| Show ristol pistol silver near pioche nevada now rated As a bonanza mine the making of new bonanzas out of old ines is becoming not only fashionable but ehly profitable here is a story that illus T rates ates the assertion n 1 about eighteen months ago the bristol silver ilver mines company was organized for the repose of taking over and consolidating sev iral al groups of mining claims in the bristol silver liver mining district lincoln county nevada neada and about sixteen northerly from the he famous old mining camp of pioche the properties les entering into the deal were all early arly day producers and were locally known as the gypsy may day hillside tempest vesuvius inman jack rabbit iron and detroit mines all greater or less producers at comparatively shallow depths the hillside alone is reputed to have yielded not less than above the foot level while the best available data indicates that the production of the district between 1885 1 and 1893 when silver was de and the silver mining industry went into decline was in excess of it was this sort of a showing backed by experience in mining and a firmly seated conviction that greater depth in these old bonanza producers would disclose even greater riches when the primary ore making zones should be reached that impelled the organizers of the bristol silver mines company to acquire these old ivines ines and rehabilitate them with dauntless courage and knowing the hopelessness of attempting to raise money through the sale of stock or bonds under the then prevailing war conditions the promoters ers of the undertaking provided such funds as were absolutely essential rounded up the properties and went to work high class engineers were employed to examine and pass judgment on the prospective value of these bold old mines and in most instances reports were overe submitted that were anything but encouraging cou raging the consensus of opinion being that the fissures through which the mineral solutions gluttons had ascended were not strong enough to have caused any extensive diffusion of values in the limestone beddings bordering the breaks or fissures that must feed ed them disregarding these opinions depressing though they were considerable prospecting of old workings in the different properties and a close study of the rock formations of the district in which the properties were located finally decided the plan of campaign that was determined upon early in the present year bonanza ore body quickly uncovered within a few months in sinking a from the bottom of the gypsy shaft a fine body of ore was broken into a body of ore which during the past five months has yielded tons of ore the net value of which at the mine was without doing any at the present time approximately 1000 tons of 40 ore is being shipped monthly from these workings t which are being mined at a depth of 1350 feet on the dip of the vein beneath the surface this ore body is described as a large lime replacement at the intersection of two fractured zones it is a vertical shoot approximately feet long by twenty feet wide as now disclosed the ore is being handled by two sets of dinzes with air hoists before it is delivered at the main shaft of the gypsy mine A new shaft now is being put through to eliminate this extra handling As soon as this is completed the management expects to hoist an average of seventy five tons a day and at an estimated profit of to per month recent sampling shows high values very recently the ore in the bottom of these workings was sampled by a competent engineer for the company with the result that returns averaged 02 oz gold oz silver per cent lead and 30 per cent copper or approximately 66 per ton the engineer reporting estimated that these workings now show tons of ore in sight a and nd he figures that the available profit after all costs are deducted deducts d will be somewhere between 10 and 15 per ton or from to so much for results of the work that has been perform performed edin in the dinzes below the bottom of the foot vertical shaft of the com banys gypsy mine development along the 23 main fissure to the east now being prosecuted should according to the management soon reach another large cross fracture and open up ore similar to that which now is being mined in the bottom of the dinzes the exploratory and prospecting work that the company has done in the old and comparatively shallow workings of the different properties comprising its holdings has made it apparent that work can be inaugurated augu rated at many places on good ore showings and this will be done as soon as these places can be put in shape and equipped for mining operations the ores from all of these mines comprise a most desirable smelting smelling sm elting product carrying as they do a substantial excess of iron lime and manganese over with no sulphur all of these ores it is said carry gold silver lead and copper in paying quantities the average treatment charge being about 3 per ton black metals control is purchased in addition to the properties enumerated above the bristol silver mines company has recently acquired stock control of the black metals mines adjoining and located on the opposite side of the mountain with the addition of the black metals the bristol company owns and controls more than acres of mineral bearing ground nearly all of which is patented the black metals ground is considered very valuable it has produced fortunes in the past and under most disadvantageous conditions has shipped thousands of tons of desirable fluxing flexing ores together with some high grade during the past two years aside from its mine value black metals is considered a most desirable acquisition by the bristol silver company owing to its workings being located on the li line ne of the narrow gauge railroad over which the B bristol silver mines comp company ships its ores to the main railroad loading station at pioche at the present time the bristol company ores are carried over a foot aerial tramway to the loading bins on the narrow gauge railroad plans are now maturing that will eliminate this tramway haul this involves extending the black metals workings through the divide and beneath all of the workings of the various mines owned by the bristol silver mines company deep exploration is aimed at to illustrate what this contemplated undertaking der taking means to the bristol company it should be explained that the black metals main operating t outlet consists of a foot inclined shaft which penetrates the mine at an easy angle from the bottom of this incline there is a drift 1900 feet long in the direction of the adjoining bristol mines properties A 1200 foot extension of this drift would carry the face directly beneath the workings of the companas comp anys hillside mine at an additional depth of feet As the hillside has a record of having produced above the level the importance of this connection is apparent to penetrate all of the properties and reach a point vertically beneath the present shaft workings of the gypsy will require feet of drifting from the black metals workings this drift will tap the hillside at a vertical depth of 1750 feet below the surface the tempest 1500 feet and tap the present ore bodies in the gypsy feet below the bottom of the present workings engineer declares ores go down in recommending that this underground connection between the black metals and the bristol silver be made the companas comp anys consulting engineer says 1 I strongly recommend the driving oi of the black metals bristol tunnel the work done during the past five months proves conclusively that the ore bodies in the bristol district go down the present showing evidently is by far the best one the mine has ever had and I 1 believe the largest ore body of its kind recently opened up in the state of nevada the ore still is all carbonate in character and I 1 do not look for sulphides sulp hides or water until the shale contact is reached As you know this contact is about feet below the bottom of your present workings owing to the large number of cross frac tures that show on the surface I 1 think the tunnel will encounter several large ore bodies between the black metals and the gypsy the advantages to be gained on account of transportation power plant installation and making underground connection with the railroad are all secondary to the tunnel as a development proposition proposition pays its way out in concluding this review of what promises to be about the biggest mining enterprise that has been launched in the pioche country during the last decade it is per pertinent ti to say that the ores developed by the bristol mines company during the past six months or so have practically provided the means for the purchase of the properties including an indebtedness belonging to the black metals mines which the bristol corn com pany inherits through purchase of control of black metals stock there is only some 25 yet to be paid out of title purchase account the company has nearly six months more in which to make these payments and there is no doubt but what regular production of the property under prevailing conditions will permit the discharge of these obligations ligat ions as they fall due and still leave a handsome working surplus stock in the bristol silver mines company is very closely held by salt lake ogden pioche and butte mining operators the chief owners are reported to be W I 1 snyder W S mccornick R J evans and W F snyder and sons of salt lake willard of ogden and J R cook of pioche while engineers on the staff of wm win A dark clark of butte are also reputed to be substantially interested the exhibit is one that illustrates nicely what practical mining men of experience think of the possibilities of rejuvenating and rehabilitating old mines mines that have passed through the boom stages of superficial development of shallow deposits and quick profits only to be recognized and re claimed by those who realize what real intelligent bf tell toll igent mining effort can accomplish western mining districts are full of just such opportunities port unities as those picked up by the bristol silver crowd |
