Show VAST COPPER COPPE R ZONES OF ELY in its special annual of march the mining record of denver contains the following special correspondence from ely nevada when the guggenheims found that they must have copper ores in order to handle the immense quantities 0 of ores that nevada is ready to produce they looked around for the most promising source of supply and found coundit dit it at ely to the ore deposits of this district the word enormous may be applied with entire propriety it is predicted by engineers and experts who have examined the ely district that in point of copper pra production the ely zone will eclipse all others the ore deposits occur in a huge east and west dyke more than seven miles long from to feet wide and as far as developed more than feet deep the copper is in the form of sulphides sulp hides finely disseminated through the rock which will average about 3 per cent and concentrate from 7 to 10 into 1 the cost of mining I 1 and extraction will be low lov compared to that of other copper districts tho the property of the nevada consolidated copper company the control of which has been acquired by the he guggenheims a are e fairly well developed and have an immense tonnage ok of commercial copper ore blocked out in their workings As soon as the railroad now being constructed between and ely a distance of miles is finished the nevada consolidated will erect a 2500 ton concentrator and smelter the contract for the material and machinery for them havin having been let J park channing M E who made an examination of the property last july reported that the ruth mine was then capable of producing 1000 tons of ore daily or pounds of copper a year sine then development has been steadily in progress and has increased the mines capacity the eureka he credited with an equal capacity while the mines now developed p mr channing reported would be quite capable of producing 2000 tons of ore per day I 1 am of the opinion that it would be advisable to build the plant in the beginning of a nominal capacity of 1000 1000 tons ton 1 sonly only As a reason he said that this first unit would suggest possible changes of methods of reduction in a large plant 1 11 I find he continued that there is developed in the two mines between five and six million tons of ore which at an annual consumption of tons for the complete plant would give e reserves for eight years in advance a dv ance the conditions in the district however horev er all point to the probable extension of the ore bodies already opened up and of the finding of new ore bodies I 1 therefore am of the opinion that one may safely figure on a daily production of 2000 tons of ore for a great many years to come and there is a strong possibility that this production might be increased to 2000 or tons per day without materially affecting the ore reserves F W bradley M E who has made a more recent examination of the mines says that the ore in th the reserves now aggregates tons he eie says further that the company hopes to be tr treating eating tons daily within a year and possibly by january 1 1907 at this rate it would take fifteen years to exhaust the present reserves and not I 1 per cent of the property belonging to the company has even been prospected these figures give some idea of the future of this acres to say nothing of the 1200 1206 acres of the giroux con company the 1000 J az daniel guggenheim acres of the cumberland ely the large holdings of the veteran ely nor the large tracts under option to the dreby bros and the ely realty brokerage company the man that says this district may put nevada first as a copper producer may not be so very far from the mark such a thing seems possible from a a thorough study of the district according to mr Chann ings report the net cost of ely copper per pound in new york deducting the value of gold and silver produced will be cents per pound I 1 which is a very good figure as compared with ith other copper producers geology of ely briefly stated this report shoys that the ilie copper be bearing aring rock of the district is an im mense porphyry intrusion this a white rock which on porah is surface we weathered athe red brown with but ce 1 ls little trace tr copper this is the charac characteristic te of a all of 0 ca 0 per deposits on the surface the c cop when oxidized is very soluble but buethe th is not therefore the th e copper is carried carrier e iron to lower ower depths and the iron ren remains adins to ri color the surface if in any district there is any ev evidence dence of copper and 18 much iron iroku it 18 a reasonable conclusion that the original DY c bitic c ore contained copper and either thi tj pyrite or better the enrichment of the saze same will be found in depth by sinking this probable depth can be quite accuro abely figured by a study of the conditions ex ei sting i 1 e the slope and water of the en closing formation in this district act it i thought the depth will not be great n may not be more than to feet where the ore bodies have been devel aped as a general rule the first fifty to a i hundred feet of the porphyry has bm leached beached and carries but little copper prod ably not to exceed 5 per cent on getting below this point of oxidation the ore ie comes white and comparatively soft in tex tei ture the principal minerals miner alk contained h i i the gangue are pyrite or or sulphide of iron and or sul su bhide of copper these minerals occur h i fine seams and inlets ve and also in smal masses with which the ore is peppered th walls of the ore bodies or masses are no nc well defined pay ore gradually merging 0 into that which is too low grade to be con merci ally valuable arid it is doubtful if th long crosscuts cross cuts in either th the e eureka or rut mines have passed beyond the limits of pa ore at the ruth mine the ore bodies var tat from fifty to feet in width and develon I 1 ments so far show from to goo feet i ii length and a vertical height of feet A the eureka mine the ore body has ha s lee opened up for a length of feet east easaw an west and feet north and south and hl ha proven to be of a commercial grade gade for i depth of at least feet 1 these figures are Chann Chan ings Aings but the or bodies have since been proven to havi hat greater length particularly is Ws this true c the fhe ruth ore body towards the west not one hundredth part of the proper exposed on the claims of the N nevada evada co has been explored and there therefore forg it Is d ficula to say how much of this corp porphyry h ary beet 0 1 not be mineralized the 50 to foo f surface oxidation has deterred prospecto cdO and ft is for this reason that the 0 E ore deposits of the district have been covered until recently the ge geologic alc co editions dati 1 ions and a nd the ore deposits are very ve I 1 ry sil C tb in fact almost identical with thoss of 0 I 1 which at clifton district of arizona upon t the e ly located the arizona copper company troit copper company company and the afian shannon bi cof per company in fact it atto would u fd be possible to distinguish the ore of the two districts when placed side by side like iron deposits my opinion said channing of the district is that the ore bodies will be found of great lateral extent that the upper boundary will be from to feet below the surface thus giving an average thickness of ore from to feet vertically in this respect the ore bodies closely resemble the iron ore deposits of the iron range of northern minnesota this same phenomena I 1 of great local extension and comparatively small depth also exists in the clifton district arizona and is one of the things which lead to such low mining costs in both the clifton districts and the range there is a deep rooted idea that a mine to be good must persist in depth but I 1 wish to call particular attention to the fact that in this district the ore persists in a horizontal instead of a vertical direction and that this is a most distinct gain when it comes to the extraction of ore in fact it is proposed to mine the ore of the eureka mine by an open cut much that has been said about the nevada consolidated mines applies also to the giroux cumberland ely or butte ely veteran ely or the outside properties of the district not mentioned mr bradley tells us that since Chann ings report repol t it has been decided to at once prepare for the reduction of tons per day for the nevada consolidated soli dated and th that atthe the whole district should within a year reduce not less than tons per day if that is true and the ore is t of the same grade as the average of the i ruth and eureka the production annually at 1 15 cents a pound will be As an 8 per cent investment the combined selling price of all the mines of the district at tons per day would be close to at 18 cents for copper production pounds per annum this would place nevada in the fourth rank as a copper producer in the united states the nevada con plant in commenting on the nevada con plant now building the new york commercial says the ore reduction works to be erected at ely nov nev for the nevada consolidated mining companas comp anys properties will be equipped to handle 1000 tons of ore per day and will consist consi of concentrating roasting and smelt ing departments the new works when completed will constitute one of the most carefully equip pei and thoroughly modern plants in the united states it is intended to produce blister copper and the process of treatment will consist in concentration of the ore roasting in mcdougal furnaces matting in furnaces and bessemer izing the machinery much of which is of special and unusually heavy design aggregates tons ions j in weight one of the features of the equipment will be a battery of six mcdougal furnaces each standing 19 feet 6 inches high and 18 feet in diameter the main shafting for the entire group of six furnaces will be driven from a twenty horsepower bullock induction motor running at revolutions a minute the operator will be enabled to control the operation of each furnace from any one of the three floors or stages about them the concentrating bachl machinery in ery will include six six foot huntington mills of the anaconda type they will be equipped with special step box and with a continuous shaft for three mills dividing the six mills into two groups two blake crushers eight tables ninety one banners and twenty four richards classifiers are also to be installed the plant will be ready in september |