Show HISTORY OF MILLING AT THE GEYSER MARION AARION AND THE sacramento I III by L 0 HOWARD since the closing of the golden gate mill of the con mercur company there is but one plant running in the town of mercur and strange to say it is not generally known that there is any present activity in the camp we constantly read in the daily press of the passing of mercur the death of a famous old camp while the town exhibits at present the appearance of a nearly fatal illness it is by no means dead any other camp with a ton mill in oper the low grade ores of the geyser marion mines which have a long history of sporadic production in these mines there is still a considerable tonnage of low grade ores about to per ton which is available for treatment the character of the ore is the same as that of the oxidized ores of the mercur mine when crushed for leaching about thirty five per cent of slimes is produced without any intentional tent ional fine grinding the success of the W K Z oc IMF ke would require a prohibitive expenditure tu to put in operation in a plant which has rui ruh for many years and become antiquated in many of the little things which in prosperous days have little effect but become great obstacles to profit in the declining days of a property it should be remembered then that a new company starting with a clean slate no past records or incumbrances may be more mora of a success than would be generally supposed no money can be wasted 01 open out cut on the Geyser Marion photo by A C selby ore to the franklin mill photo by A C selby aaion would be considered very much alive and the fact that there is still an anotle otlie plant of like capacity now starting in D the same district still further emphasizes the continued importance of mercur when a camp has been a one mine camp for many years land and that one mine closes the excellent position of other is lost sight of in the general lamentation over the disappearance of an old land mark in august 1912 work was begun by the franklin leasing company on a mill to treat W treatment then depends on leaching about half the ore and handling the rest by one of the slime processes it is obvious that the margin of profit will be small and every economy must be practiced in order to make the results of operations satisfactory the question at once rises why is one on e plant able to go on when another must stop there are several reasons first is the condition and amount of the ore supply secondly must be considered the economies that cabbe can be introduced in a new plant which expensive luxuries in the shape of oftentimes unnecessary retaining walls heavy concrete foundations wide space about machinery a large and expensive staff and head office etc some early history the story of the geyser marlon marion mines is an interesting one shortly after the successful application of the cyanide treatment to mercur ores at the manning mill m cyanide joe smith built a fifty ton mill on the marion mine within a stones throw I 1 of the mercur mine the marion company was a combination of the marion and other claims which had been extensively worked for silver in the early days the mill was put up in 1893 shortly after this 1894 matt gisborn C R bothwell and S B milner of salt lake put up a plant of the same capacity on the adio adjoining ining geyser mine both these plants employed straight leaching in tanks after a preliminary coarse crushing and were very crude affairs about 1896 the treatment at the marion mill was somewhat as follows the ore was crushed in a no 2 gates crusher and screened through a 78 inch oversize returning to the crusher and undersize going directly to the leaching tanks solution was run on the ore for thirty minutes to six hours drawn off on and this process repeated eight to thirty five times gold was pre on zinc shavings in this year the marion treated tons of ore and the geyser the former earning about in IS 1897 9 7 matt gisborn controlling the geyser and bothwell the marion joined their interests in a new company called the geyser marion and both mills were operated at a capacity of tons up to the latter part of 1900 in which year the cost was given at 67 cents a ton in 1896 the company is said to have made an extraction of about 88 per cent on 4 ore at a cost of about 3 a ton the ore was crushed through 12 inch in two gates crushers and given a 72 nour treatment in 50 ton tanks the precipitates were shipped the old geyser marion paid about in dividends while operating the two mills and afterwards while operating the geyser mill alone the capacity of which had been increased to tons the marion mill was burned in this period in 1900 the last year of the geyser marion M T gisborn was president A T moon first vice president and secretary J H hedges second vice president arthur par parsons ons treasurer A B sawyer allen alien T sanford and grant swan additional directors rectors reci ors te tb receipts for the preceding prec ding year were and expenses the they profit was used up in a lawsuit which ended disastrously for the company which was sold out under sheriffs sale the property was bought in by W S mccornick of salt lake for A new company the new mercur gold mines company was formed to operate the mine and mill but little success was met the property was finally leased and operated sporadically up to last year with the new mercur levying assessments to keep things going in 1910 the old mill was destroyed by fire and in january 1912 the property was again leased to the franklin leasing 0 company the present plant was erected in august 1912 and the first precipitates shipped in november 1912 the geyser marion mines are as above related controlled by the new mercur gold mines company of G W lambourne and frank kimball of salt isalt lake are secretary and president respectively the franklin leasing company which operates the mines and mill is headed by T H franklin as president and general manager a man of long experience in the tr treatment of mercur ores G W bryan 1 secretary alma swenson treasurer and W T bacon vice president additional directors are william daniels parley bryan and thaddeus pannell these are men who may be sa said d to belong ato P the mercur district and mostly residents of the camp at the present jime time thirty men are employed in the ahe mines on two eight hour shifts tion sixty feet wide and feet long with a fall from top to bottom of 75 feet all machinery is on timber foundations practically on bed rock the absence of concrete is especially noticeable there being no retaining walls whatever all the tanks are built of california redwood wood corrugated iron is used only for roofing the ore is crammed in one ton cars and dumped directly into a no 3 gates crusher set on the top timbers of a ton bin into which it discharges A inch screen in the bin chute elimina eliminates ts the fines from the gates rolls below the rolls are run practically ti in contact and the product combined with the undersize goes to the boot of a belt elevator which raises it fifty feet to another ton crushed ore bin which rest beside the storage tanks motor and compressor room solution from the slime thickener is a rz 41 Y V A 4 ic 4 th The 1 eF Franklin mill and old geyser marlon marion dumps photo by L 0 howard the mill has only begun to get into successful operation having been completed just before winter set in the past winter in mercur was unusually severe and all the companies were bothered by the freezing of the water supply which put some of them out of business for the season the pipes were unusually late in thawing so that the franklin mill had little chance to demonstrate its worth this spring however the mill has continued to improve its work and lower the cost of treatment so that at the time of the writers visit the company was about breaking even on its operations the mill the ore is crammed to the mill through an adit having havi fig its portal just above the mill which is built on an extreme grade on the side hill as shown in the accompanying illustrations the mill building is effram of frame e construe pumped up to sluice the ore from the bin to a mercur mixer and classifier of the same type and desi desin design n as the mixers which have been so common in this district the sands from the mixer flow to a dorr classifier set at a slightly lower elevation this classifier like the other has the improved drive devised in this district sand treatment the sands from the dorr go to one of three sixty five ton leaching tanks the tank fills in about eight hours during which time the solution is decanted and returned to the slime thickener strong solution containing one and one half pound is run on for thirty six hours the tank has a filu 1 ottom of the well known type consisting perforated boards supporting three of 16 ounce burlap the pregnant solution goes at once to one of three fifteen ton precipitating tanks barren solution from the storage on the hill is run on for about twenty hours followed by a two hour water wash the tails are shoveled through a twelve inch central discharge gate to cars and crammed to the dump the usual practice in this district due to the scarcity of water the strong solution used for leaching is the solution from the slime plant only the solutions from the sand plant being precipitated and all the effluent from the leaching tanks after filling goes to the precipitation department slime treatment the slime from the mercur mixer and the dorr classifier goes to a thickener 24 ft in diameter ft high part of the decanted solution being pumped up for sluicing and classifying and a part going on the leaching tanks when there is an excess the thickener is discharged when necessary to the pulp tank of the oliver filter which acts as a balance between the intermittent thickener and the continuous filter the labor involved would otherwise be idle so that the expense of discharge is nil compared with a small cost for power and equipment where a mechanical discharge is used the solution content in the incoming slimes and the overflow from the leaching tanks gives a pulp consistency varying from ten to twenty to one the discharged pulp carries moisture in the proportion of one ton solution to one ton of slime the pulp from the thickener goes to a seventy five ton oliver continuous filter 12 feet in diameter and having a thir teen foot face the filtering medium is one thickness of 16 ounce duck held in place by a winding of copper wire the slimes are given no further cyanide wash but a water spray is used on both the upcoming and down going sides solution is thus drawn off all but the last panel where water under pressure forces the washed cake kofl into the sluice which carries it to the dump the simplicity of the valve arrangement allows a variable height of pulp in the filter tank and enables it to serve as a storage for the pulp which is drawn intermittently from the pulp thickener the solution from the filter is discharged through the vacuum pump to a 10 sump tank from which it is pumped as strong solution upon the leaching tanks the tailings from the oliver filter are said to run from thirty to forty cents a ton the sand tailings from the leaching tanks running about fifty apio precipitating the ao did alj the solutions are precipitated in the way that has become standard at mercur when a tank is filled with fifteen tons of solution three pounds of zinc dust and three to five pounds of are added the solution be A FEW MONTHS production RECORD OF THE sacramento MERCURY PLANT month pounds dry assay pounds metal pounds metal Actu actual alper per ore treated hg by assay recovered cent saved 1905 february march april 1023 may july august september october 78 november 76 december 66 1906 january february march april may june july august september total and average SOME COST ITEMS FOR THE sacramento PLANT hauling ha hg other month labor coal lime total to railroad supplies 1905 may t july august september october november 2425 december 1906 january february jary iary march 1132 april A niia may june july august september 2265 totals 5 ing brought up to a strength of 15 pounds per ton the lime is added at the bins to the amount of 15 to 2 pounds per ton of solution A foreign zinc dust is used which is practically pure metallic zinc the solution and zinc dust are agitated for a few minutes and the mixture drawn off to the press which is of the same type and size as those in use at the con mercur mill the filter filtered eI and precipitated solution is drawn off to a barren solution sump tank 15 feet in die diame ter and 7 feet high on which the press rests and is then pumped to the barren solution storage tank at the head of the mill some of it being occasionally used as a wash on the filter about tons of solution is pre daily the presses are opened when full and a cleanup is made monthly the zinc is cut in a small acid treatment tank and then goes through a pressure tank to a 18 inch by 18 inch lead plate and frame press dried and shipped the pre precipitates run about a pound it is planned to refine them on the ground and arrangements are already underway to do this the capacity of the plant is ninety tons a day rated but tons are treated when running well tha mill is operated on three shifts the mill force is made up of twelve men there are two shermen cru who also take care of the rolls and classifiers these men work on the day and night shifts on the afternoon shift is one classifier man three men one on each shift handle the solutions precipitation filter and thickeners two on the day shift empty the tanks there is one pipe and general repair man and helper on the afternoon and night shift there are foremen the mill superintendent perin taking charge of the day shift himself the water used is part spring and part obtained from the gold belt water company at ophir power is obtained from the telluride power company through two transformers which step the volt current down to and the volt circuit provided power for two motors type 0 general electric A 50 horsepower motor rests on the same floor as the air compressor storage tanks and crushed ore bins from which the crusher rolls elevator classifier and compressor take power through one line shaft above the classifier floor A 30 horsepower mot motor or furnishes power to another line shaft at the lower end of the mill from which the filter and pumps are driven as outlined on the flow sheet and plan the oliver filter gives excellent satisfaction and results are stated to be as good as with other types which have been used in the camp and labor repairs attendance and power consumption are much less there is little doubt that on the character of ore now being treated which is of a simple nature and easy of reduction a profit can be made with the equipment now in use should the project come to grief it will be for reasons similar too those applying to some other operations which ch have been successful for short perio periods Ls here that is the lack of large enough ore supplies the company has ore enough in sight to run tor for some time but must look for future supplies it will therefore be necessary to put all the money which may be made in present operations into development until more reserves are opened up the management has every confidence that these reserves will be opened up as development proceeds if its confidence proves well founded the camp of mercur should be heard from for some time to come the sacramento gold mining co in 1895 one year after the erection of the geyser mill the sacramento gold mining company put up a 50 ton leaching plant I 1 0 2 A of ry C 7 an A 4 at fo cri hen I 1 0 p dt 1 IM 14 et VI J r ra L e c iny 7 I 1 x to L each X ron 17 X cao t 4 75 k n e I 1 ah r en air 1 za ac bep RZ A IV 4 N 0 way xea ILL awas A was za S ola f i 0 n ta n k As x 7 which encountered trouble on the first char charge ge the ore would not leach and no |