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Show r MINING AND FINANCIAL , No wonder the copper share 'market failed to respond to the announcement of the Copper Producers', Pro-ducers', association that the stock on hand dwin-i dwin-i died 22,000,000 pounds in December! The dwin- - Idling did not take place in the right quarter. Ac-' Ac-' cording -to the producers' statement the reduction of the stock was due entirely to the increase in orders 'from abroad. There was a falling off of about two million pounds in domestic orders. Home consumption is the. ' only sure foundation ' for the copper 'metal market and if American industry does not get a move on itself, the curtailment cur-tailment program is likely to ibe revived, Current Cur-rent news, happily, gives a cheerful outlook for i, some of the industries in which copper is used. Railroad, telegraph and telephone construction gives 'promise of unusual activity this year, and it is p. known fact that these interests will have ' 'to go into the market for their copper supply, as they have little on hand, 1 Certain mystic spells and incantations are be- 8? ing employed in tne east in the attempted resur rection of the South Utah (Newhouse) Mines & 1 Smelters company. The purpose of this exercise of the black art is not evident, but there may be some who chQrfsh the hope that tile stock of the (company can be coaxed to the $2 price 'held be-.fore be-.fore the reorganization, if not o tile $18 quotation quota-tion of the days when the Newhouse paid a divi- dend. The development of a better than normal grade of ore on the 700-level evidently is relied upon to give the stock standing among investors. inves-tors. Here a copper vein first discovered on the GOO level, is said to have yielded an average of five per cent metal. Upward a continuation of the ore body has been found on the 500 level, and an average of four per cent is claimed there. Such occasional manifestations of good ore have enabled the company to keep its property in operation op-eration without assessments. The problem of meeting expenses from returns on the 1.4 per cent ore fed to the mill, has not been solved, nor i3 it likely to be until the 35 per cent loss in concentration is reduced. From the time of the reorganization there has, been no let up in the efforts of the management to find a milling process that would retain a larger lar-ger proportion of the metal without leaving in so much waste as to 'make the concentrate hopelessly hope-lessly low grade. It was thought at one time that the McQuisten tubes would accomplish this end. They did not do all that was expected and several other modifications of the process were tried. At present, it is understood, the mill is being equipped with Janney classifiers. Calculations are made that the company will be able to treat six million pounds of ore in 1912 at an average cost of 9 cents a pound for the copper produced. When Newhouse stock was up to $18 they used to calculate that but why recall? The men in charge of the South Utah mine and plant have troubles enough at present without being haunted by the ghosts of the past. They are doing all one could expect under the circumstances. All the brain work for the company is done in Boston. It is now quite plain that the ante-Christmas rise of May Day to 20 cents was the effect of manipulation. At the high figure a number of persons who had been carrying the stock for a long time, closed out. When the little harvest ws over the share was left without support and became quiet at 15 cents. The fact that it holds at 15 without the shadow of backing shows that the 11 cent price at which it was selling before the manipulation was about 23 per cent, less than a conservative estimate of its real value. In this H instance the juggling of the stock is going to turn out well for all concerned. May Day will advance soon to 20 under its own steam, if H present signs count for anything, and the buyers H In the recent flurry will get their money back. B The mine was never in better condition. Four of H its faces are full of mineral and there is little rea- son to doubt that some of them will make into large bodies of commercial ore. The gold shoot found on the 400 level has been opened 50 feet H down and 35 feet upward and runs from $20 to H $40 a ton all the way. More ore is extracted, than can be loaded in the cars provided by the railroad H company. H H When the Bingham Copper company discon- H tinued operations last July it had a streak of high H grade ore, a $19,000 debt and a trespass" claim M against the Utah-Apex mining company. The H property is altogether too good to lie idle and H the principal stockholders are agitating a plan for H its salvation. The company has 100,000 shares In H its treasury. It is proposed to increase the capl- H talization to 1,200,000 from the present 800,000 M shares and use the 500,000 that will then be H available to equip and develop the mine. The H Utah-Apex company, it is said, admits that it has H taken ore from Bingham Copper ground and is H willing to settle out of court. If an equitable agreement can be reached the Bingham Copper H will avoid litigation as it is in poor shape to prose- H cute, and sweeten its bank account with several H thousand dollars in cash. H H This has been a week of meetings for Jocal financial institutions. The changes in the per- sonnel of most of the banks, insurance com- H panies, etc., were few, though at the Utah Na- H tional three new directors were elected owing to H the changes made necessary by the merger of H the State bank with the Utah. Practically the H same directors as those elected a year ago were H re-elected at the National Bank of the Republic, H the National Copper Bank, the Desoret National, H McCornick and company, Walker Brothers Bank- H ers, the Continental National, the Salt Lake Se- H curity & Trust Co., and Zion's Savings Bank. The H Utah Savings & Trust Company and the Mer chants Bank will hold their meetings later. The Continental Life Insurance company has had a busy week with the election of directors for the ensuing year and the convention of agents from this and other western states, which culminated in a fine banquet given at the Commercial club on Friday night by W. H. Cunningham, Cun-ningham, the general manager of the company. The Continental Life Insurance & Investment company has grown to be one of the biggest financial fin-ancial institutions in the west, and the outlook for the coming year is excellent. |