Show past years metal mining activity indicates a revival in colorado during the year 1924 the metal mines of colorado produced in gold ounces of silver pounds of lead pounds of copper and pounds of zinc as compared with in gold ounces of silver pounds of lead log pounds of copper and pounds of zinc in 1923 these figures compiled by C W henderson of the geo logical survey show increases of nearly for gold for lead for zinc but decreases of 2200 for silver and for copper the total calculated value of the five metals was as compared with in 1923 which is virtually no change following an increase of 21 per cent in 1923 over 1922 present conditions reviewed at the end of 1924 the gold mining district of gilpin county after sixty four years of continuous production is greatly reduced in population although several mines and mills ills there are still in operation in clear creek county adjoining gilpin county considerable development work was done in 1924 new bodies of silver ore were opened on a western extension of the silver plume georgetown district and promising new discoveries were made near idaho springs dumont and lawson owing to a series of legal difficulties boulder county has not maintained its production but development work already begun promises an increased output in 1925 the wood mountain mine at sugar loaf has in some years produced more gold than in 1924 A new lessee of the boulder county tunnel Cardinal at proposes to drive it several hundred feet northward in the hope of cutting veins that show on oil the surface and plans to and reopen the vein cut at a depth of feet and there drifted upon 1800 feet west and feet east cast the caribou district has been rather inactive but during the last few years has annually produced about ounces ounce Is of silver park county has made its output of gold principally by dredging the flood plain of the south fork of the south platte below the early gold placer town of fairplay and by the shipment of gold ores from the london mine on mosquito pass between alma and leadville park county has long been known for its hay sheep and cattle industries k and a conflict has now arisen between these industries and the gold dredging industry across hoosier pass in summit county sonic some gold has been recovered at the bemrose placer at the head of blue river and at breckenridge on the blue river two dredges have continued work within sight of the town f on french gulch the wellington zinc mine and mill were operated only until june when a rise in the rates charged for electric power caused the managers to close the mill and to confine their operations to the shipments of i lead oxide ores and the development of zinc sulphide ores q at tiger development continued at the royal tiger 1 I mines and some concentrates were produced r rt t the new mill there here some h hydraulic Y mining was done on high bars on swan river the production at montezuma was not heavy but out money has been obtained for extensive development work at kokomo kokomos very little work was done owing to the settlement of estates and other legal difficulties but in in aug list t the climax molybdenum mine atthe at the head of tenmile tensile reek eek in lake county idle since 1918 was reopened and the ie mill was set in motion at half capacity leadville section reviving lake ake county leadville produced ill in gold as compared with in 1923 but suffered a loss in in its production of silver silve owing rowing to the closing of the downtown anine s in august 1923 and the reduction of operations at the yak tunnel the western zinc oxide plant treating an average of 18 per cent zinc carbonate ores and purchasing ores containing as low as 14 per cent of zinc continued to furnish a home market for these ores some zinc carbonate ore of higher grade has gone to canyon city the shipments of zinc sulphide ore have not been heavy but the task of watering unwavering un the carbonate hill graham park mines mines which have been filled with water since 1919 will probably be completed early in 1925 reopening to mining several hundred thousand tons of lead zinc ore bodies the pumps were started in september 1923 abboth at both the pyre nees and greenback shafts and by august 1924 had lowered the water feet in the greenback and made some mining possible in the adams and mahala mines the mill in the leadville district has continued to treat low grade gold silver siliceous ores from the ibex mine which has again given new hope to the district by producing some in specimen gold and by sending much high grade gold on to the smelter iron manganese ores containing 6 35 to per cent of manganese have been shipped out of the state and ores containing 10 to 35 per cent of manganese have been purchased by the colorado colora do fuel and iron company at pueblo the arkansas valley lead bullion smelter has recently blown in a fourth furnace though its work has thus far been confined to the treatment daily of some tons of old smelter flags at one time leadville had eleven operating sm shelters smelters elters and in all fourteen 4 were built there the derry ranch dredge on oil box creek which has been idle for several years was in operation during part of 1924 at gilman eagle county the empire zinc company continued to ship zinc sulphide ore in considerable quantity to its magnetic separation mill and zinc oxide smelter at canyon city and to ship silver ores to salt lake city smelters shelters sm elters for use as flux the idleness of the smuggler b mill at aspen reduced the ou output of lead and silver from fro in pitkin county but silver ore and some lead zinc ore were shipped from that county na new nv ro roads ads in this region give promise of new work near aspen principally south of it toward and into gunnison county where poor roads and long winters have been impediments to development and shipments at whitepine White pine gunnison county lead cincore zinc ore in considerable sid erable quantity has been shipped throughout the year and the carter amalgamation mill at ohio city was operated part of the year in saguache county at bonanza owing to a series of difficulties the rawley mine with much ore developed hasteen has been idle but other developing properties have shipp shipped ed some lead silver ores the iron mine at orient hns shipped steadily to the steel plant at pueblo in chaffee iee county shipments of lead silver ore have been made from the monarch garfield district at lake city hinsdale county there has been more than the usual development work and some shipments of silver ore of good grade 11 live ve 1 acen n made mineral county creede has continued to ship silver siliceous ores and the production in ouray county has been reduced by the idleness of the atlas mine during the last half of the year no work was done at the famous camp bird mine and the mountain top mine was likewise idle the wan akah gold silver mine was reopened with the flip mill and a new semi smelter er was built and mit t into operation san Mig miguel ueland and san juan jua n the mills in san miguel county continued to ship lead silver gold concentrates to the durai durango silver gold bullion to the denver mint the alta mines were operated intermittently the smuggler union mana management reports that at least three months supply of ore has always been in sight throughout the year and the tomboy gold mines company pany ltd in its report for the year ending in july 1 1924 stated that a profit of had been made and a dividend declared up to april the black bear mine shipped a large quantity of complex ore to the smuggler union mill where high grade lead concentrates were made on oil the concentration tables and the overflow was sent to the notation flotation machines to make a lead zinc copper iron sulphide concentrate this concentrate was sent to the reed coolbaugh sulphating sulp hating plant at the durango smelter in quantity sufficient to keep the sulphating sulp hating plant in operation through august when zinc lead ores were received from other districts the reed coolbaugh b process removes the zinc and furnishes to the lead smelter an excellent roasted residue A new flotation mill was set in motion on november 1 at the Carbon carbonero cro mine at ophir and has continued to the sulphide ore mined below the oxidized zone san juan county regained its place as a large producer of metals gradually increasing the treatment trea tent of lead zinc sil ver er gold copper ore at the sunnyside Sunny side mill at tons a month this to ton daily flotation mill made a large quantity of high grade zinc concentrates and high grade lead concentrates A middling product was sent to the reed coolbaugh plant for experimentation the resumption of operations at the pride of the west and aspen mines added to the production and the mountain queen became a producer mines in la plata county shipped nearly twice as much b gold old ore as in 1923 some development work was done in districts on oil the line conejos county and rio grande county in the old mining districts of custer county the mining milling and milling of the ceru site ores of the terrible mine were continued and a relatively large quantity of high grade lead concentrate was produced the old dump at the bassick mine at rosita was treated retreated re by on and shipments of silver lead copper ore were made from the mine at cripple creek activities teller county cripple creek produced as compared with in 1923 the cresson mine was a steady shipper of gold ore amounting to to tons a month valued at 15 to 19 a ton but in one quarter of tile the year its production fell in avera average c content owing to the shipment of ore of lower grade taken out in development in connection with the sinking of the shaft from 1700 to 2000 feet this mine is equipped with a new hoisting plant capable of hoisting from depth of feet the col companas comp anys work and that of lessees lessels on oil the property of the united gold mines company resulted in ill shipments of to tons ton a month furnishing an increase in ore at tile the golden cycle mill at colorado springs where all the ore from the cripple creek worth above 8 a ton toil some even less 1 is i s treated the portland gold mining company continued to operate its independence non roast concentration cyanide mill at victor on ore caved from blocks left in the hidden treasure and from waste from the picking belts making a very appreciable increase in the production of bullion from this material which is valued at a ton toil the rich ores taken from the 2600 2750 foot levels of the portland mine was sufficient to pay off the companas comp anys indebtedness to permit the purchase of additional supplies and to sink the shaft to a depth of feet where crosscutting back under the 2750 foot ore bodies was begun beglin in 1 december it will take 30 to 40 days to complete this cross cutting the long idle american eagle shaft was reopened r repaired ep aired and sunk feet deeper from 1500 to 2000 feet lessees lessels found ore in the anaconda tunnel of the mary mckinney mine in ill the forest queen and in the sangre de cristo tunnel A review of the condition of the smelting smelling sm elting industry in colorado in 1924 shows that the plants in operation were the lead smelters shelters sm elters at durango and leadville the zinc oxide plants at canyon city leadville and pueblo and the lead zinc oxide copper matte plant at florence some gold old silver ore and concentrates were received from clear Cree kand gilpin counties at the dismantled globe smelter where flue chambers are now used for collecting arsenious oxide thallium and cadmium |