| Show WILL THE NEXT GOLD MINING REVIVAL START IN THE OATMAN ARIZ DISTRICT by H E davis gold the most compelling 6 and alluring word in in any language b the word vord most closely linked with world development the word in fact which has been the main mainspring actuating b all great pioneer movements late in 1914 the cry gold began to attract the public to oatman in the southwestern ed edge ede b e of arizona the united eastern mine was in the makin making b and its shares were v cre acquired at prices ranging from to per share ly by a few hardy ones As the mine b grew grew the excitement Z grew grew scores of shafts were vere started in 1915 and engineers and ab geologists nationally famous visited the district and anani unanimously pronounced that a number of big mines were to be made in the district but the gold did not lay on top of the 6 ground round to find it required search hundreds of feet beneath the murfa surface cc the majority of the companies starting work merely I 1 had sufficient funds to enable them to start sinkin sinking they depended upon stock sales to the public for funds with lyl which lich to prosecute their search for 6 gold old to sink shafts and to drive exploration laterals literals late rals required months and months how the camp of oatman went down about this time world war demands sent booming the prices of copper metal unheard of profits and dividends by copper producers began to be the rule and the public always fickle turned from the future promise of oatman gold mines to the NOW of the old and new copper camps from the unexciting b brud drudgery ery of prolonged b painstaking search for gold to the excia excitement ement and allure of the seething copper camps deprived of the financial support of the public the new oatman companies ran out of funds and one by one and finally by groups they began b to suspend operations with fully 95 per cent of them not having carried their preliminary development work to the point whence they could even begin b to LOOK for ore no company in the district huspen suspended ded operations because it had proved by exploration that its ground was without merit in the war steadily then came our own participation mounting costs and as steady depreciation of the value of 9 gold od until gold old mining ceased to be attractive and it came to be a serious serious question in the minds of officials of producing gold mines whether they should continue production as a matter of patriotism or close down in order not i to market at half price the gold reserves belon belonging cring 11 to th their e stockholders it was impossible to finance development of gold mines so the exploration of the oatman district remained unaccomplished save for sporadic short lived campaigns would secure a small amount as this or that company ot of money however through this kind of work several companies reached ore but having no milling facilities were enable saable to finance the work of blocking it out and ascertains in Z its full extent the tom reed and the united eastern the two b big i nines nes continued steadily at work developing b and milling millin OT ore and turning out bullion oatman united disclosures a vindication one small company started I 1 levying assessments along in ln 1917 and through the loyalty of stockholders was able mr air davis is one of the best ir known western mining writers and excitements excite ments inders I s has been through all tile great western mining cements of the best posted nce one tile the tonopah ind and is regarded as days inen rt on fhe the mineralogy miner and individual properties of general geology geo log in the oatman district district le he ws was mining editor of the goldfield news ariy aly goldfield days to conduct continuous although small scale development As a result of this work the cry of gold is again coming from the oatman district and those geologists who claimed that there are a number of undeveloped big mines in the district are beginning to find their vindication that company is the oatman united and now comes the news that diamond drilling operations have proved the existence oi of a block of ore of a known continuous len lenth length b th of more than feet a height of fully feet a thickness rane ranging ine from about two feet at the western end to 26 feet toward the easterly end of the proved zone and values ranging b 6 from 10 to 15 across narrow portions to an average of 89 per ton across 20 feet of vein how much further to the east and west and upward and downward this ore body extends is yet to be proved its 13 greatest known depth is some feet below surface and it has been proved thence for a height of feet the great united eastern main ore oke shoot whence about has been paid in dividends since 1917 was about feet in continuous length feet in height and 25 feet average average b width and still is far from froin being exhausted the oatman united is beginning I 1 to compare with eastern according to reports from the diamond drilling operations making milling arrangements thanks to the tom reed INI mining ining D company some of the smaller oatman companies which have pay ore available but which cannot finance further development unless they can turn this ore into money are being provided with custom milling arrangements the united american and the telluride companies have signed contracts whereby each will put a minimum of 25 tons per day through b the tom reed mill the gold dust company has applied fo for r a like contract and it is believed that the gold ore and the oatman united companies will avill soon apply for like contracts with these companies milling the good grade of ore which they have available the they can resume systematic exploration without requiring as heretofore the financial aid of the public engineers familiar with the district believe that the underground der ground exploration thus made possible will bring into being other important mines and again bring to the attention of the world the fact that only a few miles from los angeles is the center of american gold production |
