| Show COPPER MINING MONEY i Properties Are Operated on Enormous Scale to Make Industry Profitable j j FIGURES FOR 1906 GIVEN I i SMELTING TING FA TIES FALL FALI SHORT OF REQUIREMENTS Copper mines In tn general do not fall in inthe Inthe Inthe the class of poor poof poo mens mines Ordinarily Ordinarily the ore Is not amenable to any simple method of reduction and is of so low a grade as to preclude very long Ions Ion hauls to existing reduction plants money mone must first be spent In extensile develop developments developments ments of the ore bodies The company must usually expect to build Its own smelter I or milt mil and to operate on a large scale to achieve achl ve low cost of extraction In Th consequence cons qu n e of these conditions most of the important copper mines of the United States are in the hands of companies able to advance the capital required to start Fully i pounds of the 1906 output was produced by four operators Operations at the principal mines are on a I truly trul enormous scale with ore mined and copper produced by indi individual vidual mining units unite reaching tons and pounds respectively with single milling plants of a daily dally capacity up to tons and with smelting plants turning out annually to pounds pound of or copper each To the magnitude of these those operations almost as much as to the abundance of her natural resources does this country owe its preeminence as a copper producer with a ft record of over mer half haIr the tle t worlds production The production tion of copper in the United States in 1 was pounds This represents the th years ears smelter production that is the quantity of fine copper In inthe tho the blister copp copper r produced during the and the production of refined lake copper ct The rhe production of 1005 was ex ox exceeded exceeded by pounds and the apparent lent I ent nt rate of increase in 1906 was per cent This is an abnormally low increase the gala gain In 1905 1005 over 19 H hay hav hayIng havIng hayIng Ing be been n 11 per cent and in loot 1904 over Was iti nearly Dearly 1640 1610 per cent The mine production for 1906 was pounds Statistics from the tho mines were not collected for all districts in 1903 and complete figures es for comparison of the tho outputs of ot the two years cannot there therefore therefore 1 fore be he given It may be stated how however I ever that the mine production of 1906 ex ec exceeded exceeded that of 1906 1006 by a somewhat larger amount than the gain gam ain in smelter production tion In other words the smelters did not wholly keep up with the output from the I mines The following table shows the productions productions Ions of mines and smelters apportioned tI to the states from which the copper was originally derived Tho The figures of smelter smelter smelt t ter production pounds valued at att t 9 those that most nearly rep represent represent resent the actual contribution of each state to the total available copper for the year Smelter and Mine Production by States s Jm w p C e eI I ti CO 01 t 1 gI g a TATE g c cf t f i g t o 0 0 C rl Alaska I S 61 Arizona i l California i Colorado GeorgIa lil Idaho Massachusetts ti Michigan an Missouri Montana Nevada 1 I 1 New Mexico 7 North Carolina Oregon Tennessee Texas 1 Vermont 11 Washington SI 23 I 1 1177 4 Total pounds Of the total production 8 pounds in blister were produced in Canadian smelters from rom ore and matte exported from froni the United States In addition to pounds were produced as aa blister in domestic smelters from for foreign foreign foreign eign ores concentrates and matte This foreign material came caine principally from Mexico and Canada but Cuba Germany and Bolivia and other South American countries were contributors and a note not noteworthy noteworthy worthy orth quantity was recovered from Spanish pyrite cinders The bulk hulk of the copper of domestic ori on origin origin gin turned out by the smelters in 1906 1006 was derived from approximately I tons of ore This tonnage represents the quantity of ore which reached the copper smelters luring the year either directly in smelt fig g ore or indirectly for exam example example pIe In aie te e form of concentrates and it includes a con quantity of ore which was s not mined minei expressly for Its copper content Ores In which h the copper Is of subordinate Importance comprise dry or siliceous gold and silver ores lead ores carrying sufficient copper to make its recovery prof profitable liable cupriferous zinc and sulphur ort ores the cinders of which are subsequently smelted for cop copper copper copper per and ores mechanically concentrated for values than copper Ores of this class can not be separated sharply from distinctly copper ores orea and the figures rep representing representing resenting their quantity tons are only approximate t I Crude Ore and Concentrates Of the total ore are tonnage approximate approximately ly 13 tons or about 26 per cent were of sufficient richness or of so favorable metallurgical character as to be smelted without concentration The remaining 14 tons were concentrating ores from which were produced tons of f con concentrates concentrates concentrates the average concentration be being beIng belag ing lag slightly under t 5 Into 1 A small quan quantity quantity quantity of copper was produced without the mining of any ore by b the treatment of mine waters and included with the con concentrating concentrating concentrating ores is a small tonnage ex cx extracted extracted by leaching processes In both cases the copper was recovered from so 81 by replacement of scrap Iron and the resulting precipitate or cement copper which may be regarded as a high grade concentrate went ent into the smelters smelters smelters Of the pounds of copper pro produced produced produced in 1906 1006 by the smelters pounds were derived from the retreat ment of materials which had been sub subjected subjected I to reduction In previous years namely old slag tailings furnace lin fin linings linIngs ings and the cleanings from old smelter sites A great part of this material was and tailings being consequently of low grade and profitable to treat only be because because because cause of metallurgical x advances The foreign ores imported for smelting in this country countr were considering the more costly transportation necessarily of a higher grade than e average domestic ores The following statistical statement sum summarizes summarizes summarizes the copper Industry In the United States Stat s in Summary of 1906 Statistics Production of copper Smelter output Pounds Value of domestic production of copper J Mine production pounds Lake pounds Casting pounds Total Tot l pounds f Domestic and foreign fore n pounds Total ore treated short tons Average yield of copper per percent percent percent cent Copper ore treated short shorts tons Average yield of copper coppet per percent pere cent ent e nt 50 Imports In terms of refined cop copper copper copper per pounds Exports In terms of cop copper copper copper per pounds tl Consumption Electrical purposes pounds Brass manufacture pounds Copper sheets etc ete pounds Castings etc pounds Total pounds Prices es of refined copper Electrolytic cents pound 1930 Lake cen t r pound 1953 1955 Casting cents cenis pet per pound 1910 Worlds production pound OO The statistics of mine and smelter pro production production given in the foregoing forego In paragraphs par are those published by b the United States geological survey in an advance chapter from Mineral Resources of the United States Calendar Y Year Tear ar 1506 1006 which will be ready for distribution d before the tIle close of o othe the year The he figures showing mine pro production production production collected byfield by field agents of tho the survey are based on reports from all min mining minIng mm ing companies known to have produced copper in 1906 1900 with the exception of ot com corn companies companies panics in Massachusetts Missouri and Texas where systematic Inquiry has not yet been made The figures showing sh wing smelter production are bated baSed bai ed on returns made confidentially to the survey by every smelting company which handles United States ores ore concentrates or mattes The figures here given are the result of a revision of those published In July which were too low owing to an error in those Montana The correction correction correction tion of this error does not divulge the production of any single compan or plant I IThe I IThe The collection of copper statistics for forthe forthe forthe the geological survey has until recently been n in tile the hands h of Charles Kirchhoff of or New York but in ia 1906 owing to pressure of other ether business Mr Ir Kirchhoff relin relinquished relinQuished the wo and it was assigned to toL toL toL L C Graton one of the geologists g of f the survey who is the author of the present report |
