Show the liming ng copper belt BY JAMES F OBRIEN if anyone be he tenderfoot practical miner or mining expert is willin willing to be convinced by positive evidence that the luning liming copper belt in nevada is one of unusual merit and the most highly mineralized section of a county appropriately named mineral in a state noted for its enormous production of the precious and semiprecious semi precious metals he need only go over the trail followed by the writer along the pilot range during the past week let him start in new york canyon in the southern portion of the belt and take a look at the showing on the foot level of t the he wall street mine where the shipping ore averages 1212 12 per cent copper and primary sulphides sulp hides are much in evidence let him take more than a passing glance at the high grade carbonates of which a ton a day is coming from a small streak on this same level and which run 34 per cent let him examine the smelter settlement sheets and see that of the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of high grade ore shipped in less than two years one carload averaged 42 per cent copper and 12 ounces silver to the ton high grade ores let him step over to the Never sweat claims of the congress copper company which adjoin the wall street and where but a few feet from the batters lat main workings he will find like mineral conditions and a like grade of ore smelter settlement sheets will again tell the story of the richness of congress ores now let him cross to the iroquois copper company where twelve leasers leaders were busy the past summler mer the ore shipped going as high as 18 per cent copper and where a 4 on the noone lease is taking out a ton a day of 91 per cent ore he can then come around to champion canyon and on the estate of the pilot copper company see an immense body of high and mill grade ore developed by surface and deep workings for the full foot width of the vein and for feet in length on its strike he can see numerous surface openings from which hundreds of tons running from 6 per cent up in copper have been shipped he can go down to the foot level and see solid ore fifty two feet wide from which several thousand tons of high grade have been shipped he can see the primary sulphide ores on the foot level which run as high as 24 per cent indicating that further depth will reveal big bodies of solid high grade he will also see here enough extra good mill ore already developed and blocked out to keep a large reduction plant busy for some years if not another pound were uncovered the pinto canyon mines the next day a trip up pinto canyon will bring him to the st patrick mine of t th e kirchen mines corporation where a his brae kracl r mind and artistic soul will be equally pleased as he gazes upon the beautiful colors color ings of the high grade ore in the picture being opened up from the main work a ing tunnel A sample across two feet of the red oxides here gives returns of 15 per cen cent 1 while across the face for six feet averages 8 per cent copper to the average m man an ownership in such ore must give rise to the 0 same agreeable feeling as when one marries 1 both beauty and money next comes the wedge t copper company ap F adjoining the calavaza Ca lavada on the west where the massive outcrops give promises of ore that have been borne out with development and where most of the ores even near the t surface are the primary sulphides sulp hides a cause of great satisfaction here ore is being mined both above and below the floor of tunnel no 1 which assays essays as high as 20 per cent copper and which will average better than 8 per cent as it is shipped in carload lots 1 from the wedge one can cross to the big holdings of the fermina carrias estate tate consisting of forty six claims and which it is believed will soon be consolidated the wedge copper companas Comp anys holdings the main tunnel on the emma claim of this group is on a vein that shows heavy aliza tion for fifty feet feel in width and it is believed that the major portion of this wide vein can be put through a local reduction plant at a profit from the lease of fermin arriagia on the emma a carload of ore was recently shipped that went 30 per cent copper and the ore now ready to ship will average 12 per cent settlement sheets shown the writer prove that the smelter returns e on thirteen different shipments were as follows given in the order in which the sheets were picked up per cent 1464 per cent 26 per cent 25 per cent per cent per cent per cent 1150 per cent 1861 per cent 16 1652 52 per cent per cent 1015 per cent and per cent the same contact which is on the emma also goes through the st patrick j I 1 calavaza Ca lavada wedge and giroux the R B todd holdings Hoi dings when the visitor arrives at the sout southern herni end of the R B D todd mining companas Comp anys A 1 property lie he comes across veins in which the values are nearly all in gold about 15 j worth having been shipped which went A from 30 to as high as 85 per ton near beart the center of this group are veins where the values are equally divided between gold and k silver A carload shipment went out this week which will run about 40 per ton 1 A little to the north is the luning idaho group where good copper values are agaid in evidence five different ore shoots have harej Is been opened up on the surface and three of them have been encountered also in the hahn rt tunnel which runs under copper peak in the Stock stockham liam tunnel the most of the ore is oxidized but there are also streaks of sulphides sulp hides which run as high as 25 per cent copper and 5 in gold and silver deepest workings in district and now the visitor can go over to the calavaza Ca lavada companas Comp anys ground the workings here being the deepest in the district 1100 feet the fine ore showings on the lower levels have an important bearing on the future of the district some ruby egide from the 1000 foot level will run 90 per cent copper and also from that level will go better than 50 per cent much of the values have been le ached even to the 1100 level but residual bodies of oxidized ore have been found that have been protected from leaching by tale talc or other protecting media and at the present time there is an ore body on the 1000 level ten feet in width which will average better than 15 per cent copper in this body is some residual which averages 50 per cent this gives one an idea of what will be the value of the minerals when the sulphide zone is reached which will probably be within the next feet the visitor may conclude his trip of inspection spec tion at the giroux mine of the copper ridge company the outlook here for a time was not as rosy as it might be but recently a crosscut from the foot point in the shaft struck the vein and is now in it ten feet without finding the other wall the vein shows red oxide of copper and also native copper in this there are bunches of as big as a mine car which will run 50 per cent the whole ten feet of ore will run better bettar than 10 per cent as it is broken down if after seeing what has been here described bed one is not willing to acknowledge that luning is entitled to an important place on the mining map it is probable that he is not open to conviction big ore zone the lime contact zone of the luning copper belt is nearly ten miles long and two miles wide with eruptions tilting the limestone to a more or less vertical position here and there on these contacts the mineralizing mineral izing solutions have formed large and profitable bodies of ore the area mentioned does not necessarily cover the entire copper belt as there are numerous promising prospects outside of this belt but the writer covered only that portion under most active development it is claimed by those who should know that the majority of the big copper mines of the country are in a similar formation to that of the luning copper belt authentic records show that for the year ended september there were shipped from the camp of luning tons of ore cari carloads oads As the ore was shipped by numerous companies and leasers leaders it was impractical to get the total value but it is doubtless well over active operations are being conducted by about twenty companies and probably not less than leasers leaders were busy at one time during the past summer it would be hard to cite more convincing evidence of the merit of any camp than that so many leasers leaders should find it profitable to mine copper ore when the high cost of wagon haul railroad transportation and smelter treatment besides royalty must be met before the leaser receives his bit of course before luning can come fully into its own it must have large reduction plants right at the mines this will not only save fortunes that now go to the railroads and smelters shelters sm elters but an immense tonnage of 2 to 4 per cent ore now unavailable as a revenue producer can be treated at big profit it is probable that dunings Lun ings wants in this regard will soon be filled as plans are now under consideration for two big plants |