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Show ?' r - The Market nd the Mines I I i "Whore aro wo at? is a question Ivhieh is bV i Iflg asked these days by raina (typrators,. investors, 1 ninors and muckers. No one seam's ToKOy" Witt. ! the answer, although it is generally admitted that I ie mining industry is on the verge of'infportant i adjustments. There are so many diverse In-1 In-1 jtiiencos at work, ao many, currents and oross-cur-. I $nts, that tUb Ijeenosl kudonfe of Industrial con-; con-; flitions are Unable to. name the harbor toward, p jhich we aro drifting. The weakening of tho I $etal market gave mining its- first jolt, the flnan-tf flnan-tf Mai disturbance followed and the untoward events in smelting circles have further complicated mat-'$ mat-'$ 3rs. It is self evident that the general course of ne good ship Metalliferous, as well as all othei I jraft, is toward the port of Liquidation. Liquida- tlon means lower price levels lower prices for I )netals, lower prices for tho things of which metis met-is b are made, lower prices" for stocks and lower I . prices for labor. But when everything is lower & absolutely, everything is as high relatively, as bell be-ll 'fore. In other words, if we can buy as much for ll 60 cents as we did for a dollar, one dollar will ;t mean' as much to us as did twd dollars before the , :p liquidation. -1 M ft & & & i& Labor has shown a disposition to acquiesce in jt the new adjustment and mining supplies will soon II ooine to the lower level. The one discordant note : In tne chorus Is sounded by the smelters. At the B ; time whan treatment charges should, by all the 8 ' Jaws of trade, recognize the altered condition of Hjl affairs, there is an unmistakable tendency to jBP squeeze the producer a little harder. In Nevada j m smelter rates have been advanced three times g wjthin the past month and the rates as. they now H I; Stand are virtually prohibitive; in fact the smel- ',1 i ; tQi admit that the inorease has been made for i1, .k the purpose of discouraging ore shipments until It becomes easier to get the money with which to : r! ;make settlements. The effect is to prolong the ','1 N .financial stringency by withholding from circula- ijjj ; 'f tlon the gold locked up in tho bonanza ores. In ; ; Utah new smelter contracts can only be made at ! S 1 a material advance-over tormer figures. The clos- ?1 iing of the United States plant at Bingham June-- !rf ': ;tion s, apparently, intended to further the cause j!J of higher charges. The assertion of the manage- jjji ; ment that tho shut-down "was forced by the do- IjJ " v.. .oision of the appeal court in the "smoke" cases is ' V ; far frpm satisfying. It Is doubtless true that the jjji "injunction does operate to prevent the smelting of )J. copper ore, but, with its new bag house, the Unit- r,' i; 'ed States could go on handling non-sulphurous sil- ''jfe ver-load ores without legal interference. The Am- ! , ,erican plant at Murray . is doing it, having made a j ! 'satisfactory agreement with the farmers, and the Iff l.t , i American company by offering to take up the Uriiterd States meltor contracts at a highor rate . and for an extenfle'd period, has conclusively demonstrated dem-onstrated ' the fallacy of the excuse offered by Director Di-rector Holden of the United States. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence indicating that the United States has deliberately and intentionally intentional-ly pl&yed Into the li'qnds of its old rival and that competitive smelting "is becoming more and more an Iridescent dream. it e & ' Such cheer as the producer can find in the smelter situation is afforded by the outlook for an increase in the number of competitive plants. There is every assurance that the Utah Consolidated Consoli-dated and. the Helnze smelters will be constructed, on the south shore of the lake, far from tho farms of the cantankerous farmers, and the Jesse Knight smelter at Tintic is practically an accomplished accom-plished fact. The cement foundation has been laid and structural steel for the framework is en route. Moreover the sampler is finished. Fires are again burning in the furnaces of the Yampa plant at Bingham This means little to the other companies, for the. Yampa is not a custom plant, but it means a great deal to Bingham, for the Yampa mine is one of the large employers of labor la-bor and its resumption at this time is the more encouraging because it was the first large Bingham Bing-ham property to close . down after the slump in copper. The Yampa has taken good care to guard against the troubles resulting from inefficient ineffi-cient railroad service. Its bins are filled with ore and its bunkers with coal. The tramway from the mine to the smelter is almost ready for business. busi-ness. Pessimism cannot flourish in the Vicinity of the Utah Copper company. Neither the cheapness of copper, the scarcity of cash nor the congestion of the smelters has feazed this admirable property. prop-erty. At its Garfield and Bingham reduction plants it is handling copper ore at the rate of 4,000 tons a day. The electrical power plant at Garfield is now furnishing the juice for the Bingham Bing-ham mill and its wires will soon be extended to the mine. The pay roll of the company is one of the mainstays of the camp. The Boston Con. seems to have been caught by the financial stringency strin-gency with one of its essential garments down. Not having the money for the perfecting of its reduction mill actually in hand it found itself in straitened circumstances when the pinch came. The financiers who had agreed to come through with the coin begged off, saying that they had their fingers crossed against panics when the pledges were made. In this emergency the Bos ton directors have resorted to the doubtful expedient ex-pedient of 4i bond issue to raise cash for the completion com-pletion of the enterprise. If the bonds are not taken up by the men whose money is already invested in-vested in the Garfield mill these men will stand as beautiful examples of penny wisdom and pounrt foolishness. With the slight additional outlay tho plant will begin to pay for itself; without it tho money already invested will be tied up tighter than an Alabama saloon. & & & Park City is grievously disappointed at tho failure of the Ontario to tap the water in the main tunnel with its third diamond drill hole. It was believed for a time last week that the big drain had actually been reopened, but it was soon ascertained ascer-tained that the drill had merely broken into a detached de-tached reservoir. The fourth drill-hole is now under un-der way. If this fails the laborious task of par alleling the main tunnel with a side drift must of necessity be resumed and the day of deep mining in the camp will be further postponed. Regardless Regard-less of the water situation, however, the Daly-West Daly-West is recruiting its underground force and making mak-ing preparations to continue the exploitation of the resources on its higher levels. Two important strikes that have been hanging fire for two weeks are still delayed at this writing. One of these is the strike scheduled to be made on the 1800 level of the Lower Mammoth and the other is the connection with the main ore shoot due on the lower tunnel level of the South Columbus Colum-bus at Alta. Of the two the South Columbus seems to be the nearer its objective. livery shot in its drift gives more pronounced indications of a big ore body. Lower Mammoth is doing good work, but at least thirty feet of rock separates the face of the level from the descending chimney of ore. In neither of the properties mentioned can the strike be much longer delayed. . ? Considering tho scarcity of real money the stock market holds up remarkably well. Every purchase represents an exchange of cash, for loans on stocks are memories of the past. With undimmed faith the loyal believers in Utah mines are economizing on their personal expenses in order or-der to buy and buy and buy while the market affords af-fords such alluring opportunities. The prices quoted on tho listed securities have "reached bed rock" so many times in the last month that ono hesitates to use the phrase again, but it is difficult dif-ficult to see anything beyond a metal slump, a money famine and a smelter suspension that can extend the bear movement. |
