Show ANTIMONY ADVANCES IN PRICE foreign supply cut off oy dy european war necessitating domestic supply along with spelter quicksilver and other metals als the production of which in the united states is limited the price of antimony has been advanced because of the curtailment of imports consequent upon the european war and quotations have advanced from 7 cents a month or six weeks ago 0 o to 20 cents this advance in price it is believed will result in the operation of a number of large antimony deposits in the west which heretofore could not be worked profitably at quotations prevailing at the period above mentioned and if recent advances are in any way maintained it is more than likely that considerable activity in antimony antini ony mining will prevail in utah nevada idaho oregon washington and california in utah a large deposit of an excellent grade of ore exists at antimony garfield county which is controlled by benj 4 hampton of salt lake city A number of mines productive of ore of this character abound in northern nevada and idaho also could make a most creditable showing in the mining of antimony ores if production were justified by market conditions antimony is ordinarily one of the cheaper metals selling at one and a half times to twice the price of zinc but since the outbreak of the european war it has reached more than 20 cents a pound a price higher than that of aluminum during the six years from 1908 to 1913 inclusive the price of Cook sons antimony ranged from to 1031 cents a pound and the yearly averages ranged from to cents a pound much of the time during the present year the price has been still lower and toward the end of july it was quoted at 7 to cents other brands have ranged from to cents lower As has been pointed out in the united states geological surveys reports at these prices antimony ores can not be worked profitably under the high labor costs prevailing in the mining regions of the united states unless the deposits are very large and advantageously situated no deposits of antimony ores have been found in the united states which entirely fulfill these conditions and as a result practically all the antimony metal used here is imported from Euro epan smelters shelters sm elters mostly from england the ores for these smelters shelters sm elters comes largely from china mexico france and austria so long as the war exists and especially so long as sea traffic is disturbed the production will vill be curtailed and prices raised for the use of antimony in type metals and especially in bearing metals is fixed and will continue other uses such as the making of coffin trimmings which consume a surprisingly large quantity of antimony and from which there is no secondary recovery might conceivably turn to aluminum or other metals as substitutes fro several years the production of antimony in the united states from domestic ores has been confined to that contained in lead and small quantities recovered in the electrolytic refining of copper and lead A production of antimony from foreign ores which can only be estimated is also made the lead is mostly a by pro duct in the smelting smelling sm elting of the precious metals and efforts are made to save all possible so that this production can not be largely increased the quantity saved in electrolytic copper refining can probably be increased though not enough to make it a serious factor in the market it is probable that under the pressure of high prices attempts will be made as in 1906 7 to work american deposits it if this can be done without great initial outlay some soine antimony miners will probably make good profits but it may be only a few months before prices will be back to or near those prevailing during the last six or seven years in the united states deposits of stibnite antimony sulphide near gilliam gilham ark battle mountain Love locks and austin nev burke and kingston idaho tonasket lanogan Ok county wash granite ville and san emigdio canyon cal antimony utah red bridge ore and other places are potentially productive in times of 0 prices as high as those now prevailing A greater benefit than the temporary operation of the mines would probably accrue to this country from the establishment of smelters shelters sm elters which would import and smelt chinese south american canadian and mexican antimony ores at present the only regular antimony smelting smelling sm elting in this country is done by a smelter which is said to be a branch of an english smelter |