Show 11 flegal ETA L quotations AND SMELTING CHARGES CARGES people down east who are inclined to think there is a splendid margin of profit t to 0 the miner or producer with silver quoted at 62 cents per ounce cop copper per at cents per pound and lead at 4 per hundred pounds have very little conception of just what these figures mean and how misleading they are when the manager of the amer american can smelt ing refining company or in other words the trust completes his various methods of a arriving at the net valuation of ores marketed mara for settlement the market quotations look anything C but encouraging to the seller it is generally conceded that under the most favorable conditions and terms obtainable the si smelling charges alone equal more than 50 per cent of the value of the ore A very striking illustration of that claim is given very near at home the great centennial eureka mine of eureka for the first six months of the year shipped 0 tons of ore which as is claimed and admitted were settled for on tiie the most satisfactory and profitable basis ever effected by a utah producer yet it is 13 inte interesting to observe the deductions made by the smelter people for various causes and customs for instance out of the tons 0 oi crude ore shipped pounds pound of copper was obtained ounces of gold and ounces of silver the smelter to which the ore was sent for treatment and settlement deducted the usual 13 per cent of the copper contents on the basis of what is known as reducing to a dry assay test and V other deductions were recorded which ultimately made the copper value net a trifle below 13 cents per pound for the gold the smelter paid 19 per ounce and for th the e silver contents 95 per cent of the assay value this added to the customary smelting smelling sm elting charges acro aggregating re gating something like 13 per ton will be seen when it ia h understood that the tons yielded would bri bring ng the smelting smelling sm elting char charges cres to quite 40 per cen cent t of the value of the ore it may be argued that even after allowing 40 per cent for sm smelting elting harges charges that a handsome profit prof it still remains possibly at any rate we hope so but the cost of mining the product must not be overlooked nor the extensive and costly cosily plant necessary to extract and handle the crude ore lore the whole argument tends to show that while great mining companies equipped to handle immense tonnage may survive the excessive smelting smelling sm elting char charges smaller companies and individuals cannot |