Abstract
THE mica industry is indebted to the author of this “Guide” for the current system of mining in Kodarma, the most prolific mica field in the world. His memoirs on that field are well known. Any contribution of his to the literature of the subject is therefore sure of careful consideration. The present booklet, which is high-priced—fifty pages for 4s. 6d.—was prepared to help the increased output of mica necessary during the war. It contains much valuable information, but does Tiot cover all the ground that might be expected from the title. It consists mainly of descriptions of eight of the secondary mines of. the Kodarma field and of notes on the mining methods there. It contains little information as to costs and values, and would not explain to a miner who had no previous experience of mica-mining how to estimate the prpbible profit or loss of a newly discovered deposit. The author's main thesis is that mica-mining must be guided by careful geological study, and he insists. that all the facts observable during the working of a deposit should be systematically entered on a mine plan. This warning is especially useful with a branch of mining in which so much of the output is from small mines worked by parties of local labourers. Mr. Dickson points out that the mica lenses on the margin of a deposit are apt to be inclined to the shoot, and a miner who was guided only by the facts seen would be diverted from the main body of mica.
The Mica Miner's and Prospector's Guide.
Archibald A. C.
Dickson
By. Pp. viii + 50. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd., 1919.) Price 4s. 6d. net.
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The Mica Miner's and Prospector's Guide . Nature 104, 276 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/104276b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104276b0