| Show 0 option pt ion on the tip top M mines 1 nes COURIER PRESCOTT ARIZ after having produced several million dollars worth of silver ore which was so rich that it stood the cost of transportation to the coast by pack train and freight wagon the tiptop tip top mine of the future will probably send by far the greater part of its product to the steel mills instead of to the mint in other words it will be considered as a tungsten mine with a by pro duct of silver in the very early history of the mine a black and very heavy substance occurred in a streak of quartz which laid alongside the rich silver ore in mining the silver ore it was usually found necessary to extract ey tract this streak also it was thought to be zinc ore black jack and worse than valueless at that time later it was ascertained that the heavy black ore was fr but that did not help matters any at that time for there was no market for it A few years ago the discovery that acid greatly improves the quality when used in the manufacture of steel created a market for it at a high price most of it prior to the present european war came from abroad the price then ranged around 8 per unit later england placed an embargo upon its exportation to this country with the result that the price now being paid by our steel manufacturers is almost four times as much as was paid before war times all of which has a direct bearing upon the value of the tiptop tip top mine for its dumps contain the discarded and despised mined forty years ago and its bottom levels old miners say who worked in the mine would show a solid streak of the ore two to three feet in width left in the mine as worthless it has been recently estimated that the dumps of the mine contain tons tolls scattered through these dumps is enough to make the whole mass assay per cent acid which in round numbers would be worth about gross at the present quotation besides the the silver value contained in these dumps is found to range from to 1940 per ton at the present low price of silver this silver value is largely in n the form of a chloride for some weeks past mr A F muter an all experienced metallurgist and process man acting for himself and also on behalf of several chicago and kansas city capitalists has been making careful examination ot of the old mine and its dumps with the reit sult that he has taken a two year option upon pon same the present small plant will be almost totally discarded and a new and larger plant will be installed as quickly as possible after further tests have been made by mr muter as to details of the method of neung the ore the new plant will ably ly include a crusher marcy mill equip ment for cyaniding cyan iding the silver and concentrators tra tors mr muter is confident that he can make a concentrate which will carry 60 per cent acid as the matrix of the ore is a sugary quartz readily separated from the very heavy this 60 per cent product if sold at the present market price 30 per unit would bring the neat sum of 1 1800 per ton when speaking of the silver value contained in the dumps and without taking the into consideration at all mr muter states that the tiptop tip top dumps are the highest grade piles of waste lie he ever found in his travels interested in the deal on the vendors end are B E G and frank wager W W ross and E J F horne home of this county they are officers of the company which has turned the property over to mr muter and his associates A small force of men has been placed at work it is mr purpose to make hay while the sun shines or rather to make concentrates while the price is high and lie he will therefore push the plant to completion as rapidly as good work will permit modern science has wrought some wonderful changes in the past score of years in ili the case of the tiptop tip top its once worthless contemptuously fired over the dump now adds over value to what to the eye of the passerby passer by are unsightly masses of debris |
