Show tonopah oberah operations 0 ons in in 19 1914 14 BY LETSON BALLIET the mining operations of tonopah during the year 1914 have been of a highly satisfactory nature seventy per cent of the production from tonopah is silver and thirty per cent is gold during the early part of the year the market price of silver was thoroughly satisfactory but during the later part the financial political and european conditions one or all brought tk about a sharp decline in the price of the white metal previous to this time seven mills were in continual operation these mills aggregated three hundred and thirty stamps with tube mills and cyanide plants in connection at 60 cents an ounce for silver the production from tonopah mines aggregated between and a month or nearly a day the decline in the price of silver reduced the money value of the production about 20 per cent without any diminution of the tonnage produced when the low price of silver took eff effect act the mining companies that were producing large quantities of bullion decided to part the gold and market it but to warehouse the silver until a better market could be obtained the montana tonopah shut down its mill entirely but continues to keep a force of about twenty men developing the underground der ground workings of their property the object of this move was simply to prepare greater ore reserves under gound and at the same time not to remove the ore while the market was so low the mcnamara closed down both the mine and mill but all other properties have continued to operate up to capacity mining alining engineer tonopah To mr balliet is the inventor of the balliet counterbalance A A number of years ago he held the chair of mathematics and science in a southern university ver sity and later on engaging in mining made a i reputation as an efficiency engineer he is a prolific contributor to scientific publications licati ons and the mining review is informed his contributions are to be collected and a published Dubli shed in book form under the title of mistakes in mine aline management the physical conditions of the ore are interesting the mines that are located east have a higher percentage of gold than those west of them the montana is almost all silver as is the tonopah extension and west end the belmont and halifax have the higher gold values and moreover the belmont and halifax and mines in the eastern part of the district are producing ore from much greater depths than those in the west of the district have ever attained during he year just passed there have been twenty eight shafts in continual operation era tion namely tonopah mining company owning and operating four shafts on contiguous property jim butler mining company owning and operating two shafts the tonopah extension mining company operating two shafts the buckeye belmont mines company controlling three shafts and operating one continuously and another part of the time and the tonopah midway operating one continuously and one a part of the time the following operated one shaft each tonopah victor mining company tonopah merger mining company cash boy mining company monarch pittsburg mining company umatilla tonopah mining company west end consolidated mining company montana tonopah mining company north star rescue eula to belmont development company halifax mining company gypsy queen mining company and east end development company while the bonanza and mcnamara operated only a portion of the time practically all of these mines just named have seized upon the present time when silver is low to make preparations for greater production upon the return of better prices for their product it is a policy to conserve the present ore reserves extend the development to make additional reserves extend the development to make additional dit ional reserves increase the hoisting and milling capacities and to make repairs the tonopah extension has doubell it milling capacity and has replaced the hoist hoi u upon pon the no 2 shaft shaf t with a much larger and hoist beside power making extensive I 1 underground developments the cash R has put on a larger hoist and a heavier gallows frame the company is now en in sinking the shaft two hundred feet deeper the monarch pittsburg is making extensive lateral development at this tinie time the tonopah victor which has the largest how flow of water of any mine in tonopah To 1 has installed new and more powerful pu pumps in hi 1 ita shaft the tonopah merger is making an aggressive campaign campa ign of development and the tonopah midway is likewise making extensive developments at twelve hundred feet of depth the umatilla tonopah is developing its ground at twelve hundred f fe feet et of depth and is operating cooperating co with joint expense with the montana tonopah j in developing some of the remote renatte portions of the montana ground through the umatilla workings the jim butler has completed the re timbering of the wandering boy shaft and has erected a new seventy foot gallows frame and installed a powerful double drummed nordberg hoist and changed the compressor arrangement the west end has continued its underground development as has the montana tonopah To the tonopah II mining ining company is making extensive development in its sand grass property but is continuing to hoist ore for its mill from the red plume mizpah and silver top shafts in addition to this the tonopah mining company is milling its old dumps it will be borne in mind that many leasers leaders operated on the tonopah mining company ground before the advent of the railroad in those days nothing but high grade ore could be shipped by teams to sodaville So daville sixty miles away consigned to smelters shelters sm elters when the leases were operated the ore that was then called low grade ore was left on the dumps but with the present milling facilities this ore can be made to produce a good profit operation and development the tonopah belmont which is easily the foremost mine of tonopah To continues to operate without any change in its method except to warehouse the bullion produced the rescue eula is sinking its shaft two hundred feet deeper in preparation for further development the buckeye belmont has just completed feet of 0 1 re timbering the upper four hundred its shaft while the halifax is at present presen re timbering six hundred feet of its shaft aba a the TO through a bad section of ground ina bonanza is likewise re timbering at this time i the east end development Coin company panY g the year y steadily sinking its shaft during but hoist it has operated with a gasoline a of it has just completed the construction transmission line for electric power to its prop property erty making its connection with the line leading to the buckeye no 3 the intention of the east end development company is to install an electric hoist that was taken from the jim butler since the installation stal lation of the big nordberg hoist with all these additions and improvements it will be seen that tonopah is aggressively gres preparing for greater production than ever before it is at once evident that these mining companies would not increase their capacities with expensive improvements and enlargements were they not warranted by mammoth ore reserves three important developments three most important developments occurred during the year in tonopah To the first was the invention of a continual weight counterbalance for increasing the efficiency of hoisting and providing additional safety the counterbalance was first installed upon the buckeye no 1 and has since been installed on the west end jim butler and monarch pittsburgh of tonopah To besides numerous installations that have been made in other districts and other states the second was the discovery of a gold belt about four miles north of the heart of tonopah To this gold belt found much good ore from the very grass roots and a number of leasers leaders have been in active operation era tion one of the leasers leaders is operating a small mill with good success the third was the discovery that the ore bearing extended east to an unknown distance which makes valuable a greater area of land on the east side of tho the district than the entire acreage of producing ground on the west side |