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Show INTER-MOUNTA- MINING REVIEW. IN MINING REVIEW. INTER-MOUNTA- IN AND WESTERN MINING RECORD. Devoted to the Mining: and Smelting: Interests of ilie 'Inter-Mounta- in Published Weekly by Alex Hyslop, 212 West. Atlas Block. TERMS: Payable in advance. One Year Months $2.00 1.00 50 ix Three Months To foreign countries except Mexico and Canada, per year, postage prepaid. Entered at the Salt Lake Postoilice as second-clas- s matter. $3 San Francisco Office; 61 and 65 Merchants1 Exchange, where this paper is kept on lile. Advertising contracts can by made with E. C. Dake. Agent. Chicago Office: 761 Monadnock Building. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Dec. 17, 1896. turers will bring about a strong demand for copper properties on the part of investors. The development of copper prospects has not been pushed in Utah in anything like the same proportion that the metal gives evidence of its existence. Owners of such prospects should awake to the fact that a developed copper property will find an easy market without being hawked around the country, and should take steps to transform their prospects into mines. Of the copper market, one of the trade journals has the following to say : While copper production has been pushed to its highest point in history , yet the worlds increased use of the metal exceeds pro- duction and the stock on hand steadily diminishes. The sales of copper in November were not far from 35,000,000 pounds. The Calumet and Ilecla sold about 15,000,000 pounds to manufacturers. There is a scarcity of casting copper. Much of the raw material heretofore available for smelters is now converted into electrolytic for the sake of saving the silver contents, and this has materially decreased the output of casting copper. It is reported that some purchases of foreign casting copper have been made to fill the deficiency in the home supply. The increase in the foreign consumption of copper has been rapid. We repeat what we have frequently said before that the metal and good producing copper properties are good things to tie to. The Supreme Court of the United States has granted a motion for the advancement of the two cases from the Supreme Court of mine-labo- r State of Utah, testing the validity of the eight-hou- r law. The cases will probably be set for hearing in January. The cases are the outgrowth of the arrest last June, of Albert F. Holden, on the complaint of one John Anderson, who was required to work in an underground mine more than the statutory eight hours. Mr. Holden carried the matter up to the Supreme Court of the State of Utah, and in both cases that body sustained the law as valid. The cases were then carried to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Victoria Times says that 731 West Australian mines with an aggregate capital of $380,000,000, and aggregate dividends of 1,105,000, are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The information is displayed in such a manner that shows great local pride for these West Australian mines, and the belief that the London Stock Exchange is a great institution. The two points are immediately lost when a comparison is made with the mines of other countries, say Utah, and the Salt Lake Stock Exchange. Our Exchange has fourteen Utah mines listed, whose aggregate capital is only $82,250,000, and whose dividends aggregate $31,291,000. The aggregate dividends of four of these mines makes $6,135,-000- , while the aggregate capitalization of the four is only $4,000,-00In other words, four Utah mines have wiped out their origtimes. Yet with inal capitalization in dividends, one and one-hathis showing we are not boasting; in fact we are too modest, and fail to herald our merits sufficiently. 0. lf During his recent visit to Salt Lake, Mr. F. W. Edelsten, editor of the Muting and Metallurgical Journal , of Los Angeles, gathof the commercial interests of Utah ered material for a write-u- p generally, and Salt Lake business houses particularly, which was spread before his readers in the Journals issue of December 1st. The condition of the mining industry in Utah is extensively referred to and the products and dividends tabulated, while the smeltof the ing facilities in Salt Lake valley are made a prominent part article. Its publication will convince the people of Los Angeles, who have evinced a willingness to meet us half way in the construction of one of the proposed lines to the coast, that at this end there is plenty of raw material and some facilities for working it would up, and it will more directly emphasize the benefits that accrue to both cities if they were, as they ought to be, connected write-uof the by rail. A feature of the number is an illustrated Camp Floyd district. p COPPER. The consumption of copper in the world is becoming so heavy that there is now imminent danger of the balance being lost, and the demand exceeding the supply. Copper prospects in the West, or anywhere else, are attaining a value that was nevci thought of, and the indications arc that the demand foi copper by manufac 3 GOLD PRODUCTION. Though the year 1S96 has probably seen more energy and cap- ital expended in the development of gold mines than any previous year, the worlds increase in the production of the metal will be less than might have been anticipated. The most generous estimates of the output place the probable increase for the year at about ten millions, and it is confessed that this figure is dissapoint-in- g in view of the great expectations from the activity that was displayed when the year began. At that time it was confidently predicted that the mines of W st Australia, which performed so creditably in 1895, would double their output for 1S96, but the year appears to have been wasted in heavy stock gambling instead of mining for gold, and the result is that where an increase was expected a deficiency exists. Much the same condition exists in the Transvaal, the output of which will scarcely reach last years figures. The disturbances with the Boer government in that country, augmented by the monopoly on giant powder and all explosives, that exist there under the protection of the government, have placed gold mining at a discount, and the best efforts of the stock manipulators to maintain a steady market have proved unavailing. Late information from the stock boards of Johannesburg show that favorite stocks are subject to fluctuation with a range as high as 50 shillings in a single day, on $50 stocks, and there is a very evident desire on the part of holders to get their money back at once, even at a loss. A portion of the anticipated increase will be furnished by the Russian mines in the Ural mountains and in Siberia, but the great bulk will be forthcoming from Western North America, from Mexico to the Yukon river in Alaska. Unusual activity in gold mining has been the rule for the year in the coast and mountain states, and the search and development of gold fields has been so active that the production for 1S97 will, in all probability, show a much greater increase than the year just closing. Much speculation exists as to the location of the source of supply of the future, and efforts are being made to open up mines in the East Indies, in Zululand, and to place those of Australia in shape for extensive production. Some are looking forward to the tributaries of the Amazon in South America for a considerable proportion of the supply, but when all these arc proven up to their best it is doubtful if they will show a more attractive field than the western part of North America. This region has unlimited possibilities for profitable gold mining. It extends from the South Dakota to the shores of the Pacific and from tropical Mexico to where the glaciers of Alaska offer a permanent barrier against the encroachments of the prospector, and in the entire region there is not a square mile of mountain or plain, lake or river that does not contain the yellow metal. Moreover, there is not a vein in the region mentioned, that is worked for the baser metals, in which gold is not found, and as the sulphide ores are reached and greater depth is attained, the percentage of gold increases. This is the regifti that will be the source of the worlds gold supply in the future. . |