deg. C. - 1.1075

Composition of Solids

Na2S04 - 32.8% M@O4 - 62.077 NaCl - 1.6% Nap203 - 1.4% Cas04 - 2.1%

- 37 -

- 39 - (1)Chief Assayer, Victoria.

The similarity of the brine to that of Iron Mask Lake is notable. For thisreason the lake, though containing a preponderance of magnesium sulphate was included with the sodium sulphatelakes.

Crystals - Goudge

NazSOg 91.72% 57.77% 73.52 hfgs04 7.23 14.04 6.98 XaHCO3 0.38 0.97 0.96 'NaC1 0.20 0.07 0.06 Cas04 0. 27 5.71 4. a6 Insol. 0.20 21.44 13.62

gagnesiumSulphate Lakes

Lakes in whichmagnesium sulphate is thepredominant constituent OCCUI' inthe Clinton, Ashcroft, Kamloops,and Osoyoos areas. All aresmall undrained lakes similar to the sodium carbonateand sulphate lakes already discussed. Actually the only distinction whichcan be drawn between the sodium sul- phateand magnesium sulphatelakes is one of conveniencein- sofar as both components are invariably present in each type.

ClintonArea (Map 2)

Clinton Lake (Map 2, No. 18)

Clinton Lake is 1 milesouth of Clinton on theeast side of theClinton-Cache Creek Highway. It occupies a shallow depressionFlanked on the east by a high ridge composed of rocksof the Cache Creek Series. The lake,although of little if anypresent economicimportance is interesting, not only as havingbeen a commercialsource of epsomitein the past,but through the series of changes it hasundergone.

Brinecovered approximately 15 acres to a depthof sev- era1feet 'in October 1937; the area and depth were much the same inOctober 1924 (Ref. 7, p. 76). No crystal-deposit was present at either time.

The following description of the lake in. 1919 is .quoted from a reportby Reinecke (Ref. 9, p.53):

"Duringthe summer the .o. lake is generally occupied by only a few inches of water surrounded by.a rim of white salt. Beneaththe few inches of waterare numerous, roughly circular areas 10 to 35 feet across, somewhat crowded together and white or dark according to thelight conditions. The upper part of each of these areas or whatare known as poolsconsists of a layer of nearlypure epsomite, and epsomite mixed with dark mud

- 40 - ."occursbetween the, pool$j. The quantity of waterin the lake seems to vary daily evenduring continued periods of rainlessweather. According to the older inhabitants of Clinton,the,site of this lake was at one timean ir,- rigatedhay meadow, at another time it was occupied by 12 lake, and thedeposits of epsomitehave been in evidence for the last Pew years only. The writer was informed by the manager of the salt works that an inch or %ore of ep- somitecrystallizes in thepools during ceqtain seasons.

"The epsomitelake at Clintoncovers an area of about 24 acres, of which it is estimated, less than one-half is floored by the .circular epsomite deposits. Sincethe actual aggregate areal extent of thepools is not known and sinceonly scanty data as to thickness are available, no closeestimate of thetonnage can be made,?

Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 76) givesthe following analysis of a brine sampletaken by him in 1924:

TotalSolids - 13.97% Sp.G. at 22 deg. C. - 1.123

Composition of Solids

%SO4 - 84.05% Wg(HCO3)z - 0.18 NazS04 - 3.45 NaC 1 - 9.50 KC1 - 1.16 Excess HCO3 - 1.65

The brine in 1924would have contained some 8000 to 9000 tons of salts representing 6000 to 7000 -Long of magnesium s:ulphate . From 1918 to 1920 approximately 2000 tons of epsomite was taken from the lake, over 1000 tons of which was sold.

OtherLakes

Beineckementions (Ref. 7, p.53) that ,in 191.9 ThreeMile Lake iMap 2, No. 19)contained a strongsolution, l0,to 18 degrees Baume (Sp.G. 1.074 - 1.148) of magnesium sulphate and sodim sulphatein the proportion of 4 to l. A brine sample taken by thewriter in October 1937, from the south end of the lake had a.specific gravity of 1.008, one from the north end had a specificgravity of 1.003. The brinecontained (1):

TotalSolids - .38 to .66$

- 41 - Com2osition of Solids

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoaia.

.AshcroftArea

BasqueEpsomite Deposits (Map 5')

The Basqueepsomite deposits are about 3 miles west of the CanadianNational Railway and 3 miles south of Basque. Ashcroft is 1.2 miles to the northeast.

The depositsoccur in 4 small ponds in e. narrowrocky valley. The surroundingcountry is mountainousand rugged. Argillite,shale, and argillaceouslimestone of the Lower Cache Creek Series are exposed in the vicinity of the de,- posits.

The writer visited the Basque depositsin October 1937 withthe object of obtaining samples and substantiating past reportsin respect to present conditiocs. Neither eq.uipment nortime were available for drilling. The depositswere ex- mined in detail by Goudge duringthe autumn of 1924, and insofar as there havebeen no markedchanges since that time, thefollowing description is quotedfrom his report: (Ref. 7, p. 66).

"The deposits of mixedmagnesium and sodium salts occurin four smallbasins or mud-filledponds in the sloping,,floor of themiddle valley (Map.5). The dis- tancebetween the first and fourth basin is about 5000 feet. The basinsare formed bytransverse damsof boulderclay, which reach entirely across the valley. There is no rock visible in these transverse ridges andpre- sumably theyare composed entirely of boulderclay. The ponds vary in length from 450 to 600 feet and in width, from 200 to 450 feet. The sodiumand magnesium crystal in each of' these ponds occursas bowl-shaped masses of relatively clean crystal separated from each other by mud, This mud is raised upfrom 2 to 8 inchesabove

thelevel surr'aze of thecrystal andforms a border or ~ ringaround the crystal bowl. In wet weather and during thespring and early sumer there is brine on top of the

- 42 - HUTCHISON LAKE. (Map 2, No. 17.) Looking westward. Black fringe on water-line eompmed of SWBI~S of soda-flies.

BASQUE EPSOMITE DEPOSIT.(Map 5.) Basque No. 1, looking northward. Shows typical “crystal bowl” surface in middle distance. Note stock pile of crude salt to right. Crystal GB Mud 250 0 500 ScaleL!!?!YFeet

MAP 6. Basque epsomite deposits (after Goudge).

"crystal. At such times when viewedfrom the shore, the deposit appears as a numberof shallow circular pools the bottomsof which are composed of crystal.

"The mud separating the bowls of crystal isfine a silt containing a veryfew rounded pebbles. It is very compact even atthe surface; at depth it is jet black

- 43 - "in color,has a pungentodor in whichhydrogen sulphide is recognizable,and contains tiny shining crystals,presumably epsonite. On exposure, this black mud quicklychanges to a greyish green colour. Chemical analysis shows this mud to contain from 45 to 60 percent calcium sulphate andfrom 2 to 7 per cent organic matter.

"In the official mining.records at Ashcroft, B. C~., the'mineral claims enclosingthese ponds ape named Basque No. 1,'Basque No. 2, etc.,but in thjs report these names will be applied to the ponds to distinguish themfrom one another.!!

The followinginformation respecting the individual deposits is based on Goudge'sdescription-augmented by comments by the writer. It is presentedin semi-tabu1a.r form for the sake of brevity.

Basque .No-:. .l

-, r I Area - The pond coversapproximately 234,000 square feet; c .t-3 - about 190,000 square feet are coveredby crystal-deposits (in- eluding mud between).

Form of Crystal-Deposits - Some bowl-like masses are up to 60 feet in diameter and'retain their area with only slight diminution,to a depth of at least 5 feet. The "bowls" drilled showed veryhard crystals at 4 to 6 feet. Only a small one nearthe shore,, was penetrated to the mud beneath at 10 feet. Another near the centre of the pond shaved 14 feet of crystal withoutbottom'being reached. Goudge considersthe general depthto exceed 10 feet.

Nature of the crystals~- Pits could not be dug to a greater deoth'than 4 l/2 feet owing to an inrush of brine: the deeper-onesindicated that the-hardlayer was composed of bloedite (Na2SOq.MgS04.4H20) mixed withepscmite (MgS04.7H20). The cleantop crystal-layer is about 2 1/2 inchesthick: ba- neath it, and commonly separatedfram it by a thin layer of m'd, is a layeraveraging 3 1/2 feet thick composed of interlocking epsomite crystals with a little admixed mud.

- 44 - hnalyses

SurfaceCrystal - 3" thick

Goudge (Ref.7, p. 68.1 Writer Q) r I Mi.ddle Bottom 3'' thickaess

99.1% 97.1% 92.17% 99. % 1.75 .Ei NaHC03 0.49 "- 0.45 0.15 0.15 0.14 tr . Inso l. 0.27 Insol. 0.68 .E; (I) ChiefAssayer, Victoria.

Note: Recalculatedto 10% waterf.ree basis. The writer's samplecontained 51.3% water of crystallization as ana-

0-1' I 1" 3' 3'- 4' 1" 3' 3" 4' 81.8%90.85% 90--- :03% 0.83 , --- 0.47 0.430.47 0.54 "- -" "_ 0.33 0.15 0.16 0.17 $i 3.20 3.95 6.06 - Note: hnalysesrecalculated to 10% water freebasis. -Brine - 2 to 6 inches of brinecovered the crystal @ools inOctober 1924.. None was present in October1937, other than in a pit of unknown depth at the south end of the lake.

Analyses of Brine.Samples

Goudge (Ref. 7,Writer p. 75) "

1 2 3

Total Solids 25:8% 31.7% 28.N 33.356 Sp.G. 1.318 1.334 1.283

- 45 - Composition of Solids

MgSO4 - 80.95% 69.52% 76.56% 75.w: Mg(HC03)2 - 1.41 "" 0.29 iSa2SO4 - 16.30 26.64 21.10 24.5 ?IaC1 - 0.19 0.12 "" "" "" iizSO4 - "" "" 0.50 KC1 - 1.15 .3.72 1.55 ""

"" "" "" Xa2CO3 - "" Cas04 - "" "" "" tr.

1. Cornnositesample from 10 p,ools on surface of Basque XO. 1 - Oct.1924. 2. Large flow encountered, at depth 2 1/2 feet in pit in one of centralcrystal bowls - Basque No. 1. 3.Large spring encountered at depth of 8 feet in pit in mud nearcentre of Basque No. 1. 4. ?it at north end of lake. - Analyzedby Chief Assayer.

I Tonnage -.asstuning the averagedepth in Basque No. 1 dB- posit to be10 feet, .Goudge.estimates'the total quantity of sodiumand magnesium salts.abailable to be. about 64,800 tons. This may betaken as a minimum figure, insofar as theaverage depth of crystalprobably exceeds .lo feet. The top 3 feetin all the bowls is .principallyepsomite; on this basis the amount of practically pure epsomite'presentin' 1924 was 20,000 tons.

Basque .No,. 2 .. rJv" L Pk -Are&. - The pond covers,approximately '90,000 square feet of which 47;OOO is underlain.by.crysta1 "bowls" with their encircling mud rings.

Form of Crystal-Deposits - The crystal-massesa.re separated from each other by only a.fevr:'inches ,to, 1 1/2 feet. of mud. Theiraverage depth including 'mud layers is 5 1/2 feet, the deepest being slightly over 10 feet.,

Nature of the Crystals -:'Pits weredug without trouble frombrine inflow. 'The following is a typicalsection:

I 0 - 7" .' - Clean'tOpcrystal. 7" - l'l", ', .:,. -- Dark coiored; .compact crystal. 1'1" - 1'7".: C1ear;massive'cr.ysta1.

1'7'1 '-. 2' 9" :',., , . -' Mud ,and l0,os.e 'crystals.. 2 t 9'1- - 6 16" , ., - a&& &$E ::bry&@l. 6'6". - .9'' plus.- Black,Mud.

,. j, '~i,. ,, The top layer averages 1 foot :thick..and' cove'rs practically thewhole pond; it was deposited from solutionsdrained from Basque No. 1 to facilitate operations during the period this was worked.

Analyses

Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 70)

" 1 2 4 5 6 s "

MgS04 78.3% 93.9% 69.94% 63.39% 18.8% 65.84% Na2S04 18.96 4.62 35.82 28.038.61 29.1.0 NaHC03 0.56 0.50 0.60 0.49 0.08 0.83 Na2C03 0.63 0.03 "" tr . "" NaC 1 1.05 0.27 0.18 0.10 0.54 0.1.6 Cas04 tr . 0.44 tr . tr . 13.45 2.20 Insol.. 0.41 0.24 1.25 0.20 58.43 1.87

7 8 9 10 11

&904 63.28 5.4.55% 8.67% 94.7% 66.2% Na2SO4 32.64 '40.18 18.53 tr. 19.90 N~HCO~ 0.76 0.58 0.92 0.34 0.69 Na2C03 "" "" tr. -"- "" NaCl 0.14 0.17 0.13 0.05 0.48 Cas04 1.46 2.05 13.31 2.99 5.61 Insol. 1.72 2.47 58.44 1.83 "7.12

Note: Recalculatedto 10% water freebasis.

1. Hole No. 1 - Top crystal 2. Hole No. 1 - Crystal 3. Hole No. 1 - Crystal 4.Hole No. 1 - Crystal 5. Hole No. 1 - Mud 6. Hole No. 1 - Crystal 7. Hole No. 1 - Crystal 8.. Hole No. 1 - Crystal 9. Bole No. 1 - Mud 10. Hole No; 2 - Crystal 11. Hole No. 2 - Crystal Brine - In October1924, 2 to 6 inches of brine covered I_ the surface of the pond;about the same quantity was present in October1937.

- 47 - Anblyses of Brines - Goudge (Ref. 7, 2. 73)

Surface of Basque No." 2 Seepage into pits

T otal Solids Total 28.3% 3 + 21% Sp. Gr. 1 304 1 349

Compositionof Solids

73.54% 66.07% 20.37 30.07 1.34 ""

"" "" 0.27 0.21 4.45 3.65 Tonnage - Assuming theaverage depth to be 4 feet, Goudge estimatesthe amount of combined sodim andmagnesium salts in Basque No. 2 deposit to be 8500 tons.

Basque No. 3

1- -Area - The pond has an area of 90,000 square feet of which27,000 are covered with crystal bowlsand intervening mud rings.

Forms of Crystal-Deposi~ts- The "bowls" average30 feet in diameter and havean average depth of 3 feet.

Nature of the Crystal - .4 pit showed a clean top crystal- layer 3 inches thick, underlain by soft black mud 4 inches to 1 foot thick,followed by hardclean crystals composed principally of bloedite.

Analyses

Basque No. 3 - Goudge (Ref.7, p. 72)

1 2 3 4 5 6

MgSO4 98.79% 90.9% 95.1%53.64% 53.41% 55.24% Na2SO4 tr . 1.31 tr . 44.30 42.87 43.45 NaHCO3 0.79 1.46 0.P2 0.49 0.46 0,53 Na~C03 ---- 0.10 "" "" "" "" NaCl 0.10 0.11 0*12 0.14 0.06 tr. CaSO4 0.07 1.46 3.46 0.65 0.54 1.01 Insol. 0.25 0.43 4,70 0.78 0.83 1.60

- 48 - Note:Recalculated to 10% waterfree basis.

1. Top crystal - 0-3" 2. Crystal - 311-6'' 3.Hole No. 1 - Crystal 6"-1'6" 4.Hole No. 1 - Crystal1'6"-2'6" 5.Hole No. 1 - Crystal2'6"-3'6" 6. Hole No. 2 - Crystal 6"-1'6"

Brine

Analysis of surfacebrine - 1" Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 73)

T otal Solids Total - 26.7% Sp.G. - 1.301

Composition of Solids

M&O4 - ao. 56% Na2S04 - 17.64 Mg (He03 ) 2 - 0.05 NaCl - "" K.2304 - 0.39 KC 1 - 1.36 Tonnage - Assuming an averagedepth of 2 2/2 feet, Goudge estimates the pond to contain about 2000 tons of hydrous salts. wu -*b Basque No.. .4 -Area - About 1600 square feet covered by crystal. Form of crystal-deposits - The crystal-masses,.18 in number, range from 6 to 15 feet in diameterand 2 to 8 feet in depth..

Analyses Crystal - Goudge (Ref.: 7; p. 721 Hole No. 1 - 0 to 1 foot Hole No. 2

&SO4 70.6% 73.6% Na2S04 9.87 14.98 NaHCO3 1.11 1.19 NazCQ3 tr . "" NaCl 0.14 0.05 Cas04 3.53 1..14 Insol. 14.66 9.04 - 49 - Note:Recalculated to 10% waterfree basis.

Brine

Ana1.ysi.s of SurfaceBrine

1'' depth - Goudge (Ref.7, p. 73) To tal SolidsTotal - IS.Z% Sp.G. - 1.193

Composition of Solids

MgSO4 - 65.S3% Na2SO4 - 32.71 KZS04 - 0.48 KC1 - 1-38

Tonnage - Goudge estimatesabout 200 tons of mixedsodium andmagnesium salts present in Basque No. 4.

According to Goudge's estimates (Ref. 7, p. 73) themini- mum tonnage of crudehydrous salts, chieflyepsomite and bloedite, in the Basque depositsin 1924 was as follows:

Basque No. 1 - Epsomite - 20,'OOO tons Combined sodium and Magnesium salts - 44,800tons Basque No. 2 - Combined sodium andMagnesium salts - 8,500tons Basque No. 3 - Combined Sodium and Magnesium salts - 2,000 tons Basque No. 4 - Combined Sodium and Magnesium salts - 200 tons

Total 75,500 tons

About2300 tons of surface crystal was shipped to Vancou- ver duringthe period from 1919 to 1923'. The deposits lay idle from1924 to 1933, At least 3000 tons more was removed from1934 to 1937,and approximately 2400 tons of this refined andsold.

Kamloops Artia

Several small lakes (Nap 3, No: 7), on the rolling pla- $t+jOteau surfacenorth of Kamloops and west of theNorth Thompson River, contain concentrated br'ines in whichmagnesium'suli phatepredominates. One of these,about 6 miles from Kam-

- 50 - loops,contained brine of thefollowing composition: (1)

Brine Sample - (October,.1937) TotalSolids - 20.8% Sp.G. at 16 deg. C. - 1.1895

Composition of Solids - 84.% - 14.7 - 1.0 - .2 - tr .

(1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria

The lake,slightly over 2 acresin'area, occupies a sharpbasin-like depression. The depth of brinein the' oentreprobably exceeds 5 feet. The quantity of salts in solution is approximately 800 tonsper foot depth. The only crystal noted was in theform of thin films of interlocking epsomitecrystals occupying depressions along the shore.

Anothersmall lake about 1 1/2 miles to'the south was sampled. The brineanalysis was asfollows: (1)

T otal SolidsTotal - 6.0% Sp.G. at 16 deg. C. - 1.049

Composition .of Solids

&SO4 - 65.0 Na2S04 - 31.0 NaZC05 - 1..4 NaC 1 - tr . caso4 - 2.4

(.1) ChiefAssayer, Victoria!

The area in which the lakes occur is underlainby argillite,quartzite, and limestone of thelower Cache Creek Series.

Osoyoos Area

Spotted Lake Deposit

The Spotted Lake depositoccurs in a lakecovering ap-- proximately 20 acres,situated near the summit of Richte'r'a

- 51 - Passabout 6 miles fromOsoyoos. The Osoyoos-Similkameen Road is about a quarter of a mile to the north.

The region traversed by Richter.'s Pass is rolling to mountainous,the summits of 3ichter andKruger Mountains, on thenorthwest and southeast respectively, being over 4500 feetin elevation. Precipitation is light,averaging only 8 inches a year at Oliver, 10 miles to the north:

On the north and west of thelake ocours (Map B5A with G,S.C: Mem. No. 38) a complex of schists and basicintrusives, on the east metamorphosedsediments intruded by granodiorite, and on thesouth nepheline syenite.

~ . When examinedby thewriter in June 1938 thelake was coveredwith 6 to 8 inches of brine.Insofar as this pre- eludedfurthe.r investigation, the following description is quoted from a reportby Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 78)

"The crystal in thislake occurs in the sane bowl- like formation that characterizes the ot.her magnesium sulphate deposits in British Columbia.

"The crystal-bowlsoccupy from 50 to 60 percent of thearea of thelake bed. In size they vary from 20 to 80 feet in diameter,and average about 3 1/2 feet in depth:

"The encircling mud rings are raised 4 inches to 1 1/2 feet above the crystal level and the mud which is darkin color., contains numerous crystals of gypsum. The analyses of two samples of this mud show it to contain 70 to 80 per cent calcium sulphate."

Thenexamined by Goudge about 4 inches of brine covered the lake; it was thereforeimpossible to dig p'its for the purpose of obtainingsamples. A number of "bowls" were tested for depth. He notesthat down to 2 feetthe crystal-deposit was hard but from there to the bottom it was comparatively soft. The surfacelayer, about 2 inchesthick, was very clean.

Analyses of the surface crystalsfollow:

- 52 - Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 781

"" "" 0 .15 0.14 0.15 0.22

Insol. 0.36 0.46 0.18 0.26 . 2.44

The samples 1 to 5 representsurface crystals from "bowls"; To. 6 is from the interior of one of thestock piles on theshore.

The followinganalysis of surfacecrystals, as harvested commercially when the deposit was worked,.was furnished throughthe oourtesy of Chas.Newall, of Seattle. - 57 :58% Na22.04 - 42.38% Alkalinity - nil c1 tr . Note:Recalculated to lo@ waterfree basis. Analysis as furnishedcontained 40..2% water of crystallization.

Goudge estimates the lake to containapproximately 50,000 tons of hydrous salts of magnesiumand sodium.'

Acc.ording to records about 1500 tons of crystal were taken from Spotted Lake' between 1915 and 1919and shipped to Oroyille,Washington, 12 miles aistant, for refining and sa1.e. $mars

The more importantsodium carbonate, 'sodium sulphate', and magnesium sulphate deposits of British Col.umbi+ are listed below with pertinent data..

- 53 - Sodium Carbonate

I Estimated mnage Sodium Deposit .flef. Total Salts Carbonate " ~ 83 gile L. Map 2, No:'l Brine 1,100 1,000 ,I Goodenough L. NO.' 4 Eduddy, permanent 10,000 3,000 crystals Liberty L. I, No. 7 Brine and Xinter- crystal 1,800 1,500 Rob and Nan L. 11 No. 9 Brine 3,000 2,600 Last Chance L.. It No.: 10 Permanent crystals 70,000 17,500 Margaret L. n NO.. 11 Brineand 'Minter- crystal 900 850 Anita Le, 1, No. 12 Brine and Ninter- crystal '3,200 3,000 Lela -Le I1 No. 12 Brine 600 550 mite-Blephant I It No. 14 Brine 2,050 2,000 Rose L.' It No. 15 Brine 8,500 6,500 :HuD'chison L: 11 No. 17 Brine 13,000 12,500 Lake No, 1 Map 3, No: 1 Permanent crptals 100,000 20,000 SoapLake Map 5, Brine and Winter- crystal 14.69(1926)45,000 40,000 I t (1926) Approximate total salts - 257,150 n " sodium carbonate - 103,000 Table (continued) Sodium Sulphate I EstimatedTonnage 3I Occurrence Carbonate

Nap 3, No. 2 Permanent "" 150,000 = 60,000 rronMask Lake Ehap 3, No. 5 Fermanent "" 53,000 = 20,000 Lake No. '4 c No. 4 Brine 11.67% 3,000 1,000

I Auuroximate total salts - 203,000 cn 'I sodium sulphate - 81,000 cn I I _____I_____ Magnesium Sulphate Magnesium ulphate

Basque Dqosits Map 4 Permanent crystal "" Epsomite 20,000 10,000 I 55,500 25,200 Spotted Lake Permanent crystal "" 50,000 13,000 Clinton Lake Map 2, NO. 18 Brine 13.97Mixrd (1924) 8,000 6,000(19: Lake No. 7 Map 3, No. 7 Brine - 4,000 3,400 20.8% Approximate total salts - I 137,500 1 I lagnesium sulphate - 57,600 ..

History and Development

The soda lakes of the Green Timbe-r Plateauwere first reported. upon' in 1897(Ref. 8, p. 11R). At that time winter- crystal was known to form only in Goodenough and Last Chance Lakes.These were staked in 1897and natronharvested from theformer during the winter of 1897-98. No furtherinterest was taken,however, until war-time prices gave encouragement to the exploitati.on of localsoda deposits. Marga.ret, Anita, 'White Elephant,Rose, and Rob' and Nan Lakes were sWkea from 1916 to 1921,and two small plantsinStalled for $he purpose of producingsoda ash. No commercialproduction Was made, al- thoughwinter-crystal was shipped. A more ambitiousbut fu-. tile attempt to dehydrate the pernkinent crystal-deposit of Last ChanceLake was made in 1924; In thesame'year Lela and HutchisonLakes were staked. A dehyd-ratingplant was erected at WhiteElephant Lake in 1926, and a secondone in 1928: Al- togetheronly 2 c.arloads of sodaash were shipped before operationswere permanently suspended. In 1929 a plant was built at Last ChanceLake butdid not operate commercially.

In1930 Lake No. 1 (Kamloops) was staked, a boiler and pumping equipmentinstal.led, and exploratory workdone. From 1931 to 1935regular shipments of natronwere made.

For the last tenyears small but regular annual shipments of' wbntek-crystal.qr natron have been made by operators in'the GreenTimber Plateau area; no furtherdevelopments have been attempted..

As far as can be asoertained From old records, a total of 7750 tons Of' natron, valued at approxiaately $70,000 has beenproduced and sold from soda lakes in the GreenTimber' Plateau and Kamloops areas:

A brief summary of the dehydrating plants erected a$ :&he more 'important lakes is presented.

Last Chance,Lake (Map 2, No, 10)

1923 - Owners - Lillooet Soda Company Other Deposits. held - Goodenough and Rob and Nan Lakes..

Dssaription of' P.s Quotedfrom report by Goudge (Ref.6, p. 96)

"During that summer (1923)the Lillooet Soda 'Com- pany erected several substantial log buildings at this

- 56 - "lake and the first unit of a small plant designed to producesoda ash was built: The unitconsisted of a horizontal fire-tube boiler with a portion of the outer shell removedon one side, and a steel box or sump rivetted to the side where the shell was cut away. The proposed method of operating the plant was to fill the boiler and sump with brine (obtained either direct from thela.ke or by dissolving the muddy crystal, let- ting it settle, andsiphoning off theclear brine), and then to concentrate the brine by evaporation until the monohydratedropped out. Rakes fastened to an endless chain were constantly in motion in the sump andwere supp0se.d to set up currents in the brine that would sweep the monohydrate crystals into the sump as they wereformed, from.where they could be discharged by tKe rakes. It didnot work satisfactorily." -1929 - Owners - B. C. Chemical Co. Other deposits held - Rob and Nan Lake. Description of Plant - Quotedfrom Report of the Minister of Mines for British Columbia,1929 (Ref. 3, p. 230)

"A plantoapable of handling an estimatedoutput of 1.5 tonsan hour has been erected, the scheme of tr'eatmentbeing briefly as follows: The salt which at the present time is being dugby hand from the encrus- tedsurface of thedried-up lake, is delivered byan incline conveyor to a dissolving and cleaning tank. Thistank is a'steel punt-shaped receptable 30 feet long and 5 feet 6 inchesin diameter, in which a travel- ling link-belt is fitted.. Heat is appliedto the bottom of this receptacle by steam-coils by means of which the crystal is liquefied, and the suspended mud is withdrawn on the Slowly-travellingbelt, being elevated above the surface of theliquid. The clarifiedsolution is pumped to three storage tanks, in whichthe temperature requi- site for maintaining s'olution is maintained by exhaust steam,and is withdrawnby a high-pressure pump andde- livered in an atomizedcondition through sprays into a cyclone-typeevaporator. This evaporator is inthe form of an asbestos-coveredsteel inverted cone having a maximum diameterof 30 feet and 28 feet in height.

"Furnacegases from an oil-feed furnace adapted with Ray steamturbine oil-feed are introduced through anannular passage at the top of theevaporator; a thor-

.. - 57 - "ough admixture of the whole content, together with a swirlingmotion, is provided by a central exhaust througha pipe submerged to adepth of several feet .in theapparatus.

.''The exhaust is maintained. by a fan by. which the gasesand vapours are delivened to asecond smaller evaporator which is .introduced for the purpose' of catch- ing a 'proportion of the pulverized soda-ash which is carried off in the first operation,

'!The soda-ash which is 'dessicated and pulverized is theevaporator at a temperature of'. approximately 600 de- pees F. accum6lates in thebottom of the cone and is'' withdrawn by ablower, and together' with that recovered from the second evaporator is delivered to astorage silo in marketable form. "

The results obtained from the plant described above were not satisfactory.

WhiteElephant Lake (Map 2, No. 14) -1926 - Owners - J. 8. Coulsonana Sons OtherDeposits - RoseLake Description of Plant

No details of the plant erected in 1926 are available othe'r than that it hada daily capacity of 20 tons. -1928 - Owners - Dominion.Soda Producers; Ltd.+ OtherDeposits - Rose, Anita, and other lakes. Description of Plant

Details of theprocess eriployed are not on record.: It was proposed to dehydrate natron,. a ,sufri@ientqn$intkty being harvested ill the form of winter-brystal during the winter' months to supply the 'plant for the year at the 'rate of 45 tons perday;' Most of theequipment had been removed at the time of the writer's visit in 1937 except for 40 by 6 foot rotary drier.This, it'is understood,.wasused for the actual dehydration 9f the natron.. To what extent the ,plant was a~suc- oess is not known: onlya small amount of soda-ashwas ac-~ tually prepared,-.however, before the operation was permanently discont.i.nued.

- 58 - Anita Lake (Map 2, No. 12) -1918 - Owners - PacificCoast Contractors, Ltd. OtherDeposits - no data. Description of Plant

Quotedfrom Report by Goudge (Ref. 6, p. 96)

"The plant of thePacific Coast Contractors consisted of a largesheet-iron, evaporating pan 43 by14 feetin plan, and 3 feet deep,with sloping sides. The lake brine was pumped into the pan and thereconcen- trated by boiling. The heat was supplied by wood fuel. The hot concentrated brine was piped to crystallizing tanks,where, on cooling,crystal was deposited. The intention was to producesodium carbonate crystal and then to calcine this to soda-ashbut the ash furnace was nevererected. Difficulties in evaporation and crystallization werethe cause for the plant shutting down late in 1918 and operationswere never resumed by this company. "

Goodenough Lake (Map 2, No. 4)

1922-23 - Owners - Lillooet Soda Co., Ltd. OtherDeposits - Last Chance and Rob and Nan Lakes. Description of Plant.

A small evaporating and crystallizing plant, similar in principle to that built at Anita Lake, was tried but was not successful,

Lake No. 1 (Map 3, No. 1) -1929 - Owners - C. W. Austin and A. C. Knowles OtherDeposits - Lake No. 2 (Map 3) Description of plant

Boiler andpuqping equipment was installed and a steam drill used to explore the crystal-deposit.

In 1930the recovery process consisted of dissolving the permanent crystalsby steam, pumping the solution to a settling tank to remove muddy impurities, and recrystallizing the sodium carbonate in the form of natron.

Sodium Sulphate

No sodium sulphate is known to havebeen produced com-

- 59 - merciallyfrom natural deposits in British Columbia..Lake No. 2 (Map.3) was staked prior to 1923but very little eqplor- atory work was done until 1929.In thht year pits were dug and thedeposit drilled. There havebeen no further develop- men'ts - Iron Mask Lake was staked prior to 1932and a little drilling a&. exploratory work carried out in the winter of 1932-33.. La& .No. 3 was stakedin 1932..

Eagnes-ium Su.lphate

Epsomite was first produced comnercially in Br.itish Col- umbia duringthe early war years.Since then production has beenintermittent.. To dateover 7000 tons of crudeepsomite hasbeen refined and sold, approximately 2800 tons of which was shippedbetween 1915 and 1920.

Spotted Lake was first worked in 1915and shipments of crude salts were made annuallyuntil 1919. In 1918both Clin- ton Lakeand the Basque depositswere developed and epsomite produ'ced unti1.1920from the former and1922 from the latter. Production from the Basque deposits was renewed in 1934and hascon'tinued until the present.

A brief summary of therecovery methods used at the three deposits follows.

Spotted Lake

1915-1920 - Owners - Stewart-Calvert Co., Oroville, Wash. Description of Methodsand Plant

Crystal-slabs-were dug from the lake by pick andshovel, taken ashore in whee'lbarrows" over plank runwaysand shipped to the Company's refinery at Orotille by truck.

The following description of the refining,process is quoted from the Annual Report of the Minister of Mines for British Columbia,1918 (Ref. 1, p. 213). "The processfor treating,the salts is as follows: First the raw product, a crystalline salts dug,fromthe lake, is dissolvedin tanks by'means of steam 'from thencethe liquid salts passthrough.launders into the evaporating-tanks,,where it i.s brought to a certain density;' then run into other tanks lined with cement (magnesite), where it is cooledand recrystallized; the li-

- 60 - "quid remainingbeing drawn off and pumped back into the boilingtank for further treatment. The crystalsare then put through a Watson Laidlaw dryer with a 2-inch baskethaving a capacity of 15 tonsevery ten hours. Af- ter this preliminary drying the crystals pass through EL chute into a rotary circular dryer; 25. feet long by 4 feetin width, which revolves frDm eight to ten times a minute. The screens at the diqdharge end havemeshes varyingfrom 1/2 x 1/16 to 3/32 x 1/2 inch.Directly outside the discharge end of the screen are a set of steam-coils so placedthat the fan draws the hot air overthe revolving salts. The temperature is keptbe- low 80 degrees, so that the salts will notmelt.

"Two grades of these salts are shipped,the finer crystalsbeing used for medicinal purposes, whilst the coarser ones are used for tanning leather."

Crude epsomitefrom Spotted Lake, Clinton Lakeand Epsom Lake, a small lake onKruger Mountain, 2 1/2 miles north of Oroville,were treated in this plant. .It is understoodthat the use of Spotted Lake material was largely restricted to the tanningindustry owing to its relatively high content of sodium sulphate.

Clinton Lake. (Map 2, No. 18)

1918-1920 - Owners - Stewart-Calvert Co., Oroville, Wash. Description .of Methodsan6 P.laht

Crystal-slabswere dug by pickand shovel from beneath the few inches: of covering brine, transported to the shore bywheelbarrow over plank runways., sun-dried,broken by wooden mallet.and screened through 1/4 inch mesh and shipped to Oro- ville where the less pure material was refined. .. The plant at Orovillehas been described in the previous section..

Basque Deposits (Map 5).

1917-18 - The depositswere staked and smallshipments made.

1919-~22 - Owners - BasqueChemical Go. Description of Methodsand Plaht

Quotedfrom report by Goudge (Ref. 7, p. 75) "Crude surfacecrystal from Basque No, 1 was shipped to Vancouverand thereprepared for market. The company erected at the deposits 15 or 20 wooden buildings includ- inga.number of comfortabledwelling houses for their worben. A largebuilding intended as mill was also er-ectedbut very..'little machinery was %nstalled. Opera- tions ceased"in 1923> after 2,300 tons .Of crystal had beenremoved from the surface"of Basque. No.. 1.:.

"The top crystal on Basque No. 1 was very pure when operationswere first begun,but has since been contam- inated.' It was dug out of thevarious bowlsby means of picks,crowbars, and shovels and taken ashore in carts. As the market warranted,shipments of the crudecrystal were made to the company's refining plant in Vancouver where it was prepared for the market, the major part of the material, however,was storedin two sheds and in a large storage pile on theshore of thedeposit....

"The epsomiteshipped to Vancouver onlyneeded to be freed from the small amount of mud that was mixed with it, toprovide, according to the company's state- ment, Epsom salt over 98 percent pure."

In the refinery at Vancouver the crude went to a dissolving tank thence to settling and crystallizing tanks,' the moth- er liquorbeing kept in circulation. The epsomite was dried andscreened to three grades.

1934-1938 - Owners - Epsom Refineries Ltd. Description of Methodsand Plant

Crude crystal was takenfrom Basque No, 1 to the com- panyfs refinery at Ashcroftby trucks. Here it was dissolved and recrystallized to remove nuddy impurities,dried and screened.Three grades were marketed and the plant had a capacity of 10 tonsper day. The material was mined duringthe summer, a sufficient supply being accumulated for refining during the fall and winter.

1938-39 - Operationsceased in the spring of 1938 but refining was recomnenced by a new company, hshcroft Epsom Salts Co., Winnipeg, in the autumn of 1938 and was carried on during the winter of 1938-39.

Transportation

Data respecting transportation are listed in thefollowing table.

- 62 - Shipping Point kpprox.Cistance Deposit Ref. & itailway to Shipping Doint

83 Mile L. Map 2, NO.. 1 70 Mile Stn., P.G.E. 13 miles by the Cariboc Iiighway. Goodenough and Safety L. No. 4 Chasm, P.G.E. 22 miles by fair road.

Liberty L. No. 7 5 miles poor road Chasm, P .G:E. 9 miles good road

Snow >mite L. No. 8 Chasm,F.G.E. 1 mile poor road. 13 miles fair road.

I Rob and Nan. and Nos. I 9 Last Chanoe L. Be 10 Chasm, P. G.E. 12 miles fair road. wa f Margaret L. No. 11 70,Mile Stn.,P..G.E. 4 miles poorroad.

Anita and'Lela L. No. 12 70 FdileStn.,P.G.E. 4 miles poor road.

mite Elephant L. No. 14 Coulson, P.G.E. 1/4 mile~poor road.

Rose L. No. 15 Coulson, P.G.E. none

Hutchison L. No. 17 70 MileStn., P.G.E. 6 miles byabandoned road.

jsoap I;. Map 5 Spences Bridge;' C.P.R. 7 miles pack trail. Shipping Point Approx. Distance Deposit Ref. & Railway to Shipping Point

ske No. 1 Map 3, No. 1 Kamloops, C.P.R. or 12miles good road,coultl C.N.R. be handled by aerial tram to C.P.B. 1/2 to 3/4 mi. distance.

arnes L. Map 3 Kamloops., C.P.E. or 17 miles goodroad-- C.N.R. 3 miles to VernonBranch C.N.R.

&e No. 2 Map 3, No. 2 Kamloops, C.P.2. or 13 miles gaodroad. S.N.R. - aqrial tram

I could be used as men- m tioned for Lake No; 1 tp I ron Mask L. Map 3, NO. 5 Kamloop, C.P.R. or 6 miles goodroad.. C.N.R.

potted L. Oliver, C.N.R. 12 rr.iles fair road,

linton Lake Hap 2, NO. 18 Clinton, P.G.E. 1 mile good road.

asque Dep. Map 4 Basque, C.N;R. 3 roiles fair road--12 miles to plant at Asliccioft. Origin of Deposits

It is beyond the scope of the present report to deal with the many theoretical factors relating to the origin of the sa- linelakes of British Columbia. The origin of similar deposits elsewherehas been discussed (see GeneralBibliography) by Cole,Chatard, Wells, Clarke, Bayley, and others. In general the salts areoonsidered to have been derived originally from theleaching of rocksor soil, to havebeen carried into un- drainedbasins by surfaceor sub-surface drainage, and there concentrated through evaporation.

The followinggeneralizations are included for the sake of interest:

Sodium Carbonate Deposits

1. A11 the known sodalakes of British Columbia in which sodium carbonate is theonly important constituent, occur :in relatively arid regions underlain by Tertiary basaltic lava flows

2. The lakesoccupy small shallow depressions in glacial drift.

3. Springs occur on theshorelines of four of the soda lakes. The water ineach is a dilutesolution of sodium carbonateand other salts althoughthree are potable. The ori- fice of one is in a low mound of calcareous tufa.

4. In generalall lakes-in the areas under discussion show evidenceof having stood at a considerably higher.leve1 within fairly recent time.

5. Onlytwo of thepurer soda lakes are known to contain depositsof permanent crystal. The reminder,although havingdiminished in volume in everycase since 1919 and 1924, contain brines little or no more concentratedtoday than at thosetimes. In brief there has been a definitedecrease in the total quantity of salts in solution in the soda lakes of British Columbia without corresponding deposits of permanent crystalhaving formed.

6. Xinter-crystal formed inonly two lakes in 1898, i:n at leastseven in 1924,and in only 3 in 1937.

Sodium and Magnesium Sulphates

1. Lakes in which magnesium sulphatepredominates are

- 65 - confined to areas underlain by rocks of the lwer CacheCreek series(argillite, quartzite, and limestone).Deposits in whichsodium sulphate is the major constituent occur in areas in whichgreenstone and diorite predominate.

References

Ref. 1 - Report of Minister of Mines for British Columbia, 1918. Ref. 2 - Report of Minister of Mines for British Columbia, 1922.

Ref. 3 - Report of lvlinister of Mines for British Columbia, 1929.

Ref. 4 - Report of Minister of Mines for British Columbia, 1930.

Ref. 5 - L.H. Cole - Sodium Carbonate at Eoap Lake, B. C. Investigations of MineralResources and the Mining Industry,1926, Mines Branch No. 687, Dept. of Mines, Ottawa.

Ref. 6 - M.F. Goudge - SodiumCarbonate in British Columbia. Investigations of Mineral Resources and the Mining Industry, 1924, MinesBranch No. 642,Dept. of Mines, .Ottawa.

Ref. 7 - M.F. Goudge - Magnesium Sulphate in British Columbia. Investigations of MineralResources and the Mining Industry, 1924, MinesBranch 80, 642, Dept, of Mines, Ottawa . Ref. 8 - Boffmann - GeologicalSurvey of Canada,Annual Report, vol. XI, 1898. Pt. R.

Ref. 9 - L. Reinecke - MineralDeposits between Lillooet and Prince George, British Columbia. Msm. 118, GeologicalSurvey of Canada,1920.

- 66 - CHAPTER 2

Technoloa andUses of Sodium

and Magnesium Salts Mineralogy and Origin

Sodium Carbonate

The compound sodium carbonate does not occur in nature but is obtained by the dehydrationof one of its hydrates of which at least three areknown. Pure sodium carbonate contains 58.49 per cent NaZO and 41.51% GO2.

Sodium Monohydrate - Wa2C03.H20 - Mineral name Thermonatrite

Na20 - 50.0% . co2 - 35.4% Hz0 - 14.6%

Sp.G. - 1.5 to 1,6 : Hardness - 1 to 1.5

Occurrence - efflorescence on soil and around lakes in Egypt, Eungary, Califcrnia, etc. Encrustation on lava from Vesuvius.

Properties - the monohydrate is the stable solid phase in aqueous solution.above 32.5 deg. C. It is less soluble at higher temperatures than around33 deg. so that on heat- ing a saturated solution, crystalsof the monohydrate are precipitated and redissolve on cooling. It does not melt when heated, but loses its combined water between87 and 100 deg. C., forming a pulverulent mass. Cn exposure it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, and also carbon dioxide to form the sesqui-carbonate,

Sodium Decahydrate- Na2CO3.lOH2O - Mineral name Natron

Ita20 - 21.6% CO2 - 15.37% E20 - 62.94% Sp.0. - 1.42 to 1.47 - Hardness - 1 to 1.5 Occurrence - in many soda lakes. Properties - the decahydrate is the stable solid phase in aqueous solution below 32.5 deg.C. It fuses at approximately 34 deg., yielding a solution from which the monohydrate is precipitated.

Sodium heptahydrateis not knownto occur naturally. It has been.preparedby cooling the liquid obtained by heat-

- 68 .. ing the decahydrate to its melting point,. or by cooling a hot saturated solution at a temperature lower than that at which crystals of the monohydratedcarbonate are formed and higher than that at which the decahydrated carbonate is formed.

Trona - Na~G03. NaHCO3.2H20 - Sodium sesquicarbonate Occurrence - Searles and Owens Lakes,etc. P.roperties - Trona has been obtained synthetically by re- moving carbondioxide fromsodium bicarbonate in solution throughthe addition of sodiumhydroxide or sodiumcarbonate, and crystallizing at about.35 deg:; by thespontaneous evaporation of a solution of sodium carbonatewhich had been exposed to the air for some time and therebyabsorbed carbon dioxide. It hasalso been obtained from the ammonia-soda process,and by the evaporation of certainlake brines. In generaltemperatures below 35 degrees are not favourable to 'theformation of trona; the crystals develop better in a sodium chloridesolution; and excess of thenormal carbonate favours its development.

!la20 - 41.2% co2 - 38.5% 19.9% H2O - Sodium Bicarhonate - NaJJCO3

Na2O - 36.94% e02 - 52. Y6$ 10.7% 820 - Sp.GF. - 2.163 to 2.22 0ccur.rence - Directproduct of theSolvay Process; in alkaline spring waters; in associationwith normal carbons.te as trona; but not alone as sodium bicarbonate.

Pr.operties - All solutions of sodiumcarbonate in contact with carbon dioxide contain a proportion of the bicarbonate. The salt', sodium bicarbonateloses carbon dioxide rapidly to the air if exposed in a moistcondition. Solu- tionsof the bicarbonate are stable only in an atmosphere con- tainingan excess of carbondioxide.

- 69 - Solubility - per cent in water

0 deg, C. 5 10 20 25 IJaHCO3 6.9% 7.45% 8.15% 9.6% 10.35%

30 40 50 60 ll.:l% 12.;5% 14.45% 16..4%

Sodium carbonatealsb forms a number of double and triple salts, some of whichoccur naturally. Most important are Pirssonite (CaC03.Na2C03. 2H20); Gay-Lussite (CaC03. Na2CO3. 5H20), Tychite(2~GC03. ZNa2CO3:'NR2S04), Northupite (MgC03. Na~C03.NaCl), Burkeite (Na2S04.Na2C03), etc.

Natronoccurs as winter-crystal, and in deposits of permanent crystal,in the soda lakes of British Columbia. Wheth- er other sodium compounds describedare present is-unknown. Accuratemoisture determinations on thesanples were impossible in view of the considerable elapsed time between their taking and analysis, with consequentnatural dehydration.

Sodium Sulphate

Unlikesodium carbonate, sodium sulphate occurs natural- lyin the anhydrous form (thenardite, Na2S04). The decahy- dratenirabilite (Na2SO4. lOHzO), however, is more common. Sodium sulphate - Na2SO4 - Mineral name Thenardite

NaZO - 43.68% . 56.32% so3 - Sp.'G. - 2.6% Hardness - 2.5

Occurrence - In some crystal deposits in the Western UnitedStates and elsewhere; also as surfacelayer on mirabilite due to dehydration.

Properties - Depositedfrom saturated solutions above a temperature of 33 deg.. C. Hydrates on exposureto air. Very solu6le :in water.

Decahydrate or Glauber'ssalt - Na2SO4. lOH20 Mineral name -Mirabilite

Na2O - 19.3% 24. %% so3 - H20 - 55 :% Sp.G. - 1.48Hardness - 1...5 to 2 - 70 - Occurrence - Common form in which sodium sulphate occurs in Canada and the northern United States.

hoperties - Deposited from saturated solutions below a temperature of 33 dec. C. Dehydrates on exposure to air. Dissolves in its own water of crystallization above33 deg.C. Very soluble, and solubility increases with temperatureto a maximum of 33 deg.C.

The heptahydrate is not knownto occur in nature although it has been prepared artificially. Other combinedor mixed salts in which sodium sulphateis an important constituent are listed below.

Bloedite - Na2S04. MgSO4. 4H20

Na2S04 - 42.5% bg~04 - 35.0 H 20 - 21.5

Glauberite - Na2S04. Cas04

Na2S04 - 51. ?% Cas04 - 48.9% Aphthitalite - (Na,K)2S04

usuallyNazSOq - 21 to 38% K2SO4 - 62 to ?8%

Hanksite - 9Na2SO4, 2Na2C03. KC1

Na2S04 - 81.7% Na2C03 - 13.5 KC 1 - 4.8%

Loeweite - ZNazSO4. ZMgSO4. 5B20 NaZS04. - .46.3% M~SO~ - 39.1 HZ0 - 14..? Other combinations withiron, aluminium, etc., are known.

Magnesium Sulphate

Two hydrates of magnesium sulphate occur naturally,i.e., epsomite (MgS04. 7H20) and kieserite (@SO4. €90). The first is the conmonform, the latter being relatively rare apart

- 71 - from certainspecific deposits, notably those of Stassf'urt, Germany.

MgO - .16.3$ so3 - 32.5% E20 - 51.2% Kieserite - MgSO4. H20 - Relativelyinsoluble salt. Ep- somite is verysoluble and is thesalt normally deposited from magnesium sulphatesolutions. Epsomite is more solublethan mirabilite.

Commercial Possibilities

The economic value of the sodiumcarbonate, sodium sulphate,and magnesium sulphatedeposits of British Columbia dependsupon their amenability to cheapproduction of thevarious sodiumand magnesium productsfor which there is a local demand.

Only a very small proportion of the sodium carbonateand sodium sulphate consumed in the world is derivedfrom natural deposits,the rest being manufactured from other materials or recovered as by-productsfrom various industrial processes. A fairly large part of theworld's epsomite consmption is derived from natural deposits of magnesiumsulphate; the remainder, however, is made.orrecovered from other sources.

Insofar as production is worldwide, Provincial deposits canonly be expected to supply relatively local markets, and these only if productioncosts are sufficiently low to allow competition with imported products.

Sourcesand Uses

Sodium Carbonate

The mostimportant sodium carbonate products for commer- cia1 use are sodaash, sal soda, and sodium bicarbonate.Soda ash dr calcined sodium carbonate, is widelyused industrially, its more importantapplications being in the manufacture of glass,various chemicals, soaps and cleansing compounds, pulp and-paper,water softening compounds, etc.

It is also employed by metallurgical, tanning, textile,, dyeing,and. paint.industries.. Sal soda, washing soda, or sodium decahydrate (Na2CO3. lOH20) is more solublethan soda ash,

- 72 - as well as beingpurer in general than commercial soda ash. Its main use is in the preparation of 'washing compounds, but it may alsoreplace soda ash for certainpurposes. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHC03) is used principally in baking powder and medicines. Its industrialapplications are few,

Natural

Lake deposits of sodiumcarbonate, either dry or contxin- ing concentrated brines, are found in many parts of the arid regions of theTestern' United States. Natural soda has been producedcommercially from lakesin California, Wyoming, Ne- vada,and Washington; presentproduction is restricted to Searles and Owens Lakes inCalifornia. Similar deposits, for- the most partunexploited, are found in East Africa,South Africa,Egypt, Venezuela, Chile, ?em, Armenia,Hungary, Rlls- sia, Spain, Germany, India,etc.

Production of sodium carbonate in British Columbia is confined to recovery of natron or winter-cryktal, which in its naturalform is sufficiently pure to meetcommeroial stand- ards for salsoda. The winter-crystalforms with the coming of coldweather in the autumn.During .the winter it is broken intorectangular slabs with bars, mud or iceare scraped off, and theslabs piled along the shbse. In the summer ii; is shippedto Vancouver for use by soap bompanies. No soda ash or sodiumbicarbonate is made in the Province.

The onlyproduction of natural sodium carbonate in the UnitedStates is from Searles and Owens Lakes in California. These are large. lakes containing concentrated solutions of sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate,borax, and other salts. Four companies, two oneach lake, recover a variety of productsincluding, soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, andtrona, as well as salt cske,borax, and potash salts. The .?allowing processes' are, or, have been used.

Owens Lake

Quotjng Ladoo (Xef. 14, p. 568)

"Manufacture of Trona. Owens Lake.brine is evapor-. ated in shallow solar ponds to the saturation point of trona in thebrine, at which point the brine is drawn into smaller ponds in which further solar evaporation Will crystallizetrona (Na2C03. NaHCO3. 2H20). The end point is reached with the saturation in common salt, after which the brine is drawn off and replaced with fresh solar-evaporatedbrine. The trona forms a hard,solid

- 73 - "crust on the bottom of the pondsand is taken upby hand atthe end of theevaporating season. Calcining of trona will yieldsoda ash containing about 95 per cent sodium carbonate;Trona is one of thecheapest alkaline materials known, and as skh has a number of industrial uses.

"Manufacture of Soda ash. The processused by the Cslifornia Alkali Company is similar in many respects to the ammonia-soda process, the main difference being that no ammonia is used., Owens Lake brine is subjected to solar evaporation until the saturation of trona in thebrine is reached,.Further solar evaporation would result in the precipitation of trona,which is notde- sirablein this instance. The brine at thispoint is pumped to the plant and after careful filtration treated with carbonic acid gas,the latter being generated by burninglime stone with coke. The sodium carbonate of the brine is convertedby the action of the carbonic acid gasinto bicarbonate, which, as soon as its saturation in the brine is reached, will be precipitated as a white powder and is separatedby filtration.. A small quantity of this bicarbonate is dried at low temperaturesand marketedas crude bicarbonate of soda. This material is used for fire extinguishers as well as in certain cleansers and for sapstain.

"The bulk of thebicarbonate, however, is converted to soda ash by calcining in a rotaryf'urnace, in whichprocess water and carbonic acid gas are driven off, the latter to be used over again in the carbonat- ingprocess. It will beunderstood that the reaction which is takingplace is exactlythe reverse of thepre- vious reaction.

"The product of this calcining process is light sodaash. Certain industries like glass making, pre- fer a heavierash, which is manufacturedby subjecting light ash to a secondcalcining process.' The product of thisoperation is so-calleddense ash."

Although the plant to which the above description refers hasdiscontinued operations, the general process is similar to those used today.

Searles Lake

The followingprocess, used at Searles Lake is described byWells (Ref. 16, p. 745):

- 74 - "Inoutline it (theprocess; consists in evapor- atingthe brine in multiple-effect evaporators in which thesalts NaC1, Na2S04, andNa~C03 separate, the last two as thedouble salt burkeite, Na~C03. Na2S04. The resultingsolution is allowed tosettle, then cooled quicklyto deposit potassium chloride, and the.remaining solution is agitated with air and slightly acidified to depositborax Na2B407. 10H2O.

"Further recrystallization of .the first three salts yieldsthe separate products Na2C03 and Na2S04."

A comprehensivedescription of the recovery of borax and soda ash from Searles Lakeby another method is givenby Hel.1- mers(Ref. 12, p.4). The followingabstract is quoted:

"The brine as pumped fromthe lake is treated with carbondioxide gas,.whereby the normal carbonate of soda is convertedto the bicarbonate, which is quiteinsolu- ble in.the brine and consequently precipitates out-- hTaZCO3 plus C02 plus Hz0 = 2NaHC03.

"Duringcarbonation the borates contained in the brine as sodium metaborateand sodium tetraborate, are converted to the more acid higher borate of sodiumby the reaction with C32, eliminating part of the Na20 by forming NaHC03.

"2Na2B207 plus 2C02 plus Hz0 = Na2Bq07 plus

2NaHC03 ~

"Afterseparation of the sodium bicarbonatefrom thecarbonated brine, the latter is mixed with additional untreated brine from thelake in such proportions that practically all the borates in the mixture are in theform of sodium tetraborates.This results in a state of supersaturation with respect to sodium tetraborate, which is crystallized from themixture by thesimple process of cooling and agitating. After settling the waste brine is returned to the lake and the settled,borax recovered and refined. The bicarbonate recovered in the.first step of the process is filtered, washesfree of impurities, andconverted to'the various grades of sodaash."

The brine of Searles Lake fills the interstices of a crystalline bed: it containsapproximately one third solids, the more important constituents, expressedas percentages in thebrine, being NaC1-16.5%, NazSO4-6.85%, KC1-4.82%,

- 75 - Na$03-4.85$ andNa2B207-l06$.

Manufactured Sodium Carbonate

A large part of the sodiumcarbonate consumed in the world is manufacturedfrom common salt. Two main processes areused: the ammonia-soda or Solvayprocess, and the elec- trolytioprocess. The'former is theimportant one fromthe viewpoint of production. The Leblancprocess, little used at presentfor this purposeutilizes common salt, sulphuricacid, limestone and coal.

Solvay Process

The followingdescription is quoted from Cole (Ref. 10, p. 95):

"The reaction uponwhich his(Solvay) process is based may be stated in the following equation:

"NaC1 PIUS NH4HC03 = NaHC03 plus NH4Cl

"The raw materials required for this process are: lime-stone,sodium chloride (eitheras brine as it comes from thewells or rock salt dissolved) ammonia (either in the form of ammonium hydrate solution or ammonium sulphate), and fuel.

"In brief, the essential operations in this process are: to manufacturecarbon dioxide from limestone; to pass this gas into the ammoniacal brine whichhas previously been prepared by saturating the brine with amonia gas; the separation of sodium bicarbonatewhich forms as a precipitate from thesolution; and thecalcining of this precipitate to 'form sodium carbonate, or sodaash. The carbondioxide formedfrom the calcining of.the .carbonate is employed again as is alsothe amonia, which is recoveredfrom the solution--where it is in the form of ammonium chloride."

Electrolytic Process

QuotingCole (Ref. 10, p. 96)

"Thisprocess known asthe 'Hargreaves and Bird' process consists of a diaphragm cell in which the walls of thecell are the diaphragmand thecathode. The diaphragm is im2erviousto the salt solution, but permits the sodium ionsto pass. As the sodium ions.are set,,

- 76 - free,they areconverted into soda crysta.ls by the blowing in of steamand carbon dioxide."

Le Blanc Process

The first stepin the Le Blancprocess, i.e., the rem- tion of sulphuric acid with common salt to yield sodium sulphate is widelyused in the manufacture of salt cake.Soda ash is made from the sodium sulphate by melting it with prop- erproportions of coal or cokeand limestone in a reverbera- tory furnace.

The fusedmass, called "black ash" and consisting of sodium carbonateand calcium sulphide, is cooledand the sodium carbonateleached by water. The solution is thenevaporated and the resultant crystals calcined to produce soda ash..

Sal Soda

Salsoda is obtainedeither from naturaldeposits or produced by recrystallization from a solution of soda ash in water. The resultingcrystals are dried until efflorescence begins,then stored. One to 3 percent sodium sulphate is said to be desirable in the crystals to render them hard and less friable.

Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate is made by the Solvay process, by car- bonating a concentratedsolution of sodium carbonate, or by treating sodawith carbon dioxide.

Sodium Sulphate

Sodium sulphate is marketedin bwo.main forms; as salt; cake or anhydroussodium sulphate, and as Glauber's salt or Na2SO4. 10EIzO. A. by-productmaterial, nitre cake, largely composed of sodium bisulphate is also widely used.

The main uses of salt cake are in thepulp and paper, glass,dye, textile, tanning, and nickelindustries, although nitre cakereplaces it in some, notablythe last. Glauber's salt is of more restricted application being employed.chi.efly in dyeing and for medicinal preparations.

Natural

Sodium sulphateoccurs naturally both as mirabilite or Glauber'ssalt (Na2S04. 1OHzO) arid thenardite (NazS04) as

- 77 - well as in association with other salts in such compounds as glauberite (Na2S04.CasO4) and bloedite (NapSOq..TJgSOg. 4H20). It is the ma.jor constituent in the brines and crystalline deposits of many saline lakes in the Prairie ?rovinces of Canada and the western United States, as well as in other parts of the world.

CanadianDeposi>

The sodiumsulphate lakes of Manitoba,Saskatchewan, and Al'bertaoccupy undrained,, or partly drained depressions in surface drift: Some containonly dilute brines, other extensive deposits of permanent crystal.In recent.years production of sodium sulphate from certain deposits has attained interesting proportions. For further int'ormation the reader is re- ferredto "Sodium Sulphatein Western Canada" by L. H. Cole, (Ref. 11). The followingreview of recoverymethods used or suggested in connection with these deposits is abstracted from Cole's report. QuotingCole (Ref. 11, I). 47)

"The sodium sulphate may be recovered either as brine or ascrude Glauber's salt. The form in which the salts are recovered is dependentlargely on sever- alfactors. Climatic conditions are such that the re- oovery in either form can be accomplishedonly at cer- taiq seasons. ,Thus, inthe spring and early summer the depositsare generally b.rine'-covered, the brine increas- ingin salt contentas the season progresses. During this period little or noharvest crystal is present and consequently,unless an attempt is made toexcavate the permanentcrystal bed, no crystal is available.During the latter part of the summer and in the winter months, harvestor intermittent crystal is formed, the.brine~in mostcases completely disappearing,, so thatcrystal can be gathered ...... 'I

Recovsry as a Brine

I, .In using . .. . brine it must be remembered that in most of the deposits the brine will.carry a higher percentage of those salts whichare more readily soluble than the sodium sulphate,such as magnesium sulphate, and that any product obtained from the evaporation of this brine will consequently also contain more of these impurities than if ma.de from the crystal.

"The brine may, if necessary,be concentrated ip

- 78 - open vatsalong the shore, or if saturated may be pumped directly into storbge tanks."

Recovery as Crude Glauber'sSalt

"The more feasible method torecover the sodium sulphate seems to be inthe crystal form as crude Glauber's salt. ...The crystals known as the intermittent or harvest crystals are generally very pure when first deposited,and can be readily gathered when all brinehas disappeared.

?The crystal of the intermittent bed may begath- ered when first deposited or it may beallowed to gain a certaindegree of hardness or compactness. If the material'is to be shipped as Glauber's salt and a clean product is required, it is advisableto gather the crystal when it first starts to formand the brine protects it fromcontamination. At one deposit--thefollowing method is adopted. About themiddle of August, when thecrystal first starts to form, large scows are floated on the brine and the harvesters wade besidethe scowsand load then withthe loosely-compacted crystals either by lo'ng-handledshovels or by lifting large masses of thecrystals out of thebrine byhand. These scows are then taken to a smalldock where the material, after sufficient draining to remove most of theentrapped brine, is filled into bags ready for haulingto the nearestrailway for shipment. The method is slowand is,only to bereconinended where small tonnages are re- quiredand a purematerial is desired for direct shipment without further treatment.

";%here large tonnages'are to be harvested, it is more convenient to allow the intermittent crystal to become sufficiently compacted to enable it to bear the weight of wagonsand teams: The crystal is thenloosen- ed up to a depth of a few inches by plows, gatheredinto piles by horse-scrapers and then hauled to stock piles on theshore. %There theconditions warrant it it might be' feasible to install,. a drag-lins scraper.. to g8the.r the crystal. '"

"Whatevermethod of harvesting the crystal is em- gloyed, it mustbe remembered~that, unless the cr.ysta1 is to berecovered from the permanent bed, the harvest- ingseason is confinedto a few monthseach year, and therefore it will be necessary in that time to gather intostock piles sufficient cr.ysta1 to keep the refin-

- .79 - ing plant operating the whole year.

"...If the whole of the intermittent crystal were harvestedin any one year, and the thin deposit of mud on top of thepermanent bed removed, sufficient of the toplayers of the permanentbed would go intosolution thefollowing spring to supply a crop of intermittent crystalin the fall. The formation of a yearlycrop of intermittent crystal is of great value to the operators ofthese deposits, since it furnishes and easilygath- ered material of a considerablyhigher degree of purity than. could be excavated from the permanent bed."

Refining Crude Material

"The salts as excavatedfrom the deposits contain apprcximately 56 per cent water of crystallization. They may also contain varying small proportions of other salts such as magnesium sulphate, sodium chloride,etc., as well as inoludedinsoluble material. These impurities in most caseshave to be removed. It is therefore necessary to subject the salts or brineto sone process in order to removwthe water of orystallization as well as theimpurities.

"The insolubleimpurities in the salts canreadily be removed byputting the salts intosolution and.allowing the mud or sand to settle, after which the clear brine can bedecanted off to the dehydrating plant. By using care in harvesting the crystal from the intermittent bed it is possibleto select material which contains only small quantities of othersalts;:.In some places, therefore,the salts as recovered from thedeposits are of a highdegree of purity and require only to have the water of crystallization removed.

11 ...the final product has to compete in the open market with the cheap by-product material from the manufacture of hydrochloricacid, and in most cases the deposits are considerably farther from markets than the by-productmaterial. Therefore any process for thedehydration of these salts, tobe operated successfully, will have to becheap, simple in operation, continuous in output, and give a product of uniform grade in all ways superior to the by-product material."

Air Drying

"As is well known, Glauber'ssalt, when exposed to

- 80 - the air at ordinarytemperatures, loses its Water Of crystallization. If a pile of salts taken from these deposits,however, is storedon the shore exposed to theweather even for several. years, only the surface to a depth of a fewinches will lose its water of crystallization,since only the surface has become dehy-'x drated,the dehydrated material seems to form a protec- tivecoating. On 'the..otherhand, if thematerial is spreadout over a large area in a thin layer andpro- tected from the ra'in, the dry air and wind will in time remove the greater part of thR.water of crystallization and theremainder of the water canbe quickly driven off by artificial heat.''

This method hasbeen ,employed at one deposit in Sas- katchewan. A shed was erected 100 feetlong by 10 feethigh, by 12 feet wide, with walls removable in sections to aUow freecirculation of air. The hydroussalts were exposed in trays withcotton bottoms, arranged in rows, oneabove another and about 2 inchesapart. Abouttwo weeks exposure lowered the moisture content from' 56 per cent to 15 per cent. The material was then removed to another building and placed on shallow tin trays above a small stove: here the last water was removed in about 2 days. About 5 tons of dried material was obtainedin 2 weeks. The cost of building andmaintain- ing sufficient drying space for even 5 tons per day or less ,NOUld beoonsiderable.

Evaporation with Artificial Eeat

Quoting Cole further(Ref. 11, p, 50) ... '!Many attemptshave been made to remove economical- ly the chemically c0mbine.d water from Glauber's salt by theapplication of heat. The fact,that the,salts go into solution in their own water of crystallization at temperatures above33 deg. C.,complicates the problem of dehydration. If an attemptbe made toexpel the water by heat- ing the crystals, the whole mass of crystals goes into solution just as soon as thetemperature is raised above 33deg. C.. and then it is an evaporation.problem that has to behandled instead of one of drying.

"One of the chief 'difficulties encountered in any process of evaporation haybeen the fact that the solubility of sodium sulphate decreases once the. temperature of 33deg. is reached. Above thistemperature the salt thenardite starts separating out and this fact has led many to attempt to recover the salt in this way,.

- 81 - "..Experimentshave shown that when the crystals are heated in this way (openpans) they very quickly go into solution in their own water of crystallization. It was also found that when all the water hadbeen ex- pelled,the dried salt caked so solidly in the bottom of thepans, that it had to beloosened with picks, thus greatlyincreas'ing the cost. Such a product would also have to beground before it would-bein a conditionsuit- able for some of the industries, and the cast of fuel. for the evaporation wouldbe considerable.

"Eotarydriers have been suggested for dryingpur- poses, but whether these wouldwork...has not been de^- monstrated.

"Anothermethod that has beensuggested for the recovery of anhydroussodium sulphate, and one which has beenstudied to a small extent on a laboratoryscale, is to place the crystals into solution in the water of crystallization by the application of heat at some control- ledtemperature above 33 deg.: C. and to collect the per centage of sodium sulphatewhich is precipitated in the anhydrous i'orm and dry it by some suitable means. Ex- periments made in the Mines Branch laboratories showed that percentages of sodium sulphatevarying fromabout 33 percent at 60 deg. C: to nearly 44 percent at 100 deg. C. could be recovered in this manner. The material thusobtained was in a finel;. crystalline form rather than a powdered form."

Sincethe time of Cole'sreport there have been several commercialapplications of methods outlined above:

One plantoperated in 1932 as follows':Crystal was harvested .by means of an electric shovel after blasting with 40% dynamite or bl.ackpowder, and loaded to dump cars hauled by an electriclocomotive. From binsthe crystal went to rotary drum dissolvers fired by coal,

From these, brine was pumped to tanks andthence splashed on theoutside of drums heatedinternally by steam. The dried material with a moisture content of 20-25 per cent was scraped off and fed to direct-fired rotary driers and thence to shipping bins.

In another plant crystal from a stock pile was fed to an oil-fired rotary kiln in which it was completely dehydrated. The salt cake was thenscreened and wherenecessary, further refined.

- 82 - SeveralCanadian patents have been taken out in respect toprocesses involving the removal of thenardite by settling from mirabilite dissol.vedthrough heat. At least one plant in Saskatchewanhas employed a modification of this method..

Evaporation in Space

QuotingCole (Ref. 11, 53)

"Another process of evaporationwhich has proved successful in a number of industries andwhich has been attempted in the dehydration of sodium sulphate is the sprayprocess, or as it is sometimes known, 'evaporation inspace.' The processconsists in sprayingthe brine through a finenozzle or aperture in a small disc into a large chamber in close proximity to a current of hot air; the solids fall to the bottom of the chamber as a dry powder and thewater vapour passes off at the top with the air.

'!The processhas been applied with apparent success to the preparation of dryanhydrous sodium sulphate by the.aishopric andLent Co. atFrederick lake, Saskatchew- an, In thisplant the so.dium sulphatebrine is sprayed thr0ugh.a number of.specially constructed nozzles at the top pf a circular tower andallowed to fall against a risingcurrent of hot air injectednear the bottom: The dried salts are dra-bm off at the bottom of the tower.

"The productobtained is very light and fluffy in texture,running only SO poundsper cubic foot, but the method lends itself to close control, and it is claimed that a variety of productscan be produced.''

Wther. processes such. as vacuum pan evaporation and chew ical precipitation havebeen suggested and some applied commercially. .. In 1937 there wEre four principal producers of natural sodium sulphatein Canada, all in Saskatchewan. At least three of these used direct-fired rotary driers for dehydration of crystal.

'Jnited States Deposits

Sodium sulphate deposits occur in many parts of the We:;- tern United States, notably .In North Dakota,. Arizona, Nevada, New Nexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and?lashington. It hasbeen producedcommercially from Arizona,California, Nevada, New

- 83 - Mexico,Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Most depositsare in the form of permanentcrystal-beds of mirabilite, but some contain thenardite and glauberite,while others occur .as brines.

'Productionin 1937 was made from Searles Lake, California, as well as from three plants in Texas.Deposits xere developed in Utah andWashington. Hydrated sodium sulphate or Glau- ber's salt'was recoveredfrom two deposits in Xyoming.

The followingdescription of methods is quotedfrom a reportby Wells (Ref. 16, p.745)

"Sodium sulphate is mined in many placed by blasting outthe crude solid salt and inother places by leaching out a warm saturated solution .from the crude salt, which is then cooled to precipitate Glauber's salt or evaporat- ed to yieldthe anhydrous salt. At Casper, Tyoming, two ponds are used and the brine is pumped from onepond to the other in order to get at each new crop bf Glauber's salt. Sodium sulphatehas been purified at.the Great Salt Lake bydissolving crude Glauber's salt, foundun- demand along the shore in places and also deposited- in winter,and evaporating the solution to deposit.anhydrous sodium sulphate. At.Wabuska, Nev., thetemperature'is highenough in the dry season to yield thenardite' on'solar evaporation."

Ingeneral, the process (Ref. 17, p.55) used in recov- ering salt cakefrom ircpure Glauber's salt at Great Salt Lake is as follows:In 5 tons of 'ore'there are 1 ton of sodium sulphate., 1 ton of water,and 3 tons of sand. . The salt.is scooped out by dragline andhauled in cars to the plant,, where it is putthrough roll crushers,delivered byconveyor to a melter tank, andmixed by propeller agitators with water heated to150 deg. F. From themelter tank the brine passes to a Dorr Classifier.wher-ethe sand is removed. The classifier overflow.passes to settling tanks where it remains24 hours. It is then pumped through a heater and raised to 150 deg. F.., and then passed through vertical evapor'ators heated by exhaust steam. h DorrClassifier is usedto remove sodium sulphate crystals from the brine: these go to a centrifugal for? fir- therbrine removal. The'brine .is returnedto the.evaporatox-s and the salt cakepasses to a horizontalki.ln-dryer. After screening to 30 mesh.the product is ready for shipment.

For a general discussian.of thetechnology of sodium sulphate production from natural. sources the reader is refer- redto Tyler (Ref. 15) Kobe and Hauge (Ref ,13), , and Wells (Ref.16), as well as tothe aforementioned report of Cole (Ref. 11). - 84 - Manufactured Sodium Sulphate

h large part of the salt cakeused in commerce is produced artificially as a by-product from the manufacture of hydrochloricacid from common salt.Other processes are ais0 employed.

Salt Cake Process

The followingdescription is quotedfrom Cole (Ref. ll., p. 58);

"Probably the most widely employedmethod for the preparation of salt cake is the 'salt cake process'for the preparation of hydrochloric acid in whichprocess salt cake is recoveredas a by-product. The process depends on thereaction of sulphuricacid on sodium chloride, and is reallythe first step in theoriginal LeBlano process.

"The decompositionoccurs in two distinct stages, depending on the temperatures :

(1) NaCl plus H2SO4 = NaHSC4 plus HCI (2) NaCl plus NaHS04 = Na2SCq plus EC1

"The first of these reactions begins at ordinary temperatureswhereas the second is onlycompleted at red heat. The exacttemperatures employed inthe several operations vary within small limits at different plants,but it is apparent that the hottest place in themuffle f'urnace at the end of the operation must not exceed 800 deg. C. which is th'e meltingpoint of ordinary salt cake.

"The raw materials required in this process are sodium chloride (common salt) and sulphuricacid.

"The salt .is generally tr.eated in batches of about half a ton, in a largehemispherical, direct'fired pan, setin suitable brickwork. To the salt an equalweight of su.lphuric'acid is addedand the reaction shown in the first of the.above equations takes place. The,hydrochloricacid evolved in the decomposingpan is, drawn off through a flue in the dome of the bri.ckworkcovering the panand is absorbedin water.

"The hot mass is thenraked into a muffleor rever-. beratoryfurnace and the reaction is complete at a high-

- 85 - "ertemperature. The hydrochloricacid evolved in the mufflefurnace is collectedseparately. Xhenno more vapors are seenrising in the muffle furnace the batch is drawnout and usually left to cool in a closedbox.

"The ,yield of salt cake bj. this process will vary indifferent plants, 115 pounds of salt cakeper 100 pounds of original salt beingan average recovery."

Indiscussing this process Tyler says (Ref:15, p. 11)

"In the United States the Mannheim mechanical salt cakefurnace has entirelysuperseded the older pot-and- muffle method (describedabove), and inother countries mechanicalfhrnaces have 1ikewise.displaced the older, laborious, and generallydiscontinuous operations.."'

Untilrecently the output, andhence theprice, of by- productsalt cake folloT*ved theproduction of hydrochloricacid closely. However, an increasingproportion of hydrochloric acid is being manufactured synthetically by direct combination of hydrogenand chlorine, and some is recovered as a by- product from thechlorination of coal tar derivatives. Anotherprocess discussed by Cole (Ref. ll., p.59) but largely discontinued today is the Hargreaves process which depended upon the reaction of puresulphur dioxide gas upon common salt in thepresence of air andsteam. -Nitre Cake Process Quotedfrom Cole (Ref. 11, p. 60)

"Inthe manufacture of nitric acid by the action of sulphuricacid on sodium nitrate, a by-product is obtainedwhich approximates closely the acid sodium sulphate (NaHSO4) and is known tothe trade as 'nitre cake:'Commercial nitre cakeusually conta'ins a varying percentage (7 to 45per cent) of freeacid. In normal timesthe market for nitre cake is comparatively small,and many attemptshave been made to put it to some commercialuse. '&ere plantsfor the production OS nitric acid havebeen conveniently situated with respect to Le Blancsoda plants, large quantities have been utilized for themanufacture of sodaash by add- ing sufficient salt to satisfy the amount of free acid in the nitre cake and thenadding the mixture to that normallycharged'to the salt cakepans.

- 86 - "During thewar, large quantities of nitric acid weremanufactured on thiscontinent for usein explosives, and in consequence vast stock piles of nitre cakeaccumulated at theseplants. In order to utilize this material which in many cases was a waste product andcould be purchased at very, low costs, a number of plantsstarted to manufacture it into normalsodium sulphate(salt cake) andhydrochloric acid by the action of salt. The processdepends on thefollaving equation:

"NaHSOa plus NaC1 - NaZS04 plus HC1"

Today comparatively little nitric acid is manufactured. from sodium nitrate, however, with the result that the pro-. duction of by-productnitre cake has dropped enormously.

Salt cake is alsorecovered as a by-productfrom other processesincluding the manufacture of sodiumdichromate. In Germany waste magnesium sulphate from potash works is convertedinto salt cake by thefollowing.reaction:

&SO4 plus 2NaC1 - Na2SOp plus MgCl2

Common salt is added at a suitable temperature and the temperatureconditions of thesolutions controlled.

Epsom Salts (MgS04. 7Hz0)

gpsomite is a constituent of ocean, and certain salt lake and springwaters. It occursassociated with sodium sulphate in lake deposits in British Columbia and the Prai- rie Provinces of Canada as well as in the Western United States and other countries. It is found in quantityin the Stassfurt deposits of Germany and is alsorecovered from extensive kieserite (MgSO4. H2O) beds in thesedeposits. Ep- somite is likewisedeposited from spring waters at Epsom, England,and is associated with gypsum inan occurrence near Paris,'r'rance.

Epsomite represents the only form in which magnesium sulphate is usedto any extent commercially. Its chiefuse is in thetanning of leather,although it is alsoused in the dyeing textile and otherindustries, and formedicinal purposes.

Natural.

Severalof the methods used in recoveringepsomite from natural deposits in British Columbiahave been reviewed in 1%

- 87 - formersection. In general these are similar to thQqe em- ployedelsewhere.

Manu'factured

Ladoo(Ref. 14, p. 209) lists thefollowing methods by whichepsomite is produced.

1. Technical and U:S...P . grades made @s a by-product in the evaporation of 'common salt:

2. ,Recrystallizationfrom kieserite (Germanyj.

3. Action"ofsulphuric acid on magnesia,.magnesium hydroxide,magnesite', or dolomite.

4. Crystallizationfrom mineral waters.

5. Separationand crystallization from alkaline waters containing mixtures of salts,

In respect to the last the most common associate of mag-' nesium sulphate is sodiumsulphate. 'Separation of the two is effected through crystallization from solution,magnesiumsulphate being more solublethan sodium sulphate.

Pri.ces

Trade names, composition,theoretical formulae, .and recent price quotations are listed below.

- 88 - I I Price 1 Trade Name Composition Formula New York Toronto

Soda Ash NazCO3 58% light - $1.05/lOC# $2/100#

Sodium Bi- carbonate NaHC03 .$1.85/10C$ $2.75/100#

Caustic Solid 76% - Soda NaOH 82.30/100#

Salt Cake Na2SO4 $15/ton f .o.b. Sask. - $8.50/ton

Glauber's Na~S04. lOH20 95b/100# $l6/ton Salt

Nitre Cake .$l6/ton

Epsom Salt $1.80/100# Tech.

Epsom Salt "_" -02 1/2-.03$/# B.P. Cahadianand American Tariffs

Canadian Tariff Material U. S. Tariff Pref. Gen .

Soda Ash 3/10#/$ 1/5b/+ 1/4b/# Sal Soda """ Salt Cake free Sodium Bicarbonate "" free Glauber' s salt "" "" $l/ton Nitre Cake free "" Epsom Salts 1 2 5%

Production andConsumption

Sodium Carbonate

British Columbiaand Alberta

An average of 150 to 250 tons of sal soda is producedan- nually in British Columbia,and sold largely to soapcompanies in Vancouver. Inthe past, shipments havebeen made to soap companies in Calgary but none has Seen recorded in recent years.

No sodaash, sodium bicarbonate, or caustic-soda are produced inBritish Columbia.Although figures are incomplete theestimated annual consumption of sodaash in the province is between750 and 1000 tons,of which at least 75 percent is brought in from Ontario9 the remainderbeing imported from the United States and United Kingdom. Delivered prices for 58 per cent soda ash range from $35 to $75 perton, depending on quantity and situation. The averagedelivered price is approximately $40 per ton.

The.quantity of sodium bicarbonateused annually is only a fewtons. The requirements for causticsoda are variable, 224 tonsbeing imported in 1936 (Ref. la), none in 1937, and 125tons in the first three monthsof 1939. Deliveredprices of flake caustic soda in small lotsrange from $70 to $80per ton.

Approximately 5000 tons of salt cake are used annually in theprovince, largely in the pulp andpaper industry. Somewhat less thanhalf is of localby-product origin, the rest beingbrought in from Sa'skatchewan.Delivered prices range from $18 to $19 per ton..

- 90 - Little or no nitre cake is usedin British Columbia,and thequantity of Glauber'ssalts imported annually is only a. few tons.

Epsom salt is produced inBritish Colmbia. In addition 59 tons wereimported in 1936and.54 tons in 1937 (Ref. 16).

Insufficient data are available to allow an estimate of the total amounts of sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, and epsomiteused annually in Alberta. At least 2500 tons of soda ash,and 250 tons of causticsoda, however, are known tobe utilized.Practically all thesoda ash is broughtin from Ontarioand the delivered cost is about $40 perton.

Canada

Soda ash is manufacturedby one plant, salt. cake, nitre cake,and Glauber's salt in two plants,andcaustic soda in two plants,all in Ontario. In addition salt cake and Glau- ber's salt areproduced from natural sources in Saskatchewan. The onlyproducer of Epsom salt is in British Columbia.

In thefollowing table approximate imports and exports arelisted. (Ref. 21)

for 1937 Imports Exports

Soda Ash 5000 tons $113,000 ) Bicarbonate of 1 Soda 6000 tons $199,000 ) Caustic Soda 6000 tons #296,000 ) Soda & sodium com- Salt Cake """ 1 pounds - 46,000tons Glauber's Salt 1700 tons $ 24,348 ) - $4,674,000 Nitre Cake 1100 tons $ 18,618 )

Epsom Salts 1700 tons .$ 33,100 """""

No data are available on theconsumption or production of thesematerials in Canada. The followingremarks are quoted(Ref. 19) in respectto the production of natural sodium sulphatein Canada:

"At the present time the operating plants are capable of producingover 600 tons of' dried. salts per day. The development'ofthese sodium sulphatedeposits has beenone of the major factors that has made possible the erection of the plant for separatingnickel from copper, af Copper Cliff; Ontario, by theOrford process:

- 91 - "The production of natural sodium sulphate in 1937 amounted to 79,884 tonsvaluzd at $618,028, as against 75,598 tonsvalued at $552,681 in1936.

"Althoughthere were small shipments fro= the deposits in Western Canada to the United Skates the figuresare not shown inthe customs reports .... "The productim of natural sodium sulphatefrom the deposits cf Vestern Canada again increased sharply during the past year, and a new all-timehigh for this industry was established...."

Oistribution by uses and other features discussed under the following heading apply in general to Canada as well as to the United States.

United States

The following table (Ref. 20, p.1430) gives the percentage distribution of sales of soda ash andsodium su1- phates in 1936, as estimated byChemical and Metallurgical Engineering.

Industry Soda.Ash Sodium Sulphatec % % Heavy Chemicals 27.4 2.5 Dyes andOrganic Chemicals 10.9 2.5 3lass andCeramics 38.3 10.2 Explosives .2 -" Leather,glue and gelatin .1 .2 Pulp and Paper 4.4 56.0 Petroleum Refining .4 "- Rayonand Cellulose film .1 1.2 Soapand Glycerine 9.3 .5 Textile Processing 2.7 19.9 OtherProcess Industries .6 -" All otherindustrirs 5.6 7.0

Importfigures are listed below.(Ref. 20, p. 1431). Figures for sodium carbonateare not given as they were relatively insignificant in comparisonwith domestic sales and consisted wholly of manufactured salts.

- 92 - Imports for 1935-36 by Countries

Country Salt Cake Glauber s Salt Anhydrous

1935 Tons Tons Tons

Germany 83,016 $739,314 $4,479 551 5,760 $113,108 Belgium 23,433 $181,820 ------"- - - """"""""" Chile 1,353 # '9,912 """ """"""""" Netherlands 1.122 8 10,190 """"""_ 28 $ 599 " "" "- """"""""" Canada 906 4 3i.305 - - - - USSR 504 $ 9,900 """"""- """"""""" Totals $959,411110,579 551. $4,479 5,788 $113,771 1936 Tons Tons Tons

Germany 119,766 $1,094,461 $4,595 574 11,700 $222,263 Belgium 21,078 .$ 163,789 """"""_ 22 $ 344 Canada 6,589 $ 46,072 """"""~ """""""""- Netherlands 3,301 $ 24,591 ". "~"""" 132 $ 2,951 Chile 686 $ 4,912 "_""""" """' """"""

Totals 151,420 . $1,333,825 575 ' $4,620 $225,61311,854 Inthe following table the imports of salt cake for 1935 and 1936 arelisted byCustoms Districts.

I Customs District 1936 1935 I Pacifi.c Ports and Canadian Border.

Nashington 3,435 tons 4,592 tons Oregon 1,528 " 2,601 I' SanFrancisco 55 " ""_ Duluthand Superior 1,615 " ""_ Dakota 4,974 " 906 'I'

Gulf Ports

Florida 28,506 I' 18,773 " Mobile 81,237 " 47,952 'I New Orleans 14,579 " 22,603 1' Sabine 5,020 'I 6,583 It

Atlantic Ports

Georgia 6,015 " .Maine and n'ew hmpshire 645 " "_" Maryland 3,192 " 4,672 " 731 " 1,297 "

Approximately 2,100 tons of epsom salts were imported in 1936. A majorpart of requirements,however, are supplied by bycommercial producers.

In 1937 natural sodiumcarbollate was producedby 4 operators in California; sodiumsulphate was producedby one operator in California, one in Texas,and two in Wyoming. Otherdeposits are being developed. One operatornear Oro- ville, Washington,reported sales of natural epsom salts.

DomesticProduction of Natural Sodium Carbonates andSulphates

Carbonates Sulphates

1937 104,711 tons $1,191,465 80,053 $599,265 1936 102,866 " $1,106,364 51,606 $338,559 1935 93,230 I' :$1,173,003 36,706 $275,943 1 The only United States markets which might possibly be reached ecanomically by British Columbia producers of sodium

- 94 - carbonate and sodium sulphate are those of Washingtonand Ore- gon. Consumption figuresare not available for theseSt$tes butpulp and paper producers use from 10,000 to 15,000 ton:: of salt cakeand 1,000 to 2,000 tons of sodaash annually. .. Exploitation of British Columbia Deposits

1. Sales of sodiun.products from local deposits would be restricted to a relatively small areacomprising, at best, Alberta,British Columbia,Washington, and possibly part of Oregon. The nearestproducers of sodium carbonatesare in Ontarioand California; of sodium sulphatesin Saskatchewan and California.

2. Estimated. minimum annualconsumption of soha' ash and salt cake in British Columbia, Alberta,Washington and Oregon are listed below.

Soda Ash Salt Cake

British Columbia 800 - 1000 tons 4000 - 5000 tons

I, Alberta 2000 - 3000 " small ?

Washingtonand Oregon 1000 - 2000 " 10,000 - 13,000' 'I (Pulp and Paper only) - Totals 3800 - 6000 " 14,000 - 18,000 "

Present delivered prices of soda ash in British Columbia andAlberta range from $35 to $45per ton; of salt cake in British Columbiaand Washington from $16 to$19.per ton. The United States tariff of 1/4& perpound.or $5 per ton on soda ash would effectively preclude competition with California producersunless local processing could be done at a sufficiently low cost. This is improbable in' view of the magni- tude and variety of products recovered from California deposits. There is no United States tariff on salt cake at present,axd it is probable that local material could reach the Washingtonmarket if it could, be sold for about the sam3 price as that from Saskatche*an deposits, i.e., $8.50per ton. On theother hand, largedeposits of sodium sulphateoccur in CentralWashington, and should these be developed in future, would affordserious competition to 'local producers.

3. No epsomite is producedin Canada otherthan in Bri- tish Columbia. The productsfrom the operation at Ashcroft areshipped to all parts of Canada. Chiefcompetition is furnished by cheap foreign imports.

- 95 - 4. Estimated quantities of the compounds'underdiscussion are listed below.

a. Sodium Carbonate - Crude Eauiv. Soda Ash

Comparatively free of other salts

Permanent Crystal (more or less mixed with mud) 80,000 tons 20,000 tons

Brine (Sp.G. greater than 1.040) - salts - 75,000 " 70,000 " Mixed with sodium sulphate

Permanent Crysta'l (more or less mixed with mud) 100,000 " 20,000 "

Totals 255,000 'I 110,000 'I b. Sodium Sulphate

Crude Equiv. Salt Cake

Comparativelyfree of other salts

PermanentCrystal (more or less mixed with mud) 200.000 tons 80,000 tons

Nixed with sodium carbonate

Permanent Crystal (more or less mixed with mud) 100,000 I' 13,000 "

lvlixed with magnesium sulphate

PermanentCrystal (more or less mixed with mud) 105,000 " 20,000 "

Totals 405,000 I' 113,000 " .. c. Epsom Salts

Crude Equiv.Epsomite

Comparatively free of other:sal.ts

PermanentCrystal (more or less mixed with mud) 20,000 tons 20,000 tons

Bdixed with sodium sulphate

PermanentCrystal (more or less mixed with kud) 105,000 1' 75,000 " Totals .125,000 " 95,000 " 5. Bothsodium carbonate and sulphate,occu~ing naturally as natron and mirabilite, mustbe dehydrated'before a market of mysize can be reached. Small tonnagks of sal soda andGlauber's salt couldprobably be sold as well, however.

6. Recovery and dehydration of natron andGlauber's salt should present no more difficult a problem in British Columbia thanelsewhere. The mattermerits careful investigation, however,from boththe technological and economicalstandpoint insofaras volume of sales will. be particularlydependent 'upon relativecheapness of manufacture. Themaximum market is not large and a compromisebetween size of plant and manu- facturing cost mustbe made.

Although the deposits as a whole are easily accessible they are, for the most parttoo small to justify expensive development.Several, however, in which deposits of permanent crystaloccur, and one or two containingbrine, are sufficiently large to merit a smallplant capable of supplyingthe availablemarket. In general the most satisfactory method of developingthe saline deposits of British Columbia appears to becontrol of theimportant deposits under one management withmanufacture and sale of a variety of products.This j.s especiallyapplicable to those lakes, including the epsomite deposits,in whichmixed salts occur.

References

Technologx

Ref. 10 - L. H. Cole - The Salt Industry of Canada, MinesBranch No. 716, 1930, Dept. of ?tines, Otte-a. Ref. 11 - L. H. Cole - Sodium Sulphatein Xestern Canada, .Mines Branch No. 646, 1926, Dept: of Nines,Ottawa.

Ref. 12 - H. 0. Hellmers - Borax-Soda 'Ash and Lime Bydrate - Their Recovery by West End Chemi- cal Co., at Searles Lake - Pac. Chem. & Met.Ind., 1.eb.1938. pp. 3 - 11. Ref. 13 - Kobe and Hauge - Sodium Sulphate from natural De- posits - Can:Chem. and Met., AUg. 1934,p. 177.. Ref;14 - R. B. Ladoo - Ron-MetallicMinerals, McGraw-Ri:Ll, 1925 - containsBibliography. - 99 - Ref.15 - Tyler - Sodium Sulphate. Inf.Circ. 6833, Mar. 1935. U.S. Bureau of Mine.s, Wash.

Ref. 16 - X. C. Xells - IndustrialMinerals andRocks, Uer. Inst. Min. & Met.,. 1937. Chap. XL - Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Sulphate. ContainsBibliography.

Ref. 17 - G. Martin - SodiwSulphate from the shore of Great Salt Lake - Eng. & Min. Jour., June1938, p. 55.

::Ref. 18 - Trade of British Columbia,1937 - Bureau of Econom- ics and Statistics, Victoria.

Ref. 19 - The CanadianMineral Industry, 1937, - Bureau of Mines No. 791,Wines & GeologyBranch, Dept. of Mines, Ottawa.

Ref. 20 - MineralsYearbook, 1937. U. S. Bureau of Mines, Wash.

Ref. 21 - Acids,Alkalis, and Salts,1937. DominionBureau of Statistics, Ottawa.

The followingReferences were consulted for general in- formationcontained in fhhe.Report:

Non3letallic Mineral Products - Bayley. HenryHolt Br Co., 1930.

Minerals Yearbook,1038 - U. S. BureauMines, Wash.

Sodium and Magnesium Salts of Western Canada - L. H. Cole, Traps. Can. Inst. Min. &: Met. Vole XXVII, 1924. Non-metallicMineral Resources of Washington - S. L. Glover - .Bull. No. 33,Division of Gsology.~ D6pt. of Conservation&:Development 1936.

SpottedLakes of Epsomite in Washingtonand British Columbia - 0. Jenkins, km. Jar. Sei., Vol. XLVI, NOV. 1918,pp. 638 - 644. NaturalSoda, Its Occurrence and Utilization - I. M. Chatard, USGS Bull. 60', 1890, p.32. 1norgani.cand Theoretical Chemistry - J. W. ?dellor. Yol. 11 - Lohgmans 1927 - section on alkalis,

- 100 - CHAPTER 3

Occurrences of Hydromagnesite

in British Columbia Iiydromagnesite

Deposits of hydrated magnesium carbonate occur in the, Cariboo,Atlin, and Kamloops districts of British Columbia. Thesehave been referred to in the literature as hydromagnesite, and although they rarely correspond in composition to themineral, will be discussedunder this head in the present report.

The hydromagnesiteoccurs typically as horizontal deposits in valley-bottoms or on flats near the base of ,adja- centslopes. The surface of thepurer deposits is hummocky andcracked, resembling that of a cauliflower, end is commonly raisedslightly above thesurrounding ground level. In general a layer of white,massive, hydromagnesite, overlies loose,rather granular, creamymateria3,:which in turn grades intosoil below. The calciumcontent is higherin the creamy layer than in the white, and increasesprogressively towards the base.

Cariboo ,and Kamloops Districts

The location of known hydromagnesitedeposits in the Caribooand Kamloops Districts is shom in the accompanying. KeyMap. The presentreport is based on fieldexamination by thewriter during the summer of 1937. A complete and detailed report on the Meadow Lake,Watson Lake, Riske Creek, and Clintonoccurrences will befound in Memoir 1.18, Geolo- gicalSurvey of Canada (Ref. 2): otherreferences are list3d at .the end.of this section.

The most important deposits are those at Meadow Lake, WatsonLake, and RiskeCreek: the others are either small, impure, or of unknown extent.

Meadow Lake Deposit(Key Map 6, No, lj

Ideadow Lake is on the south side of the Clinton-Dog Creekroad about 15 milesfrom its junction with'the Cariboo highway, and 16 miles from Chasm on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The lake;about 2 1/2 mileslong by 1/2 milewide, is one of a number along a shallowdepression some 15 miles inlength. A11 are approximately at the same elevation, and. withoutapparent outlet.

The mainhydromagnesite occurrences lie in the above- mentioned depression from 1/2 to 2 miles east of Meadow Lake, Relatively large areas of impurehydromagnesite also occur at eachend of the lake.

- 102 - I MeadowLake

2 Watson Lake

3 Riske Ck.

4 Clinton

5 Sorensonk Farm 6 Campbell Range I 7 BarnesLake 8 61-Mile Ck. I MAP T. Meadow Lake hydromagnesite deposits.

The distribution and extentof purer deposits is shown on Map 7. The larger of these are sheet-like inform; the smaller are irregular, commonly circular, or formedof sever- a1 circular areas, eitherin contact or separated in groups. All have the typical "cauliflower-like" surface,and are raised a few inches to two feet above the surroundingswampy ground. The impure hydromagnesite deposits noted on themap have a flat, cracked surface, and are composedof dense greyish material.

Estimates of area underlainby relatively pure hydromagnesite follow:

Writer Reinecke (Ref. 2, p. 44-46) Area A 70,000 sq. yds. 56,000 sq. yds. Area B 142,000 It 154,000 I' Others 32,000 I' 24,700 It

Totals 244,000 It 234,700

- 104 .. The deposits comprise two more or less distinct layers; theupper white, massive, and relatively free of calcium,the lover creamy, looselygranular, and containing an increasing proportion of calciumtowards the base. In view.of this the' amount of material actually available for commercialpurposes depends,within limits, upon theuse to which it is to beapplied, in other words upon the minimum calciumcontent a1:lbwed forthe purpose in question.

As disclosed in drill holesthe depth of white'mater.j.al in,Area A variesfrom 12 to.24 inches,, in Area B from 8 to 32 inches, and in the smaller areas,from 5 to 20 inches. Aver- age figures are 16 inches for Area .&, 18 inches for Area E:, and 12 inches for the others. ' Takingthe weight of a cubi.c'. yard of thehydromagnesite as 2050 pounds(Ref. 2, p.43), tonnageswould be as follows:

Estimate of tonnage of whitehydromagnesite at Meadow LakE

'&+iter Reinecke.

Area A 31,200 25,920 Area B 72,000 78,900 Others 11,000 9.,140 T otals 114,200 Totals 112,960 The following analyses are typical of this material: - Writer(3) Reinecke A Reinecke (5) (4) 3 - 38.8% 41.38% 40.56% F 0.8 1.32 1.26 38..? 37.67 35.96 11.5 12.12 18 .oo 0.23 0.63 2..5 0.14 0.18 1'.36 0.67 7.4 Si02 4.00 - 1.22 - (3) Compositesample ofwhite material taken by writer from 7 drill holes in Areas A and B. Analyzedby Chief As- sayer,Victoria.

(4) Reinecke, %Memo118, p: 31 - white earth, 0-151' from surface. . (Ref. 2)

(5) Reinecke, Men. 118, p. 31 - average of 5 analyses fromdeposits at Meadow Lake.(Ref. 2)

- 105 - Underlying the surface layerof Areas A and B is'3 to 4 feet of cream-colored granular earth overlying impure cemented material.

Typical analyses of this granular materialfollow:

I Writer (6) Reinecke C (7) Reinecke D (8) Reinecke E (9) I ~ MgO 39.5% 36.63% 24.32% 35;68% t CaO 2.H 2.86% 20.12% 6.38% r 35.64 38.64 36.63 0 m 45.7 7.00 2.93 4.15 1 I 0.17 "" 0.20 1.0 0.11 0.49 0.24 I 1.34 1.35 2.88. 10.1 Si02 13.10 10;32 l1.33' I. I I I I I I (6) Compobitesample of creamy material belowwhite layerto depth of 36 inches.Analyzed by Chief Assayer, Victoria.

(7) Reinecke, Mem. 118,. p. 31-0-39" includeswhite and part of creamy layer.(Ref. 2)

(8) Reinecke, Memo 118, p. 31 - below (7) - 38"-60", in creamy layer.(Ref. 2)

(9) Reinecke; Mem. 118, p. 31 - 15-51"below surface,' cream coloredmaterial.' (Ref. 2)

The above analyses indicate a fairly low calciumcobtent to a depth of at least 3 feet: below this the proportion of", calciumincreases rapidly.. Areas A and B the.refore may be e8-. timatedto contain the following additional tonnag.es carrying less than 5 per cent lime.

Tonnages (estimated)

Area A 35,000 Area B 71.,000 106;OOO

In summation the Meadow Lake Deposits. are estimated to containapproximat.ely 114,000 tons of material containing less than 1 1/2 percent lime, and an additional 106,000 -tons containing less than 5 percent lime, or a total of 2Z0,OOO tonswith a limecontent not exceeding 3 peecent. The; question of lime and otherimpurities in the hydromagnes.it& is discysed in greater detail under Commercial' Possibilities.

The greyish impure hydromagnesite occurring at each end of Meadow Lake varies widely in composition but in general contains a high proportion of both lime and siliceous mater,- ial. The 'followinganalysis is characteristic: Reinecke (.lo) 20.14 9-20 20.24 6.80 0.,59 0.84 1,54 36.78

- 107 - (10) Reinecke, Mem. 118, p. 31 - grey earth northeast end Meadow Lake, 0-24 inches. (Ref. 2)

Watson Lake Deposits (Key Map6, No. 2)

Watson Lake, a small body of water 1about 1/2 miles long by 1/3 miles wide, lies about1 mile west of 105 Mile House on the Cariboo Highway, and1 mile east of Tatton Station on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.

The hydromagnesite is situated about1/4 mile southof, and 5 feet above Watson Lake,on a swampy flat near the base of low hills rising gently to the southeast.

MAP 8. Watson Lake hydromagnesite deposits.

The deposits, s%hownon Map 8, are similar to those at Meadow Lake. When examined the surrounding ground swampy, was the surface of the deposits'being raised1 to 3 feet above the water level.

- 108 - The areasestimated to be underlain by purer hydromag- nesiteare:

Writer.Reinecke (Ref. 2, p. 46)

7300 sq. yds. 8950 so.. yds. 4800. sq. yds.

Drilling by the writer indicated the white layer to be from 1 1/2’ to 3 feet deep in Area A, at least 3 feet in Area B, andfrom 1 to .2 feetin the others. Reineoke(Ref. 2, p. 46) foundArea B to contain fairly pure material to depths of 37 to 60 inches. Average figuresare 2 feet for Area A, 4 feet for’:Area B, and 1 1/2 feet -for other areas.

The followingestimates represent the probable tonnage of’yhite*hydromagnesite available from the WatsonLake De- posits.

(Weight of 1 cu.yd. taken as before as 2050 pounds.)

Writer Reinecke(Ref. 2, pp. 46-48)

Area A 7,500 tons 4,570 tons Area B 13,000 tons 13,232 tons 3,000 tons Others 4,935 tons 23,500 tons 22,737 tons

The analyses below are typical of the white material from these deposits. - Writer (14) Reinecke (15) Reineoke (16)- MgO 39.4% ,43 17% 41 .O@ CaO 2 :l la14 1.62 co2 1 ,43 a 64 38.04 E20 1 50.5 5.26 11.25 FeO Pet03 1 1.3 0.16 0:12 A12031 I 0:16 0.20 Insoluble 5i7 sioz. 4..62 6.36

(14) Compositeswnple from 7 drill holes, repres,ent- ing white. material from all deposits. Anal.ye*d by Chief As-. sayer,Victoria.

(15) Mem. 118, p. 31 - Area B - 0-36 inches;(Ref. 2:)

- 109 - (16) Mem. 118, p. 31 - Area A - includes 26 inchesof white earth and part of layerof cream earth, base at85 inches.(Ref. 2)

Insufficient data are available to allowan intelligent estimate of the amountof creamy earth containing less than the arbitrary 5 per cent of lime. It is improbable, however, that the quantity exceeds 5000tons.

In summation, the Watson Lake Deposits are estimated'to contain about 23,000 tonsof white hydromagnesite, containing less than 2 per cent of lime.

A small deposit containing onlya few hundred tonsof white hydromagnesite occurs about1 mile north-westof the main occurrences at Watson Lake. Reinecke (Ref.2) gives the following typical analysis: Mgo - 36.7% CaO - 1.54 co2 - 31.08 E20 - 14.86 Fe203 - 0.57 A1203 - 0.33 Si02 - 8.62

Riske Creek Deposits (Key Map6, No. 3)

The deposits lie in the valley bottomof Riske Creek (see Map 9) on the south sideof the Chilcotin Road about.,35 miles west of Williams Lakeon the Pacific Great Eastern Rail- way.

LEGEN P Hydromagnesite ,& Impure Hydromoqnesrte

scdre"-Feet MAP 9. Riske Creek hydromagnesite deposits - 110 - Estimates of the areas underlain by purer hydromagnesite are compared in the following table: WriterReinecke (Ref. 2, p. 48)1

Area A 19,000 Sq. YdS.,) 7,775 (26,000 sq. yds. of

Area B 2,500 sq,. yds.) ' less pure) Area C 10,000 sq. yds. 10,000 sq. yds. 1 The above estimateof 19,000 sq. yds. for Area A includes surface material which is not only typically-white but also creamy in color. Normally the^ la,kter Ils high in cdcium elsewhere, and hencewas not included in Reinecke's figure aboxe.

b composite sample, taken by the writer, 5from drill ho!es 2 to 3 feet deep in various partsof Area' A, had the following analysis. (.I)

MgO -. 42.3 CaO - 0.7 co2 - 41 ..9 H20' - 9.2 Fe andA1 - 1.0 Insol. - 4.4

(1) Chief Assayer, Victoria.

Although someof Area A may contain material highin lime, most of it is fairly pure hydromagnesite to an average depth of 2 1/2 feet. A drill hole in AreaB indicated a de,pth of 1 1/2 feet and one in AreaC showed 2 feet of white hydro- .magnesite. Reinecke (Ref. 2, ps' 29) gives the following thicknesses and analysesfor Areas A and B: Area A Area B

2 holes - 2 and 3 feet 1 hole - 2 feet

0-26" 0-24"

MgO 41:14$ 41 e 74% CaO O.:lO 0;.17 co2 37.70 40.85 H20 17.78 12.98 FeO 0.09 0.16 Fe203 0 .'25 0.20 A1203 0.48 0.48 Si02 1.22 1 r85

- 111 - Assuming average depthsof 2 1/2 feet for Area A, 1 1/2 feet for Area B, and 2 feet for Area C, the following figures represent estimates of tonnage of purer hydromagnesite in the Riske Creek deposits.

WriterReinecke (Ref. 2)

Area A 15,000 tohs 6,600 tons Area B 1,200 tons Area C 6,700 tons 6,900 tons

Totals 22,900 tons 13,500 tons

Clinton Deposits (Key Nap6, No. 4)

These occurrences lie in the valleyof Clinton Creek, about half a mile west of the village of Clinton. The tonnage of pure hydromagnesite issmall and the deposits were only given a cursory examination by the writer. I

&END Hydromaqnesite m Impure Hydromaqnesite

5cal:-feet

MAP 10. Clinton hydromagnesite deposits (after Reineeke).

- 112 - The following description isfrom Reinecke's report (Ref.2, p. 44):

"...three areas have been mapped as commercia.1hy- dromagnesite, these are localities 1,2;and 3 (see Map 10). Area No. 1 covers 260 square yards, the upper 3 1/2 feet to 4 1/2 feet of which is clean hydromagnesite ...The calculated amountof hydromagnesite present is 355 tons. AreaNo. 2 covers 1,200 square yards with two feet of fairly pure material on top'; the estimated content is 820 tons. Area No. 3 covers 1,,850 square yards. Three holes showed pure material down 2,to 3, and 2 feet respectively, with a little siliceous impurity in two cases. The estimated amount of pure material is 1,474 tons, The total amountof commercially valuable material at C1,inton in round numbers, thus is 2,650 tons:, but of this amount 965 tons is of doubtful purity."

~ Sixty-One Mile Creek Deposits (Key MapNo, 2 .> / A occurren e of hydromagnesite lies about 2 miles east of Goose\.e. 4'''mile north-west of the head of 61 Mile Creek, and about miles from Chasm,Station by road. As far as the writer is aware the deposit has not been reported upon previously.

The deposits adjoina small swampy lake0ccupying.a depression between low hills. Purer hydromagnesite, with a typical cauliflower-like surface, underlies at least 13,000 square yards.

No drilling equipmentwas available at the time of the writer's visit, so the determination of thickness was conse" quently impossible. White material, however, was found in the bottom of pits to 'a depth of 1 foot, and by comparison with other deposits, probably averagesat least two feet in depth. Based on these figures at least4,500 tons, probably 9,000 to 10,000 tons of white hydromagnesite are available.

Typical analysesof surface material are givenbelow:(].)

MgO 38.0 34.4% 32.75% CaO 1.16 3.32 1:76 GO2 32.9 j 48 :16 47.74 Hz0 16.0 ) Fe and A1 1.7 0.69 0.67 Insoluble 9..80 11.60 12.4.0

(1). Chief Assayer, Victoria.

- 113 - Several small areas of hydromagnesiteoccur in the marshy valley of 61Mikcreek near its head.Those seenwere too impure to be of commercial interest.

West CaribooBlock

The occurrence of small hydromagnesitedeposits in various parts pf the West CaribooBlock is mentioned in the Sur- vey of Resources Report, Pacific Great EasternRailway Lands. Thesehave not been examinedby the writer but are’.included to indicate their widespreact distribution and the possibility thaC larger undiscovered deposits may befound.

The more importantdeposits discussed (Logie - Vol. 11, Pt. 2, 1929.Unpublished Manuscript) and theirestimated tonnages are tabulated below:

Location Tonnage

Lot 2833, 2 mi. E. of Alexis Lake 2,000 tons Lot561, 8 mi. N. of Alexis Ck. 1,000 ” BigCreek 500 Fletcher Lake350 ” Gay Lake 100 “ TasekoRiver 60 ”

The followinganalyses are given as typical:

Lot 2833 Lot561 BigCreek

Mg(HC03)2 - 80.% 84.% MgCO3 - 64.2% CaO - nil nil CaC03 - 5.7 A1203 - 1.0 ) 0.2 *l2O3 - 0.6 Fe203 - 0.2 ) Fez03 - 1.0 Mn - tr . E20 - 11.0 .Insol. - 9.. 2 13.0 Insol. - 16.0 Na2CO3 - 1.1 so3 - 0.4 .

SpringhouseArea (Key Map 6, No, 5)

Several settlers in the vicinity of Springhousehave reported the presence of white clay-like material underlying soil in parts of theirfields. A typicaloccurrence on the Williams Lake-Springhouse Road, nearBoitano Lake, was examined by the writer and a sample had thefollowing composi- tiont (1)

- 114 - - 42.0 Fe and A1 - 4.3 Insol. - 14.8

(1) Chief Assayer, Victoria.

From the analysis the materisl is obviously hydromagnesite but too impure for commercial interest.The fact, however, that it is overlainby 6 inches to 1 foot of soil, suggests the possibilityof larger and purer deposits occurring similarly inthe district.

Other DepositsOther J

Other small deposits occur in the vicinityof Xamloops and Ashcroft. The most important of these (Map 6, No. 6) ,+E-so lies in the'Campbel1Bangs about10 miles south-eastof Kam- loops. It is'estimatedrcontain about 600 tins of white hydromagnesite. The following is a typical analysis: (1) - 41.M CaO, - nil A1203 - 1.15 Fe203 - 0.25 Ig: Loss - 54.2 Insol. - 2 :4

,(1) Chief Assayer, Victoria.

Impure greyish. hydromagnesitein a layer up to2 feet thick, and oovered with soila todepth of 1 foot, underlies several acres near the north ofend Barnes Lake, about27 miles fromKmloops near the Kamloops-Vernon Road (Map6, No. 7). Another small areaof white hydromagnesite occurs close to the Basque epsomite deposits,12 miles from Ashcroft.

Atlin Deposits

Relatively large depositsof hydromagnesite oocurin the vicinity of Atlin. Insofar as these were not examinedby t;he writer,- the following description is abstractedProm the del- tailed account (Ref.3) by G. A. Young in Summary Report, 1915, of the Geological Surveyof Canada.

- 115 - LEG EN D Hydromagnesite @a Impure 300 0 500 Scale -Feet

MAP 11. hydromagnesite deposits (after young) - 116 - Thehg tedeposits (see M3pll; aresituated close to Atlin; &e group of deposits lying on the southeast borderof the townsite, the other occurring on thehighway leading to Discovery about one-half mile from ktlin'wharf. Besidesthe two maingroups, small isolatedpatches occur for t-io miles along a general course running northwestard from the lakeshore at Atlin..These, however, are ingeneral too small or impure to beof commercial value.

The depositssituated about one-half mile from Atlin wharf lie in a rather faintly marked depression opening to thenorthwest into a swampy area. No solidrocks outcrop nearby, the country being floored by thick deposits of uncon- solidatedmaterial. The groupcomprises one large and four small areas or beds. The surface of thedeposits is from description similar tothose previously described, in other words is slightlyraised, somewhat hummocky, and traversed by cracks. The hydromagnesite is white,plastic when wet, but finegrained andpowdery when dry. Young,on thebasis of numerous drill holes, mentions that there is no distinctly apparent variation with depth as far as the base of the deposits, butgives an analysis ofcreamy.granular material encounte:red in one hole 16 inchesabove the base. Insofar as this con.- tains a relativelyhigh lime content, it is probablethat at least part of the white hydromagnesite is underlain by the typical creamy layer encountered in most of the deposits elsewhere.

From the various determinations of the depth of themain body Young concludesthat the average thickness is 2'8", and that' the volUme is 80,000 cu. yds. Using the assumed figuye of 115 lbs. per Cu. ft. ha estimatesthe .quantity available in the mainbody akabout 125,000 tons. Inthis connection the writer feels that the figure of 2,050 lbs. per cu0 yd., as determinedby Reinecke on samples from Caribcodeposits, is more nearlycorrect, and that the 80,000 ou. yds. mentioned. abovewould probably contain little more than 81,000 tons. Young estimates the nearby sniall areas to contain about 9,000 tons.This, recalculated, .would representabout 6,000 tons.

Two sets of SNUpleS were taken from'the main body; the results of the analyses are tabulatedbelow: Depth.ofhole 2'2", I Depth of hole3'6" depth depthdepth depth 3 I, 1' 1" 1'11" 4"

41.13% 42.35% 42.1% 40.56% 2.04 1.26 6.44 35.98 36.10 36.17 35.96 18.02 19.0518.95 19.04 17.66 0.60 0.63 0.65, 0.15 0.09 0.18 0.67 0.10 0.17 0.67 1.86 0.90 0.54 1.22 1.96 9.22

The secondgroup of deposits just east,of Atlin lies in marked depressions formed in unconsolidated materials. The groupconsists of three large bodies of hydromagnesite, (A, 5, and C on- Map11) varyingin thickness from 1 to 7 feet, in different parts, but estimated to haveaverage I thicknesses of 3 feet, 5 feet, and 2 feet respectively.

Area A, withan average thickness of 3 feet,covers about 4 1/2 acres and has a volume. of 21,400 cubic yards. Assuming 2,050 lbs. percu. yd.for the material in place this would represent about 22,000 tons.

Area B, underlyingthree quarters of an acre to an averagedepth of 5 feet, would have a volume of 5,500cu. yds. and contain about 5,600 tons.

Area C coversabout 1 acreto an average depth af 2 feet,representing 2,900 cu. yds:of materialweighing about 3,000 tons.

Typlcalanalyses of these deposits are givenbelow:

I I Depth1'4" 1'9" 1' 6" Surface 20"(4" above base)

42.85 38:94 43.04 43.45 42.12 0.32 0.42 0.26 36.35 34.31 36.23 35.89 19.10 18:lO 18.95 19:42 0 .,'6 6 0.81 0.36 0.. 71 0.15 Oi56 0;09 0,35 2.85 0.41 0.74 3.48 0:96 a. 62 1.18

- 118 - In summation about 118,000 tonsof white hydr0magnesit.e is probably available from the Atlin deposits. The reason for the discrepancy between this and Young's figureof lSp,OOO tons has been explained. Young considers that about150,000 of the 180,000 tons would represent material carrying betwe.en 41 and 42 per cent of MgO withabout 3 per cent of CaO, A1203, FeZ03, and SiOz. Of the estimated 118,000 tons therefore, ' roughly 100,000 tons may be considered to fall within the above compositional limits.

Mining and Transportation

Hydromagnesite could be easily and cheaply won from the deposits described. The material in place is usually moist, hence tough and somewhat plastic; the surface, however, is commonly dry and hard.

The upper layer of white hydromagnesite would be somewhat toughfor hand digging, but could be handledwith ease by power shovel or power scraper. Climatic conditions would restrict miningto 5 or 6 months of the year. Again the deposits are relatively small and of isolated occurrence. Mechanical methods of exploitation must therefore be confined to either inexpensiveor portable equipment.

Excavation and loading trucks at the deposits by power shovel or power scraper should cost(25) from 10 to 40 cents per ton depending on typeof equipment, capacity, and locat,ion. Cost Of trucking to the nearest railroad loading point will naturally vary for each deposit.

Mining should be preceded and controlled by systematic drilling and analyses,in viewof the wide variation in the amount of impurities both laterally and vertically..

In the follolnring table the more important deposits are listed with data in respect to transportation.'

(25) Based on costs of various clay winning operations elsewhere under comparable conditions- see Ref. 1. - 119 - ~~ -~ ~~~ ~ ~~ Distance by road to Present freight rate Deposit nearest railroad load- Type of Road from loading point ing point to Vancouver(crude material)

Meadow Lake to Chasm - 16 mi. Good in dry F.G.E. - $2.50per weather--nobad ton, min.' 40 tons. grades. id to Tatton - 1 mi. Old roadaband- P.G.E. - $3.00 per oned--easily re- ton, min. 40 tons paired.Slight up- (xi hill grade.

Risk Creek to aiilliams Lake Surface good in dry P.G.E. - notquoted --about 35 Mi. weather. A number probably about $3,5C of steep grades and per ton, min. 40 road crooked. tons. (x)

Clinton to Clinton Station Surface good. Steep P.G,E. - $2.50per 1 I/Z miles up-hill grade. ton, min. 40 tons. :X)

61 MileCreek to Chasm - 6 mi. 4 miles fair. Last P.G.E. - $2.50 per 2 easily improved-- ton, min. 40 tons. alllevel ground. (x) Deposits near to 'Nilliams Lake-- Soads fair when dry. P.6.E. - not Alexis Lake about 05 mi. quotedprobably about$3.50 per ton. (x) Table(Continued)

Present freight rate Distance by road to fromloading point Depositnearest railroad load- Type of Road to Vancouver (crude 1, material) Campbell Range to Ramloops--about 6 miles of mainroad C.P.R.--not quoted, 12 mi. --remaindernarrow and hilly.

Atlin to Garcross(boat Boat across Atlin transportation)-- Lake, 4 mile tramway, about 70 mi. boaton Taghish Lake toCarcross.

(x) - plus 25b per ton switching and harbor dues at Vancouver.

Summarx

In the accompanying table the more important deposits are listed with pertinent data. Total Impuri- Est. C.ost Freight cost Deposit Est. Tonnage MgO ties Transporta- to Transpor- Content C02 + Hz0 tion to. Ry. Vancouver tation (per'tbn) (per ton) (per. ton) .. Meadow Lake 114,000 tons 39-41% 4-11% 50-54% 106,000 ,I 35-39% 14-17% 40-45% $1-84 $2.75 $447

WatsonLake 23,500 11 39-43$ 4-%49-5% 8.25-8.50 $3.00 $3.00

RiskeCreek 23,000 I 40-42% 3-5%50-55% $4.00 ~$13

Clinton 2,650 4 2%53% 4% $625-8.50 $2.75 $3.50

61 MileCreek ,500-10,000 " 33-3872 12-1572 47-4% $0.75-$1.50 $2.75 $4.00

L. 2833 Alexis Lake 2,000 1, -"- 10-l3% ----- $10420 $4.00 $14-$24 L. 561 AlexisCreek 1,000 It

I, BigCreek, etc. 950 "" 2% "_" $8-$15 $2.75 $11-$19

CampbellRange 600 11 54%41% 5% 82-@ Est. $5-86 at $3

At1in 100,000 tt 41-42% 3% 54-55% "" "" .. 20,000 It 35-4% 5-l% 45-5%

Totals 403,700 1, 35-43% 3-17%45-54% In dummation roughly 136,000 tons of hydromagnesite representing some 54,000 tons of MgO could be obtained from the Meadow Lake,Watson lake^, andClinton deposits andshipped. to Vancouver for an overall estimated cost of $3.00 to $7.00 per ton. An additional 120,000 tons of less purematerial, con- tainingabout 40,000 tons of MgO, is probablyavailable from these and the 61 Nile Creek deposits, aqdcould be handled. at approximatelythe same cost..

At least 100,000 tonsof.hydromagnesite, containing 40,000 tons of MgO are present in the Atlin deposits.

Cost of miningand shipping from Riske Creek deposits would probablybe $8.00 to $ll.,OO perton.; costs from the AlexisCreek and Big Greek deposits would be considerably higher.

Mineralogy:

Given analyses not onl-y vary from deposit to deposit, but from place to place in the same deposit: apart from the content of extraneousmaterial (Insoluble, SiOz, A1203,FeO, Fe2O3) thechief variation is in the relative amount of com- binedwater. Several samples from Atlin andtwo from the Cariboo show sufficient'water with magnesia and carbon diox- ideto approximate the composition of the mineral hydromagnesite (3MgC03. Mg(OH)2. 3H20). Most of them,however, contain far too little water to correspond to hydromagnesite, much lessnesquehonite (MgCO3. 3B20) or otherhydrous mag- nesiumcarbonates. Lateral changes in compositionare er- ratic; verkical represent a definite increase in lime and decrease in combined watercontent from the surface downward.

Mi.croscop.ic sxamination

The following minerals occur in all the samplesexaminedr

(1) Magnesite - as minute '(1 to 10 microns in size) colorless,stubby, prisms rounded to hexagonal in end'seotiton.

Uniaxial,negative NO - 1.610 '!. .003 Ne - 1.700, t .003 No-Ne - 0..190 +-

(2) Bydromagnesite (?) - as rounded toirregular plates

- 128 - and platy to fibrous aggregates. Very fine-grained (largely less than 50 microns) so that optical properties not definitely determinable. Birefringenoe on plates very low, somewhat higher on edges and fibres.

Xm on plates - 1.525 * .005 N fibres - b.640 2 .005 (elongation) 1.520 * .005 [across fibres) Extinction variable.

(3) Extraneous minerals - quartz, feldspar, hornblehde, muscovite, biotite, apatite, augite, sphene, etc. As ankular to semi-angular graink ranging in size from .05 mm. ta .m.

In addition ~CJthe above amorphqus and indeterminatema- terial ivpresent. The proportions of the constituents are variable, althodgh tnagnesite and hydromagnesite(P) ford the bulk-of all purer samples.

No high calcium samples were available for microscopic examination. Of those studied, however, none yielded any clue to..tfiemanner in which calcium occurs in the material.

Chemical Examination Under the microscope "hydromagnesite" seems to be composed essentially of thetwo minerals magnesite and hydromagnesite. 'On this assumption the mineral content corresponding to available analyseswas calculated in each case. Si02, A12O3, FeO, Fe2O3, and insoluble were groupedas im- ' purities; sufficient CO2 attributed to CaOform to calcite; and remaining COz, MgO, and combined Hz0 distributed between magnesite and hydromagnesite. It is interesting and probably significant that this last distributionwas in ever.y case possible wi6hout leaving an.appreciable excessof any of the three components.

Meadow Lake Analyses

(3) ,14) (5) Hydromagnesite 3MgC03. Mg (0H)z. 3H20 60.% 6 2% 95% Magnesite MgC03 2% 3% "- Calcite CaC03 1% 3% 3% Impurities 1% 5% 3% - 124 - Meadow Lake Knalyses- lower layers

Hydromagnesite 40.M 3 7% 15% 2 1% Magnesite 45.0% 34% 4@ 5 5% Calcite 5.N 6% 3 6% 11% Impurities lo.% 17% 15% 13%

Ratson Lake Analyses- typical

(14) (15)

Hydromagnesite 5 5% 27% Magnesite 34% 63% 3 2% Calcite 4% 2% 3% Impurities 7% 7% 7%

Riske Creek - typical

I 1 Writer 1 (20) Area A I (20) Area B 1

Hydromagnesite 47% 92% 67% Magnesite 47% 3% a@ Calcite 1% -" "_ Impurities 5% 5% 5%

61 Mile Creek. Analyses

Writer

Hydromagnesite 82% Magnesite 4% Calcite 3% Impurities 11%

Atlin. Analyses- main body

Hydromagnesite 91% 95% 96% 94% 8% 41% Magnesite % 1% --- -" 5% 35:% Calcite 4% 2% 1% 2% 3% ll$ Inpurities 3% 2% 2% 3% 3% 1%

- 125 - .Btlin Analyses- Deposits A, B, and C

1'9" 1 !4." 1'6n Surface 20;'

Hydromagnesite 9 6% 91% 38% 9 6% 97% Magnesite . . 2% -" "_ 2% "_ Calcite "_ "_ "- --- "- Impuri%ies 2% 8% 2% 2% 3%

All samples effervesced violently with cold hydrochloric acid leaving a residue composedof magnesite crystals, sand grains, and amorphous material. Further treatment withhot acid dissolved the magnesite.

In general '!hydromagnesite" from all deposits described is essential1.y alike, differing onlyin the proportionof magnesite to hydrcmagnesite and in the amount of contained lime and extraneous mineral grains. .. .. Origin of Deposits

The following remarks are necessarily restrictedto the hydromagnesite depositsof Central British Columbia, which the writer has visited. Written description suggests, however, that the Atlin and Chilcotin deposits are of similar origin.

All major deposits have the following features in common:

(1) Occurrence in depressions or on flats near ground- water level.

(2) Sheet-like form with relatively shallow depth.

(3) Cauliflower-like surface raised abovethe surrounding ground.

(4) Presence of clay or soil underlying the deposits.

(5) Progressive increase in lime and decrease in combined waterwith depth.

(6) Definite overlap of the raised surface over the soil at the edgesof deposits.

In addition the Neadow take deposits contain,in places, pits up to5 feet in depth and10 feet dianeterfilled, or partly filled,with angular boulders.

- 126 - TWo.possible modes of originsuggest themselves: deposition from solution in lakes and deposition from underground waters or springs. Both offerplausible explanations of oer- tainfeatures; only the latter, however, satisfactorilyao- counts for theraised' and overlappingsurface, "rook-pits,'' and the irregular distribution of deposits within a group.

The generalimpression formedby examination of thedeposits is that they havebeen fed by underground water either through capillarity or springs, andhave grown upwardand out- ward. In so doingrocks and soil havebeen displaced, account- ing for therelative absence of admixed soil,the over-lapping edgesand the rock piles and pits. The highercalcium content withdepth probably follows from the fact thatcalcium carbon- ateis less soluble than magnesium carbonate, and is consequently precipitated earlier from a rising solution containing both. No explanation is hmediatelyapparent for the decrease in combined water, or .in&ease in the proportion of magnesite versushydromagnesite; towards the base of deposits.

Beneficiation

Microscopicstudy of varioussamples of hydromagnesite revealed in general a marked size difference between magne" sitic constituents andsand grains. In view of this it was felt that the purity of material might be substantially in.- creasedthrough some method of sizing and elimination of larger grains.

Preliminary testing, to check the feasibility of this suggestion, was carriedout by the writer on severalsamples of typical material. The Jvork was .notcarried to its logi- calconclusion but does indicate a field for further investigation should the need arise.

The followingprocedure was followed in testing samples: A half pound sample was thoroughlydried, pulverized, and passedthrough a small air separator set to yield two products--oneplus 325 mesh (43 microns):,the other minus 325 mesh. The headsample and undersizeproduct were analyzed by theChief kssaysr, Victoria, in each case. knalyses of samples tested foilow: Meadow Lake Eeads Undersize

38.8% 41.5% 0.8% 1.3% 38.7% 40.3% 11.5% 8.3% 2.5% 0.9% 7.4% 6.7%

WatsonLake

MgO 39.4% 41..0$ CaO 2.1% 1.7% 50.5% 40.2% 11.2% Fe and A1 1 .'3% 0.. 8% Insol, 5.7% 4.3%

RiskeCreek

MgO 42.3 42.3 Ca0 0.7 0.. 6 41.9 42.8 0.2 8.6 1.0 1.7 Insol. 4.4 3.4

Sixty-OneMile Creek

MgO 38.0 41.0 CaO 1.6 1.5 co2 32.9 43.3 3320 16.0 8.4 Feand A1 1.7 1.0 Insol. 9.0 4.1

The aboveanalyses are of interest in indicating a possi- bleline of research. It is obviousthat the rninus'325 mesh productin all cases is freer of undesirableimpurities than thecoarser, or untreated material. Recoveries of theformer in the testsaveraged only 50 percent. F!icroscopic examination, however, showed thecoarser fraction to contain a large proportion o$ magnesiteand hydromagnesite which had notbeen completelypulverized. It is probable,therefore, that with careful.oontro1 of drying~and pulverizing a recovery of a minus 325 mesh product, constituting at least 75 percent of thetotal, could'be made withoutdifficulty. Again thepurity

- 128 - of thiscould probably be increased considerably over th8.t of the products in the above tests through care in preventing the comminutionof sand particles in processing.

References

Deposits

Ref. 1 - VcMahon - k Study of Clay'Miningand Its Costs in the Provinces of Ontarioand Que- bec. MinesBranch No. 754, Dept. of Mines,Ottawa.

Ref. 2 - L, Reinecke - MineralDeposits between Lillooet and Prince George, Br'itish Columbia. Mem. 118,Geological Survey, Canada, 1920.

Ref. 3 - G. A. Young - HydromagnesiteDeposits of Atlin. QeologicalSurvey of Canada, Summary Report1915.

- 129 - CHAPTER 4

Technology and Uses of

Magnesite, Hydromagnesite,

and Other Magnesium

Compounds Commercial Possibi'lities

The hydromagnesite deposits of British Columbiahava been known for many yearsbut remainunexploited. Zarliest reference to the Btlin deposits was recorded'in 1897, and to theCariboo in 1898. An experimentalshipment of 200 tons was made from Atlin to San Francisco in 1904; during 1915 and 1916 severalhundred tons morewas sent to Vancouver. In 1921 two orthree carloads were shipped from WatsonLake to Vancouver. No furtheractivity has beenrecorded.

Comercial exploitation of these deposits depends upon local or foreign demand forhydromagnesite, either to rep1:ace material at present used or to form the basis of new manufac- tures.In the former case hydromagnesitemust have superior properties to the material used or be deliverable at a lower cost;in the latter a sufficientmarket forthe product or products to be made must be assured in competition with im- portedgoods. The totalquantity of available hydromagnesite is relative1.ysmall and this too must have an important bear- ing on its utiIiiation, , Possibleuses for hydromagnesite are listed'below:

1. Refractories. 2. Cementsand Insulation. 3. Metallic Magnesium. 4: Chemicaland otheruses.

Refractories

Magnesitic refractories are resistent to the action of basic slags at hightemperatures, hence are widely usedin many branches of industry. The bulk of' consumption is for the construction and repair of basic open-hearthsteel furnaces, the remai.nderbeing used in copper refining and rever- beratoryfurnaces; copper converters, electric steel-melting furnaces, lead smelting and refining furnaces, rotary kilns burning cement,dolomite and lime, and variouschemical furn- acessuch as those melting and treating sodim carbonate or sodium sulphate.

Most magnesitic refractories are prepared from magnesite calcined at temperaturesabove 2,700 deg.F. to yield a dense, hardclinker. The clinker, known as "deadburned" magnesite is marketed either in a granularform (grain magnesite) or is fabricated,alone or withchromite and other materials, into brick. Grain magnesite is used almost exclusively for making open-hearth steel furnacebottoms; bricks serve a wider field.

- 131 - 4 BASIC BRICK

FIG. 1. Sources and uses of magnesitic refractories.

- 132 - ~ ~

Typical analyses of commercial dead burned magnesitesfol1.0~: --"iGAustrian

CaO 3

Si02 3 4 I 7 I

(a) Too low ironfor'grain magnesite for bottom maki:ng. (b) Iron added to crude magnesite before caloining.,

Prior to1914 magnesite was the only satisfactory matar- ial for the manufactureof basic refractories. 1mprovemen.ts in chrome brick, however, coupledwith lower prices, resulted in an increasing displacementof magnesite brick from markets which it had formerly monopolized.By 1927 thetwo were being produced in nearly equal quantities and were the only types on the market, each with certain inherent dis-advantages.: Sevtrr- a1 factors, however,have served to.check the decline in the use of magnesite for brick-making. One has been the discovery that superior characteristicswere imparted to brick by the use of chromite and magnesitein combination; another has been the introduction of cheaper, but in some respects superior, chemically-bonded magnesite brick.

Research has been directed successfully in recent years to dolomite and high-calcium magnesite for refractories; magnesite containing 12 per cent or moreof lime is now being used, and it is announced (Ref; 11) that "development has now been carried to the point where, with the presenceof certain stabilizing agents, it is possibleto make highly effective refraotories from dolomite and silica, or even from calcium limestone and silica. These new products, on account of the low cost of raw materials, canbe made much more cheaply than can the correspondingmagnesitic products and their development bids fair to have a major effect on the production of refractories made from magnesite and magnesitic dolomite."

Another interesting development is theuse of dunite, or oli- vinesich rock, blendedwith magnesite for the manufacture of shaped refractories. In Europe mixtures of serpentine and magnesite have been similarly employed. Although magnesitere..

- 133 - mainsthe most important source of refractory material for thesteel industry, it doesnot occupy its forme?unique position among basic refractories. 'Xher sources of magnesia arebeing developed, including dolobite, brucite, and sea water.In the last case it is interestingto note that extraction of magnesiafrom sea water is being carried on commercially in both California and England and part of the ma- terielobtained is convertedinto refractory products.

For some purposesthe presence of impurities is objec- tionable and magnesite refractories are made containing up to 92 percent magnesia.

In certain cases even greaterresistance to temperature is required and95 to 99 percent magnesia may beused. These special products are usually calcined electrically at .tempera- turesranging from2,900 to 4,500degrees F. A related "super-refractory,"synthetic spinel is made electrically from a mixture of magnesiaand alumina. In generalthe market for thesespecial refractories is very small owing to thehigh cost of manufacturingthem.

Production and Uarkets

No magnesite is producedcommercially in British Colum- bia,nor are any basic refractories made. Largedeposits of' rockmagnesite occur in East Rootenay(Elef. l), themost ac- cessiblebeing controlled by theConsolidated Miningand Smelting Company of Canada. Otheroccurrences have been re- portedfrom the following areas: Atlin (Ref. 4), Germansen Creek(Ref. 5), Bridge Yiver (Ref.3), Williams Lake(Ref. 2), andCli.nton (Ref. 5). These are, as far as is known, either tooremote, too impure, or too small to be of 'immediatein- terest.

The present demand for basic refractories in British Columbia is very small. Neitheriron and steelnor copper aresmelted in the province and electric steel melting is confinedlargely to furnaces with siliceous lining. The chemicalindustry is meagrelyrepresented, and lime is manufactured in vertical kilns.Small quantities of magnesite

,' andchrome brick are usedin the lead smelting industry and

~ for sundrypurposes, butalthough exact figures are not available, it is improbable that averageconsumption exceeds a few thousand bricks a year.

Canada

The only known deposits of magnesiticdolomite, or mag-

- 134 - nesite of comercial grade in eastern North America are found inkrgenteuil County,Quebec. These arepined and calcined at Kilmar and Harrington East; theproduc'ts marketed compriis- ingdead-burned grain material, bricks and shapes (burned and unburned),and refractory cements. Chromite is used in con- junction with magnesite in the preparation of severalproducts. The valueof magnesiti~c dolomite products marketed in 1937 was $677,.207, whileexports are recorded as 2,028 tonsvalued'at $49,401. Vithinthe last year experimental work,has been clone in respect to the utilization of extensivedeposits of bruoite- bearinglimestone discovered in Ontario,

Canadianimports ofmagnesite brick, caustic and dead-. burnedmagnesite and crudeand ground magnesite were valued. at $626,351 in 1937. Of thisfigure the largest part is at- tributableto material ?or refractorypurposes, In addition chrome firebricks wereimported tothe value of $103,287. Im- ports of both originated largely in the United States.

AGerage annualconsumption of basic and neutral refractories with a vdue in exces's of one million dollars is ac- counted for almost entirely by the industries of Eastern Canada.

United States

Commercial production of magnesite in the United States is confinedto Washington and California. The output from Washington is largely sold .in the dead-burned form, whereas California produces a preponderance of caustic-calcined material for otherthan refractory purposes.. Virtually all dead-burnedmagnesite from both sources is used for furnace bottoms.

Sales for refractory purposes represented about 85% of domesticproduction in 1937amounting to 83,204tons of deacl- burnedmagnesite valued at $1,598,336or about $19.00 per ton.

By theclose of1937 all importantmagnesite mines in California hadclosed, and production wasconpined to the extraction of magnesiafrom sea water. Satisfactory refractory materialhas been made and,insofar as theprocess has proved satisfactory andpresent capacity is in excess of 20,000 tons a year,the mines may remainclosed indefinitely: Atte'ntion has been directed to extensive deposits of brucite in Nevada, and in 1937 a moderate tonnage was' distributed to the Eastern States for testing in refractory manufacture.

Domesticproduction normally accounts for GO to 75per

- 135 - cent of the dead-burned xagnesite used in the United States. Importsin 1937 mounted to 56,021 tonsvalued at $795,047, of whichabout 43 per cent was from hustria, 37 per cent from Manchuria,and 16 percent from Czechoslovakia. Manchurian magnesiteentered the field for the first timein 1936,and since has captured a considerable part of themarket formerly dominated by theAustrian product. A largeproportion of imports is utilized by the three American manufacturers of basic refractories, who, situated on theAtlantic seaboard, depend entirely upon foreign supplies.

The followingare.average recent prices for variousbasic refractories.

Dead Burned Magnesite

Domestic - f.0.b. Washington - $25.00perton. f.0.b. California - $22.00 per ton. Austrian - f.0.b.Austria - $14.47 perton. Manchurian - f.0.b. Kwantung - $12.19 .perton. __Note: Delivered price in Pittsburgh for all is about $35.00 perton. Tariff rates on importedcrude and dead-burnedmagnesite are $9.375 and $11.50 per ton respectively.

California - 92% dead-burnedmagnesite f.0.b. Cal. - $35.00 per ton. 94% or highgrade periclase f.0.b. Cal. - $65.00 per ton.

Chromite

Chrome ore - 48-50% 0.i.f. Atlantic ports - $22.00 to $23.00 perlong ton.

All pricesf.0.b. Philadelphia. Magnesitebrick - $67.00ton. per Chemically-bonded ma.gnesitebrick - $57.00 per ton. Chrome brick - $47.00ton. per Chemically-bonded chrome brick - $47.00ton. per Fusedmagnesia brick " $1.00 brick.per -Note: Standard magnesite bricks weigh 10 lbs. each and standard chrome brick 11 lbs.

- 136 - World Production and Pdarkets

Xorldproduction of crude magnesite in 1936 was roughly1,800,000 long tons of which thelargest part, at leasttwo-thirds, was used for refractorypurposes. Chief.producing countries are listed below: t Country Production(1936) Exports Remarks (long tons) (long tons)

" J.S.S:R. No data--probably No data--large Largereserves of high between 860,~OOO and quantities to grade magnesite contain- and 9001000 long Eng., France, ing over 95% ~gC03. tons annually. Germany and others. bustria -Crude - 391,,494 Crude - 9,058 Largereserves: Imports longtons; dead- dead-burned - negligible.United States burned - 97,025 - 62,934. leadingbuyer, followed by long tons; bricks - Bricks - 38,643 U.K.., France,etc. Germany 42,015;caustic- caustic-calcined chiefmarket for caustic. calc'ined - 57,621, - 43,274. lAanchoukuo -Crude - 203,000 Crudeand ground Largereserves. Imports 108,535. negligible. . Large part of.exports as dead-burned, toJapan, United States, etc.

;reece Crude - 118,000not Crude - .44,841 Fairly large reserves. overone-third dead- caustic-calcined Materialmost suitable for - 23,340dead- caustic. Germany and.. 1 burned - 11,796, Netherlands main buyers. Country' Production(1936) Exports Remarks (long tons) ilonn tons) I Czecho- No data - see Crude - 8,545 Largereserves - Hungary, slovakia exports. calcined - Germany, andUnited 34,957. Stateschief buyers.

Australia Crude - 17,615 Neg. -used in Fairlylarge reserves. Australia.

India Crude - 15,468 4.,768 - largely Fairly large resek-veai caustic-calcined. Exports Europe I to and U.S.A. P cI1 W Germany Crude - 14,789 calcined - 1,789 No dah on reserves. I (Prus.sia) I In the following table chief importing countries are listedwith pertinent data:

Approx. Consumption Imports Sources of Imports Country (calcined) (long tons) (in order of importancej (long tons) \

U.S.A. 132,400 Crude-neg. dead- Austria, Manchoukuo, burnt - 38,043 Czechoslovakia-+inor caustic - 1,960. amts. from India, Canada, Greece, USSR, etc.

Germany 12s, 100 Crude - 55,074 Greece, Austria, Czecho- caustic - 62,757 Slovakia--minor from dead-burnt - Yugoslavia, ZSSR, etc. SO, 606.

United 38, ooo Crude and calcined Austria, Greece, British Kingdom - sa. 534 India, USSR, Netherlands, Canada.

France 14,000 Crude - 4,100 calcined - 12,223 No data.

Nether- 11,000 Crude - 1,155 No data. lands Oxide - 10,411

Italy 5,600 Caustic - 4,176 No data The remaining countries are either essentially producers, or consume only small quantities of magnesitej in several cases, e.g., Japan information is lacking.

Vorld production of magnesite for refractory purposes has increased considerably in the last two years. The above figures (1936 are most recent available) however, are at least indicative of major consumers and sourcesof supply.

Refractory Possibilitiesof Hydromagnesite

At present the local marketfor basic refractories is too small to justify their manufacturein the province. Eastern Canada has developed sourcesof supply, and competitionwith producers in Washington and Californiafor United States markets would be virtually impossible becauseof tariffs and transportation costs. European mhrkets are dominated by Central European producers, and the developmentof Manchoukuon deposits effectively closes the Oriental market to outside supply. There seems, therefore, littleif any commercial possibility .of utilizing British Columbia hydromagnesitefor refractory purposes under present conditions.

'World reserves of magnesite are large and present resources will not be exhaustedfor many years: again the recent satisfactory extraction of magnesia from sea water makes the supply literally inexhaustible. However, changes in political control of deposits or of foreign policy in respectto them might besuch as toallow the economic exportationof hydromagnesite or derived products. It seems more likely, however, that possible developmentof the deposits as asource of refractory material is contingent upon deveiopmentof local demand through increased industrial activity in the province.

In this connection quantity, quality, and locationof deposits are of paramount importance. An estimated 136,000 tons of hydromagnesite is available from Neadow Lake, Xatson Lake, and Clinton, witha further 120,000 tonsof less pure material present in these and nearby deposits. Recalculated to the basisof equivalent magnesia, the first grade would represent 54,000 tonsof pure magnesia, or 65,000 tonsof calcined material containing2 to 3 per cent lime and from8 to 20 per cent total impurities (lime, silica, iron oxide, alumina); the second grade would'represent 40,000 tons of pure magnesia, or 54,000 tonsof calcined magnesite with4 to 10 per cent lime and20 to30 per cent total impurities. Wining and transportationof crude material to Vancouver would cost roughly$5.00 to $7.00 per ton, or $10.00 to $14.00 per ton of dead-burned magnesite if calcining was donein

- 140 - Vancouver.

The Atlin deposits are estimated to contain approximately lC)O,OOO tons of hydromagnesite carrying less than3 per cent impurities, the equivalentof 41,000 tons of pure magnesia, or 45,000 tons of dead-burned magnesite with not over1 per cent lime and 6 per cent total impurities. It is probable thaton a quantity basis the costof mining and transportation to Van- couver wouldnot exceed $8.00 to $10.00 per tonof crude, or $16.00 to $20.00 per ton of calcined material.

In the table below typical analyses, calculated to their dead-burned equivalents,of hydromagnesite from the deposit;s under discussion are comparedwith analysesof various ccmmer- cia1 dead-burned magnesites. - MgO CaO Fe203 Si.02 - " Meadow Lake--centre of 84.9 2.7 0.8 8.2 main deposit - 0-15"-(4)

Meadow Lake--'averageof 5 samples - 0-2'' - (5) 90.1 2.8 2.0 2.8

Watson Lake--east endof east deposit - 0-36"- (15 87.0 2.5 *4 9.2 Watson Lake--west deposit 0-26'1, part creamy - (16) 82.9 3.2 ..Y 12.8

Atlin--average of 8 analyses 91.2 2.0 1.6 3. :1 Austrian dead-burned magnesite--(Ref. 9, p. 617) 87.3% 2.64 3.77 4. !50 Austrian dead-burned magnesite--(Ref. 7, p. 325) 85.57 0.96 7.43 0.26 Average 90.0 -3.52 -9.96 -1.34 kiarichoukuo dead-burned magnesite--(Ref. 10,. p. 1128) 90.,9 1.78 L36 4.1.9

- " ___ - .CaO Si02 -MgO __Fe203 A1203 - Washington dead-burned magnesite - (Ref. 9, F. 617) 81.3% 5.2% 4.40 2.01 6.90

Yfashington dead-burned .~ magnesite--(Ref. 7, p: 325) 83.04 3.11 7%02 7;02 6.78

California dead-burned magnesite--(Ref. 9, p. 617) 93.15 2.05 0.49 0.28 3.96

California dead-burned from sea-water--(Ref. 10, p. 1128) 80.9 4.0 7.0 2.0 6.0

California periclase from sea water--(Ref. 10, p. 1128) 92.3 2.0 .2 .4 5.0

Greece dead-burned magnesite--(Ref. 7, p. 325) 90.62- -4.10 -1.57 -1.57 -3.00

Wide variations in analysesof commercial dead-burned magnesites are apparent in the above.table. Disregarding periclase grades,IdgO ranges from80.9 to 90.9 per cent, CaO from 0.96 to 5.28 per cent, Fe203 from1.57 to 9.96 per cenC, A1203 from0 to 7.02 per cent, andSi02 from0.26 to 6.90 pep cent.

MgO, CaO, and A1203 in material representedby the above Edeadow Lake and !Tatson Lake analyses lie within commercial limits: Iron oxide, however, although likewise between these limits, is too low for satisfactory grain magnesite:on the other hand silica is rather highfor all purposes'. Atlinby- dromagnesite, as represented by the above analysis, is almost pure enough to furnish calcined materialof periclase grade; actually much of the hydromagnesite from Atlindep,osi-ts is even purer. Recent technologic advancesin the manufacture of basic refractories coupledwith the probability that a large part of the impurities in hydromagnesite becan econom- ically eliminated ,see discussion under Beneficiatioqjsug- gest that a varietyof refractory materials can be madewith hydromagnesite as a base.

The establishment of a steel industry in the province

- 142 - would provide a majormarket for dead-burnedplagnesite in bothbasic open-hearth and electric furnaces. ' The quantity thus consumed cannotbe estimated without knowing the sizo of operation or theprocesses employed:

A hypotheticalproduction of 500 tons per day, however, might call for 1,500 to 4,500 tons of dead-burnedmagnesite and products a year. On thisbasis the Cariboo deposits would have a maximum life of 10 to 40 years,depending on consumption and usablequality. bdditional markets for magnesitic refractories wouldbe afforded by copper smelting, the manufacture of ferro-alloys,certain chemical industries, and by expansionof the present cementand lime industries. Chrome and forsterite replace magnesitio refractories for many ptir- poses,and for othersare preferable. Both, however,requ.ire magnesite for their manufacture.

Forsterite refractories, first developedin Norway about 1925, are of recentintroduction to Jmerica. Although rather poorlyresistant to basic slags (other than those high in iron), they show promise in many fields, being suitable for high tem- peratureceramic kilns, rotary kilns, electric furnace bottoms, forgingand reheating furnaces in steel works, roofs ofcopper furnaces, andbulkheads of open-hearthsteel furnaces. They arenormally made fromdunite in which the olivine (forsterite richvariety) content is roughly 90 percent. Magnesite is added to convert easily fusible impurities to forsterite md magnesioferkite.

Typioalanalyses of dunitesused commercially follow: INorth Carolina Norway - Si02 31.7 41.81 hIg0 57.2 50.31 FeO 6.4 5*03 Pe.203 -" 0.25 A1203 1.1 "" Cr203 0.1 0.37 K20 plus Na2O "- 0.01

Crude dunite is quoted at $6.00 perton f.0.b. North Carolina.

It is notable that forsterite refractories have been made satisfactorily in Germany frommixtures of serpentine and magnesitealthough at a somewhat higher cost than from olivinerpck. In thisconnection it seems probablethat they

- 143 - could be likewise made in British Columbia shoulda demand for themarise.. Dunite deposits areof restricted occurrence and it is questionableif any in the province would approach the desired forsterite content: serpentine on the other hand is widely distributed and easily accessible froma number of deposits' for admixture with hydromagnesite.

Results obtained in the removalof impurities from hydromagnesite (see Beneficiation~) suggests the possibilityof producing material of periclase (93%) or high grade.periclase (94%) grade by a relatively cheap treatment. With sufficiently cheap power fksed magnesia products may possibly be produced from processed hydromagnesite in future.

Cements. and Insulating Materials

Lightly calcined magnesite,.or caustic magnesite; mixed with asolution of magnesium chloride sets rapidly a.dense,to hard;,and strong body. . Oxychloride, Sorel,'or .magnesite cement;; made in this way is employed extensivelyfor flooring, as well as for stucco, plaster, insulating board,. artificial .. tile, etc. -Caustic Magnesite

Until recently mostof the caustic-magnesite produced was used in oxychloridecement, but today the chiefuse is' in the rubber industry.The subject is most conveniently discussed here, however,i,n view of its common association.

Caustic magnesite refers to magnesite which has been calcined at a relatively low temperature(800 to 1000 deg. C.) and in which a small per centageof carbon dioxide remains. The carbon dioxide in itself serves no useful purpose, but calcination at temperatures sufficient to remove it entirely results in overburning the product.

Two allotropic forms of magnesia are known: alpha- magnesia and beta-magnesia or periclase. The former first results from the dissociationof MgCO3, but changes readily to the latter with sufficiently high temperature. The transformation temperature is somewhat variable but in general lies abve 1100 deg. 6. Impurities, chiefly iron oxide, hasten the transformation, and an iron oxide contentof more than two per cent usually requires calcininga consider-at ably lowered temperature.

Alpha-magnesia is chemically reactive whereas perielase is relatively inert; the latter, present in overburned caus-

- 144 - "t I

RefiaiW t Metallic tbqnesium

FIG. 2. Sources and uses of various magnesium products.

- 145 - tic magnesite, though desirablefor refractory use, is value- less in oxychloride cementor for chemical purposes. Actqally a balance must be struck and the result is that magnesium :carbonate, alpha-magnesia, and periclase may be all present in caustic-magnesite, the desideratum being a minimum contentof the first and last.

Calcination of caustic-magnesite for certain purposes is simple: for oxychloride cement, however,the temperature and rate of burning, as well as the grade and finenessof raw magnesite, affect the propertiesof the final cement and must be carefully controlled. Not all caustic magnesite is suitable for oxychloride cement: that whichis suitable, known as plastic magnesia, ,may show considerablevariation in chemical composition and physical properties. Caustic magnesite is burned in either vertical'or rotary kilns and marketed in either lump or pulverized form, the former being desirable: to minimize hydrationand carbonation where prolongedex- posure to the airis unavoidable.

Production and Markets

A general resumeof the production and marketing,of magnesite was given under the headof Refractories. No figures areavailable relating to,the proportional amounts of caustic-magnesite employed by various industries.In the United States, however, the quantity used as a chemical accelerator inthe rubber industry is several times thatu'ied in oxychloride cement. Minor uses include the manufactureof certain salts, heat insulation, andin Europe of metallic magnesium.

American production in 1937 (Ref.10, p. 11.27) of caustic-magnesite, originating in California.and Washington;was 10,000 tons valued at 8311,326. An additional 2,798 tons was imported, largely from India,. with-lesser amounts from Greece and the Netherlands. Prices vary somewhatwith Purity but in general range from $35.00$40.00 to per ton f.0.b. mines. Statistics in respect to Cansdian.production and im- po.rts are not available; a relatively small quantity is produced from magnesitic-dolomite at Kilmar-Barrington :East.

Oxychloride cement

Oxychloride cement sets quickly to a hard, dense, tough, elastic.product, which can be drille6., orcut, planed like wood. It is fire resistant, adheres tenaciously to wood, is reasonably waterproof, and expands slightly while setting..

- 146 - The main use o$ oxychloride cement at present is for the preparation of flqoring for public buildings, railroad cars, boats,bathrooms, etc. These floors are resistantto wear yet resilient, plRa.si?g in, appearance, are waterand fire resistant, and wa&n to the touch. In theirpreparation fill- erssuch as sawdust,talc,' china clay; pulverized silica, and asbestos are added'.and the mixtures.colored with. suitable pigments. The flooring'may be laidover any surface, old or new, without previous dressing or other preparation.

Oxychloride cementmakes a smooth,tough plastersuperior in strength to both gyps,um andlime, and which may beapplied to almost any. surface including old plaster or concrete: Freelime must be absent, however, insofar asthe presence of appreciable amounts bringsabout the decomposition of both theoxychloride pla'ster or flooring and theunderlying material. In generalthe use of oxychlorideplaster is restricted incompetition with other types by its highercost. However, verysatisfactory drainboard slabs, artificial tile, and other specialities are made.

Some 15years ago, at least three-quarters of the plastic magnesiaproduced went intothe making of stucco.Magnesifl stucco has many recommendable features,among which are its strength(about three times that of cement stucco),quick- settingability, ease of application,.and its firm bond to bothlath and rock-dash. On the other hand it is less weather- proofthan cement stucco and greatercare is required in mixing it: For thesereasons it fellintq disrepute, probably in largemeasure due to lack of knowledge as to its correctuse and variabil.ity in grade of the plastic magnesiaobtainable atthat time. Since 1929 very little has been used for thi.s purpose,Within the last 10 years,however, research has beendirected to thestandardizat3on of datarespecting oxy- chloridecements and to the imps.6vement of its deficiencies. Much progress has been made and its use will probably increase in the future.

Oxychloridecement is employed to some extent in the manufacture of artificial lumber,wallboard, and insulating material (Thermax). In addition it is used as dentist's plaster, for small moulded articles such as pipebowls and :a ash trays, as' a dilute 'spray or paint for fireproofing cur- tains,timber, etc. Insofar as oxychloride cementexpands ratherthan contracts.during setting, it is ideal for all types of moulded articles..

The chemical composition 'of 'plastic magnesia .may vary between relatively wide limits yet yield cements of good'quali-

- 147 - ty; satisfactory testing is .restricted to %he determination of physical properties of typical mortars during and after setting. In general, however,good qualitymagnesia contains BO to 90 percent MgO, 2 to 5 per'cent CO2, and not more than 4 to 5 percent CaO, theremainder being original impurities such asSi02, A1203, and Fe2O3. The lastthree have little bearingon the quality of the cement, acting merely as inert dilu.entswhich must be compensated for in the mortar by lesser additions of otherfillers. Free lime, water, andcarbon di- oxideare important, however, in influencing the physical properties of thefinal product.

The permissibleupper limit of freelime has not been de- terminedbut amounts in excess of 3 to 4 per cent are likely toyield. cement of poorquality and shortlife. Undissoci- atedcalcium carbonate, on the other hand is nomore deleteri- ous than silica cr other inert fillers.

The watercontent is an index of the storage conditions, a relatively high per centage indicating prolonged exposure-. The carbondioxide content depends upon the previous heat treatment of the magnesi.a; if too little is presentthe mag- nesiahas probably been overburned. If too much is present, on the other hand, either the magnesia has been underburned or hasbeen stored for anexcessive period. In general 2 to 5 per cent of C02 is found in good gradematerial. In passing it is interesting to note that the exposure of plastic magnesia with oonsequent hydration and recarbonation may produce a stronger cement withreduction in expansion; setting time may beunduly prolonged however. Fresh mortar, properly prc- pared,acquires an initial set in about onehour m,d a final set in eight to ten hours.

Plastic magnesia must be finely sized, at least .35.per cent through 100 mesh and 70 per cent 'through 200 rhesh being

conmionly required'. ': In general the. more finely divided the magnesiathe greater the set strength and the more rapid the setting.

The standardization of data and specifications respecting oxychloride cementshould result in an increased future use for many purposes. I.n particular it hasbeen found (Ref. 8) that the addition of fine-copper powder tooxychloride cement gives a product in which resistance to weathering is greatly increased, and strengthexpansion characteristics, abrasion resistance, and otherproperties are markedly improved.

- '148 - Possibilities for the Uanufacture of Plastic Magnesia from Eydrcmagnesite

Many points 'in the former discussionof the use ofhy- dromagnesite for refractory purposes are applicable here. LO- cal and Canadian consumption is small; American and for-other eign markets are either already adequately supplied domesti- cally or effectively closed by tariffs. Oxychloride cement, however, is used by the construction industry whereas magnesitic refractories are used onlyin certain specialized industries. In addition oxychloride cement may be made economi- cally on a small scalewith aminimum initial investment;refractories, on the other hand,. be.made'onmust amuch larger scale and entail considerable plant expenditure. As a result it is possible thata small local enterprise might enjoyo:r create a sufficiently large marketfor a diversified line of oxychloride cement products, sold aat sufficiently low price to encourage their use, to justify exploitationof the deposits.

In many respects hydromagnesite appears eminently suited to the manufactureof plastic magnesia. It is extremely finegrained, precluding the necessityof fine-grinding, and is low in lime and iron. Silica is high but its occurrencea:: relatively large sand grains would minimize the formationof silicates during burning, leaving it as an inert and harmless filler. The total volatile content, including combined wat:er and carbon dioxide, is roughly50 per cent in average hydromagnesite which compares favourablywith 48 to 51 per cent for various commercial magnesites.

Further, the temperature at which the10 to 15 per cent of combined water is eliminated,, is below575 deg. C., the dissociation temperature of magnesium carbonate'., It is pro'b- able, therefore, that the actual amountof heat required for the caustic haloinationof hydromagnesite would be 1ess.tha:n for magnesite.

Some of' the less pure hydromagnesites might yield plastic magnesia suitable for certain purposes. Although complete calcination of these would result in an excessive a,mount Of free lime, it is possibleto reduce this through carefuliy controlled calcination or to practically eliminate it through recarbonation. By maintaining calcination temperatures at 750 to 850 deg: C: the dissociationof magnesite can be ef- 'fected without dissociating calcite appreciably.. Again it has been found (fief.,12) that if calcined magnesia is br0ugh.t into Contactwith carbon dioxide gas at temperatures slightly above the'dissociation pointof MgC03 but below thatof CaCC3

- 149 - all of the free lime is rapidlyconverted,to CaC03 with rather large evolutionof heat whileMgO remains unaffected. .. .. The lowest partof the creamy layer in the MeadowLee deposit might beof interest as a source of low grade cement. Some 75,000 to 100,000 tons of impure hydromagnesiteis probably available of which the following analyses is fairly typical. Creamy Layer- 39-60!'

MgO - 24.325 CaO - 20.12 co2 -. 38.64 820 - 2.93 Fe203 - 0.49 *'2O3 - 1.35 S io2 - 10.32

Assuming that materialof the above composition-becal- cined or recarbonatedso that CaC03 retains itsfull comple- ment of C02 but MgCO3is completely dissociated, the result- ing product would have the following approximate composition

M@ .. 31% CaC03 - 53% Fe203, 81203, and.Si02. - 16% Since CaC03 has the propertiesof an inert filler the material would contain 31 per centMgO and 69 per cent filler. Although this would rep.resent material too for impure most flooring or plaster mortars, it could possibly befor used ,. stuccorelatedand purposes. .. Basic MagnesiumCadonate

The principal useof basic magnesium carbonate is.for the preparation of "85 per cent magnesia" insulation. Other .uses, dependent'on itslow apparent density (from 5 to10 Ibs;, per CU. ft. for the light grade), absorptive and adher- . iag properties, and mild neutralizing action, are in the salt, ru3beP, ink, and pharmaceutical industries. The "85 per cent magnesia''. ingulation,is composed of' 85 per cent basic magnesium carbonate, and15 per cent of asbestos fibre. It is employed chiefly as a covering for steam pipes and boilers, and .is also prepared in blocks and shapes, an&as cement for other purposes.

- 150 - Basic magnesium carbopate,magnesia alba, or block magnesia, (4MgCO3.Mg(OH)2. 5HzO) is commonlymade fromdolom.ite althoughmagnesite may beu$ed. Inrecent years considerable quantities havebeen 'derived from sea water. In its produotion, dolomite is calcinedand the burnt rock slaked with excess water. Carbon dioxidefrom'*the calcination is passedthrough the slurry andcalcium carbonate precipitated andremoved by filtration. The clearsolution is thenboiled causing the precipitation of basic magnesium carbonate'which is likewise removed by filtration and dried, or mixed with asbestos fibre andmoulded. The basic magnesium carbonate may befurther calcined to yield pure magnesia; in addition the by-product calciumcarbonate enjoys a considerable demand as a substitute for whiting for many purposes.

The current New York quotation for basic magnesium carbonate,,bagged and incarload lots, is 6 1/4 cents a pound or $125.00 perton. Prices for magnesium oxideand precip?- tated calcium carbonate are 23 cents per pound ($460.00 per ton) and 2 3/4 centsper pound ($55.00 perton) respective1.y. 'Nhiting substitute ranges from $lO,OO to $15.00 per ton for. thebetter grades. Production statistics are notavailable for either Canada or theUnited States; imports for the latter, however, in 1937amounted to about 500 tons of basic magnesium carbonateand 100 tons of puremagnesia.

The same factors apply to the manufacture of basic mag- nesiuncarbonate from hydromagnesiteas already discussedin connection with refractories and caustic-magnesite;the most importantconsideration being the lack of apparentmarkets. Small quantities of magnesia insulation are used in Western Canada but certainly insufficient to merit its local manufacture unless foreign markets could be reached or additional markets created.

Hydromagnesite is probablysuitable for the manufacture of basic magnesium carbonate by the process outlined although research is necessaryto work outoperating details. It should be possible not only to utilize impurehydromagnesitc in this way but to select material in which the calcium car-. bonate content is commensurate with the market for precipi- tatedcalcium carbonate.

Metallic Magnesium

Magnesium has acquired importance as 'an industrial metal only in the last fewyears, although magnesium compounds are widespread and abundantcomponents of theearth's crus.t. Re- cently, however, many difficulties in production havebeen

- 151 - overcome and a considerable demand has been established. Its field of application is growing daily and although present consumption is largelyfor armament,purposes,it is probable that normal requirements will expand sufficiently in the near future to assure cont'inued expansion without artificial stimu- lation.

The supplyof raw materials from which magnesium may be recovered is practically inexhaustible; most important are magnesite, dolomite, sea water; salt springs, and salt deposits. The last two are the source of the mgnesiummetal produced in Germany and the United States, 'whereas the first two are used elsewhere. As yet'magnesiumhas not been extracted from sea watercom&ercially, other than' smalla scale in Japan, but recent success in the preparationof various magnesia products and magnesium salts from this sourceas- sures its feasibility.

Three methods are at present used for the extraction of- magnesium; (1) electrolysis of fused chlorides, (2) e1ectro'- lysis of the oxide in solution in molten fluorides, and (3) direct reductionof the oxide by carbon' in an electric carbon arc furnace. The first is the most important from the point of view of present production.; the last, however, has proved highly satisfactory, especially where magnesiteor dolomite are theraw materials, and several plants have been built within the last year to use this process. The second, although popular some^ years ago, has been largely. superseded by the others.

The electrolytic process'is employed exclusively in Ger- many and the United States, magnesium being extracted from potash-waste liquor and carnallite in the former and from brine-springs in the latter. Electrolysis is likewise used in Italy and Russia,and by certain pla'nts in Great Britain, France, and.Japan, and a varietyof source-materials is being drawn upon, including carnallite, lake brine, sea-water bit- tern, magnesite, and dolomite'. Where magnesite and dolomite are used they are first calcined and convertedto~magnesium chloride by treatment with hydrochloric acid.In general the actual process comprises three steps: (1) conversion of magnesium chloride' salts to anhydrousform and admixture with other chloride salts;(2) electrolysis of fused bath in a cell at low voltage, and (3) purification of the metal. Details of operating,practice are widely aifferent but in general temperatures rangefrom 450 to 750. deg. C., cell voltage from2 to 8 volts, current from10,000 to 20;OOO amperes, and current efficiency from85 to 90 per cent. The ene'r& required to produce 1 kg. of metal is in the' orderof 18'to 20 Kw-Hrs.,

- 152 - and the product may be up to 99.99 per cent pure.

The receqtlydeveloped electrothermic process has been adoptedin several countries within the past two years,no.ta- blyGreat BSitain, Japan, and Austria. In addition magnesium hasbeen produced ele'ct'rcthermally on anexperimental scale from Washington.magnesite. The followingdescription of the process is quoted from the Minerals Yearbook,1938 (Ref. 10, p .' 638) :

"Three parts of high-puritydead-burned magnesite are mixed with one'part of coal dust and'subjecte6 to a temperature of about 2300 deg. C. inamelectric furnact? withthree electrodes, where the magnesium oxide as re- duced to magnesium vapor. The metallicvapor wi$h excess coal dust passes through a flue, into which almost purehydrogen is introduced by jets from a surrqunding pipe, and then into a cooler with a temperature .os, 150 to 200 deg. C. .Theproduct consists of nagnesiuq powder,coal dust, and a small quantity of magnesium oxide whichnext passes through a closed warm conveyor into an enclosedbriquet machine. The briquetsare heated to 750 to 950 deg. C. in a small electricfurnace..under partial vacuum, fromwhich the magnesium is distilled andcondensed in the form of smallpellets. The pellets dropinto a hopper of hydrocarbon oil of high boiling point. The metal is separated from the oil, remelted, and castinto ingots. Magnesium of 99.97 percent purity is produced. FritzHansgirg, originator of the Austrian process, states that the total power consumption is 11 kw-hr. per pound of magnesium metal. The over-allrecovery is probably better than 80 percent of the magnesium content of the calcined magnesite."

Metallic magnesium is silvery white in color and one- thirdlighter in weightthan aluminum. It is somewhat malleable when coldbut extremely so if heated to 350-450 deg. C. It canbe easily cast into moulds and worked into variousforms. The chieflimitation to the use of magnesium and its alloys at present is thereactive nature of tho metal which causes it to.oxidize readily in a humid atmosphere,or corrode in contact with certainsolutions. Ex- tremely pure metal, such as that,obtained by the electro- thermicprocess, shows a relatively high resistance to oxida.- tion, and some alloys are practically as stable as other COIII- mon industrial metals.Again, considerable advances have been made in methods of surface treatment to resist corrosion, two of the mostcomon'being immersion in nitric acid-sodium. dichromatesolution or inselenious acid or acidified sodium selenite. - 153 - For most construction work magnesiummust be alloyed for sufficientstrength, the common commercial alloysbeing confined to those with aluminiumand zinc containing a small amount of manganese.Certain more complex alloysinvolving cadmium, copper,silver, etc. are used for specialpurposes. Sandand diecastings, forgings, rolled sheet, and extruded stryctural members are being.produced today for a variety of usesincluding crank cases, pistons, transmission bodies, gearcases, hubcaps, aircraft andautomobile parts, vacuum cleaners and typewriterparts, gunand rifle parts, and parts for cameras,binoculars, radio-equipment, portable pneumatic tools,bread slicing andwrapping equipment, textile machinery, packagingequipment, type-welding equipment, automatic ham- mers,etc.

New extrusion alloys havebeen recently developed and. theiruse extended to various structural members. Magnesium rolled sheet has recently been used by printing concerns .for etching plates, and a special alloy extensively employed by the electrical industry for bus bars.

Magnesium is widely used as a deoxidizer in the manufacture of non-ferrouscastings, for thedehydration of oils, as a catalystinseveral chemical processes, ?or theproduction of intenselight for photography, in certain explosives such as monal,in the thermit reduction process^, and in fire- works, flares, star shells,etc.

As mentioned, a variety of raw productsare used for the extraction of metallic magnesium; magnesiteand dolomite being importantsources in several countries. Little information hasbeen published, however, in respect to processes or purity requirements of theraw materials involved. 0ne.large manu- facturer gives thefollowing specifications for magnesiteto be used in the electrothermic process:material to be dead- burnedwith a MgO content of 93 to 94 per cent and ignition loss of notover 0:.5% butpreferably 0.3%. The ferrousoxide content is mostimportant and should not exceed 0.5% although up to 1%is permissible. Lime is next inimportance and should.be as low as possible,preferably not over 1.5%: Silica is allowable up to 3~5%and alumina to 0,5% to 1%-

None of the hydromagnesite sampled. is sufficiently pure to meetthe above requirements, although the Atlin material approachesthem fairlyclosely. Beneficiation tests, however, hake shown the possibil2ty of materially increasing the purity of thehydromagnesite, and relatively pure magnesia can probably 'be preparedby recarbonation., Again the requirements of certain Us'ers may notbe as stringent as those above. In gen-

- 154 - eral, therefore, the hydromagnesite of British 'Columbia may prove of value as a.,sourge of me5'allic magnesium should its manufacture be contemplated in the province.

World production of magnesium ,1937in was estimated (Ref. 10) to.he 18,000 metric tons, of which Germany produCed 10,000, United States 2059, United Kingdom 2000, France 1500, Japan 1200, Switzerland 700, USSR.400, Austria 80, and Italy 66. .Estimates for1938 are not completebut world production has >robably increased to at least21,000 tons, ,withnew operations contemplated in Japan, Xnited Kingdom, Italy, and the United States. Magnesium metal,99,8 per cent pure andin car- load lots, is quoted 30at cents per lb.on the New York market. It is estimated that high-purity magnesium can be pro-' duced for 15 cents per pound at most, and possibly with qu8.n- tity production atas low as 10 cents from Washington magnesite on the basisof wholesale power chargesof $17.50 per kilowatt year.

Chemical and OtherUses

Although the major uses of magnesite and magnesitic products have 'been discussed,a few minor ones remain which are worthy of mention.

Crude magnesite hasfew uses. other than for the manufacture of the products already discussed. It has been employed, however, in the sulphite paper process, a as source of carbon dioxide gas, and finely ground as a fillerin various products including paints and fertilizers. In the last connection the value of magnesium as a plant and animal food is being realized more and more,with the probable result that increasing amounts of magnesite, dolomite, and magnesium salts willbe used in the manufacture of fertilizers as time goes Inon. a few in- stances epsom salts arc made by treating magnesitewith sui- phuric acid, and magnesium chloride with hydrochloric acid. The amount of crude magnesite soldin the United States and Canada is small, only 1952 tons being sold as such during 1937 in the former country,with anaverage value of614.96 per ton.

The largest partof the caustic magnesite produced is used as a chemical accelerator in the manufactureof rubber. Although in general the requirements are similar to those for oxychloride cement, the magnesite need not be burnt as hard for this purpose but must be practically free from manganese. The selling priceof caustic-magnesite ranges from $35.00 to $45.00 per ton f:o.b. mines.

Basic magnesium carbonate is used in considerable quan-

- 155 - tities by the rubber,ink, salt, and pharmaceutical industries. In rubber manufacture it is utilized largely in the production of mechanical goods and in the manufactureOf printer's ink to produce a dull finish and hold the vehicle: About 1 per cent of basic magnesium carbonate is addedto commcn salt to makeit 'free-flowing. In' the pharmaceutical and toilet preparation industries large quantitiesof basic magnesium carbonate as wellas magnesium oxide and hydroxide are used in the manufacture of tooth powdersand pastes, ointments, face powders, antacid preparations, etc. Certain chemicals such as magnesium citrate, fluosilicate, etc. are also made from the carbonate. Basic magnesium carbonate is quoted at 6 1/4 cents per lb. f.c.b. works.

The main usesof magnesium hydroxide an'd magnesium oxide are in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Milk of. Ebagnesia, consumed in relatively large quantities,is a sus- pension of' hydrous magnesium hydroxide prepared either by the reaction of epsom salts and caustic sodaor by-the dispersion of special grades of hydrated magnesia. Magnesium hydroxide is a more satisfactory neutralizerthan caustic soda, and can replace caustic soda and lithargeto advantage in the sweet- ening of gasoline. It is also highly efficient in the removal of hydrogen sulphide from gases,and is valuable in the syn- thesis of alcohols: Special gradesof magnesium oxides have proved experimentally to be more efficient than decolorizing clays for the oil industry.

Magnes'ium chloride has a varietyof uses including bleaching and the .manufactureof 'cotton goods.

Magnesium oxide, U.S.P.., light, in ,barrels quoted.atis 42 cents a pound, and magnesium chloride,in drums,at $36.00 per ton on the New York market.

- 166 - References

Technologyand Markets

Ref. 1 - C. E. Cairnes. Summ. Report.pt. 11A, 1932,Geological Survey, Canada;

Ref. 2 - Chas.Camsell - Summ. .Rept. 1.917, Geological Sur- vey,Canada, pp, 25-28.

Ref.3 - C. W. Drysdale - Summ. Report,1916, Geological Survey,Canaaa, p: 48.

Ref.4 - J. C. Gwillim - GeologicalSurvey, Canada, Annual iieport. Vol:XII, 1897,p. 21B.

Ref.. 5 - R. G. MoConnell - Geol.Survey, Can.,Annual Ro- port. VoL. VII, 1894,p. 25C. Ref. 6 - J. F. Walker - Summ. Report.pt. 11A, 1932, Geol.Survey Canada:

Ref. 7 - Non-MetallicMinerals, McGraw-Hill, 1925. ContainsBibliography.

Ref.8 - Hubbell - A New Inorganic Cement and Adhesive - Ind.and Eng. Chem. 29, 1937 - pp. 123 - 132.

Ref.9 - IndustrialMinerals and Rocks. Amer. Inst. ?din. & Met.,1937. Contains Bibliography.

Ref. 10 - Minerals Yearbook,1938 - U.S. BureauMines, Wash. Chapters on Magnesium and Magnesite.

Ref. 11 - The CanadianMineral Industry, 1937. Bureau of Mines, No. 791,Mines & GeologyBranch, Dept. 'of Mines & Resources,Ottawa. Section on Magnesite.

Ref.12 - Ralston,etc. - Plastic Magnesia. Bull. 236,1925, U.S. Bureau.Mines.

- 157 - The followingreferences were cons1llte d but not a1 :kno;vl- edged specifically in the report:

Bald Eagle Magnesite Mine - Tech. Pub. 861, Am. Inst. Min. & Met. Types of MagnesiteDeposits and their Origin - Econ.Geology (1924),19, 412-433.

MagnesiteDeposits of California - U. S. Geol.Surv., Bull. 355, 1908.

MagnesiteDeposits of Tashington - Bull. 25, Wash. Geol.Surv., 1921. MagnesiteDeposits-of Grenville, Que. - Trans. Sm. Inst. Min. & Met., Aug. 1923. MagnesiteDeposits of Grenville Dist., Que. - Mem. 98, Geolog.ica1Survey Can. 1917.

Magne.site inCalifornia - Bull. 79 Cal.State Nining Bur.

Magnesium Metal from Xashington Edagnesite and Dolomite Depos.its Bull. B - StateColl. of '({ash. Met. Research.Bureau 1934.

Magnesite - Ref.Circ. 6437. U. S. Bur. Mines; May 1931.' Magnesium Chloride - ServiceBull. No. 9, Dow.Chem. Go., 1927.

Refractories - McGraw-Hill,1931.

Magnesium and Its Alloys - Depb. 'of Science & Ind~.Research.. . London, 1939: Present Outlook for a Magnesium Metal Industry in the North- - west and a Discussion of Methods by which IAagnesium Metal I may beobtained fromMagnesite Ores: Wask; StateCollege, StateElectrometallurgical Research Laboratory, Bull. ?. 1.937.

Copper Metalluru - Chap. on Refractories. Pa. Inst. Min. & Met.Eng., 1936. Industrial Minerals - Miningand Metallurgy,p. 22,. Jan. 1939.

RareMetals and Minerals - Miningand Metallurgy, p. 9, Jan.1939.

Minor Metals - Eng. & Min. Jour.p. 43 - Feb.,1939. Electrometallurgy a Widening Field - Eng. & Min. Jour. p. 85 - Peb.,1939.

Industrial Minerals Grow in Importance - Eng. & Min. Jour., p. 85 - Feb.1939. Electrically FusedMagnesia - Jour. Pm. Cer. SOC. - June1938, p. 216. Sources of BasicRefractories - " Eng. & Min. Jour.,April 1919. pp. 649-650.

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Magnesium - The Metal - Sands,Clays and .Minerals, April 1938, p. 187. Basic Brick in Canada - Can. Min. and Met. Bull., Aug. 1936, p. 516.

Magnesia Refractories in Canada - Can. Min. and Met. Bull.,Sep. 33.

Olivine and Forsterite Refractories in America - Ind. and Eng. Chem., Jan.1938.

Olivine and Forsterite Sefractories in Europe - Ind. and Bng. Chem., Jan.1938.

.&chloride Cements andTheir Applications - Sands,Clays, and Minerals,Sep. 37, - 159 - Bromine -.Lime - Magnesia - Gypsum. TheirProduction bx Westvaco ChlorineProducts Corpn.. Pac. Chem. & Met. Ind. - Oct. 1938, p.~10.

Magnesia Compounds from Ocean Water Ind. and Eng. Chem., April 36, p. 383.

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