OCR Text |
Show Consolidated Mining Company j Everyone knows, or should know, where the cheapest copper in the world comes from. The record is held by the Utah Consolidated Mining company of Bingham, Utah-. The average cost of production iri the United States is somewhere between be-tween 8 and 10 cents. The Utah Con. has been turning it out for 4 and 5 cents a pound. It was the announcement of this achievement in economy econ-omy which drew the attention of the large invest-tfi'8 invest-tfi'8 to Bingham arid hastened 'the development of that wonderful camp. People may scoff at prospectuses pros-pectuses and written encomiums, but 5-cent cop-par cop-par is a kind of advertising they cannot get away from. The trail blazed by the Utah Con. was trodden until it became a broad and popular avenue ave-nue to wealth. Bingham now has a dozen more great copper properties, many of which prepare metal for the market at very low cost, but none has quite equalled the performances of the distinguished pioneer company, either in the matter of economical econom-ical production or high dividends. Even though the enhanced cost of operation which always accompanies ac-companies deeper mining shall rob the Utah of the distinction it has enjoyed so long, it will continue con-tinue to share in the glory and profit its reputation reputa-tion has won for its district and state. The' year 1907 has been the best for stockholders stockhold-ers in the history of the property. Dividends were paid quarterly at the rate of $6 a year until October, when a decrease of 50 per cent in the price of copper forced the directors to trim dividends divi-dends to $1 a quarter, or $4 a year. As three distributions dis-tributions had already been made at the higher rate, the lotal dividend for the past year is $5.50 1a share, or $1,G50,000. This was a gain of $300,000 over the profits of 190G. Since it began paying dividends the Utah Con. has slipped $7,405,700 into the pockets of its shareholders. And all the time the company has been accumulating a surplus sur-plus for d rainy day, which now amounts to more than three million dollars. Because of this foresight fore-sight the Utah Con. is bettor prepared than most of its neighbors to meet the conditions brought about by the farmers' injunction suit against the smelters. As an investment Utah Con., at its present price of $32 a share, is much better than it was a year ago at $65. At $65 it was paying 9 1-3 per cent to the Investor; at $32, and with a lower rate of dividends, it will pay 12 per cent. Since June the bear element in the stock market has been waging a terrific campaign against the share. Rumors of the most damaging character as to its condition have been circulated. "Statements have been made that the ore bodies ended at the 800-foot 800-foot level and that the mine was "worked out." , The most effective reply to these attacks has been the uninterrupted production of ore at the rate of about 900 tons a day, the maintenance of dividends and the preparations for the building of a new and larger smelter on the Tooele side of the mine. As a matter of fact the story of the faulting of the ore body was based on the flimsiest flimsi-est ground imaginable. The ledge does continue below the 800 level in the older workings, and even if it did not, the mine has other sulphide ledges big enough to keep the smelter busy for yohis which have scarcely been prospected. A "fault" in the Utah Con. is a virtue, for it is in the places where the continuity of the veins is interrupted that the biggest and richest mineral deposits have been found. For several years the Utah Con., like the other companies engaged in smelting, has been put to considerable annoyance and expense by the diffusion dif-fusion of noxious mineral elements from its stacks. Thousands upon thousands of dollars have been expended in defending suits for damages and settling claims of injured farmers, and thousands more have been consumed in the making of ox- perimonts designed to abolish the smoke nui- $ ll sance. These difficulties finally culminated in the S issuance of an injunction by the federal court Wm which in effect forbids the treatment of copper ; ore at the company's Bingham Junction smelter. " M 5 Measures have now been taken to do away with 3 ' the financial drain, and at the same time relieve fft , the farms of the smoke. With a portion of its V U large surplus the Utah Con. will erect a smelting 1 plant within three miles of its mines and connect Wt it with the mines by a tramway. The work is to - . be finished within a year. Negotiations between " . the mining company and the farmers at Whose J9 instance the injunction was granted, are now in K progress, and there is no question that terms will $ be made under which the Utah Con. will be per- ffi ' mitted to run its old smelter, with- certain restric- H tions, until the now one is ready to go into com- K' mission. B Last year the cost of producing and treating B a ton of ore from the Utah workings was divided H j as follows: Locating the ore, 27 to 35 cents; K j mining it, $1.6J3; aerial tramming and loading on S 1 the railroad, 7 cents; freight to smelter, 40 cents; S '3 smelting, $2. The total was less than $4.50 a ton, S . and, as the gold and silver contents of the ore X wore between $3 and $4 a ton, the copper con- h tents, averaging 00 pounds to the ton, were almost W clear profit. Ijl All pt the Bingham companies were put to a m severe test during the months of September and -m October. Copper reached the lowest price of 2 years, fuel and labor were scarce at any price, 9 the railroad could not furnish the cars needed for 9 , transportation, and the smelters were operating 9,k with thoir heads in the jaws of the legal lion. Tlio Utah Con. came through these trials with flying colors and without stopping a wheel. Conditions are improving in every respect and the company y may well present a cheerful face to the future. THE HIGHLAND BOY SMELTER of the Utah Onnsolitiatt d Mining Co. |