Show MASON VALLEY CO NEARLY READY TO CUT LOOSE AT MINE AND SMELTER according to latest advices advises from camp the mason valley mines company will be ready to place its mines mills and smelter in regular and steady commission by the first day of august it is planned that the smelter will also treat custom ores and thus help out many small producers who may be left without a market when the united states companas Comp anys smelter at kennett calif closes down as it is expected it will do during the summer the north and south headings of the underground haulage level connecting through the inside shaft with the new mason valley tunnel and the haulage way to the bluestone mill have been connected thus completing most of the underground work preparatory to mine operations the haulage level is still being driven south and finger raises will be extended into the mammoth from which shrinkage slopes will be opened work is progressing satisfactorily at the bluestone mill where extensive changes and additions are being made and at the companas comp anys smelter at thompson one mile from wa buska and fifteen miles from the mill two years ago the mason valley mines company purchased the bluestone mine adjoining its mine on the north alid nd the flotation mill surface tramway and other property including a standard guage railroad two and three borths miles long connecting the mill with the copper belt railroad shortly thereafter work started on plans to open the mason valley mine at the northerly end connecting this property with the mill by extending the electric tramway emmett D boyle bayle was appointed general manager of mines and worked out the plans and started the work vast amount of getting ready work A point was selected near the north end of the mason valley mine and a tunnel was driven into the hill feet the surface tramway was vas extended feet around the lace face of rugged cliffs from the bluestone tunnel to the portal of the new tunnel and at the face of the adit a shaft of three compartments was sunk feet at 92 feet the shaft connects with no 4 level of the mine and at feet the underground haulage way was established the shaft continues 59 feet below the haulage way to provide a sump and room for large ore pockets from which the skips are loaded two three ton skips were built specially for the shaft by the nevada engineering supply company and these have bee cen delivered A ropeway rope way extends 83 feet above the col lar r of the shaft to the sheaves and a large ore pocket is is atit t above the level el into which the skips dump from the or re pocket ore will wiil be loaded into 2 ton automatic dumping steel cars and transported in trains to the mill a distance of WOO feet by electric trolley locomotives the shaft is equipped with a double drum electric hoist and a large station has been cut out to accommodate the big air air compressor at the portal of the old mason valley tunnel which is to be moved to this location when the mason valley mine was operated ore was transported from the portal of the mason valley tunnel to the railroad by a foot aerial bucket tramway A short time before the mine closed down 1919 two new cables were purchased which were not installed later the tramway will be dismantled and the material sold surface tram mill equipment the surface tramway now extends from the mill to the bluestone tunnel and on to the new mason valley adit and ore will be drawn from both mines A new ton ore bin has been built at the mill and the crusher is being moved forward to this bin ore will be hauled on two shifts As originally designed design edore ore was elevated from the crusher to the fine grinding department passing through two hardinge mills set in tandem this procedure will be followed but the capacity of the mill will be increased by installing two additional hardinge mills the mills on the upper floor are in open circuit with aikens classifiers the fines from these mills will go direct to the flotation cells and the coarse to the two ax 48 mills below operating in closed circuit with two dorr duplex classifiers to the 16 janney flotation cells will be added four batteries of three primary and eight secondary callow cells the heavy part of mill changes and additions is well on toward completion the mill will treat 1000 tons of crude ore per 24 hour day concentrating at a ratio of and producing tons of concentrate per day the mill product will be transported to the main line of the copper belt railroad over the companas comp anys branch line and thence to the smelter the branch road has a six to seven per cent grade and employs cogwheel cog wheel locomotives to haul the trains smelter has large capacity big ore tonnage there are two blast furnaces at the smelter but only one furnace will be employed work of putting the plant in condition is being done under the supervision of R J nesbit master mechanic who installed the first machinery and has been with the company since the smelter was first blown in during january 1912 in october 1914 following the outbreak of the world war the plant was akras shut down resuming operation in february 1917 during the following twenty months both furnaces running at full capacity smelted smelter over tons of ore the greater part of which came from the mason valley and nevada douglas consolidated copper mines pro producing duc pounds of copper 98 to 99 per cent pure the smelter continued to run until march 1919 when it was shut down and has since remained idle the mason valley and bluestone mines of the mason valley mines company contain both oxidized and sulphide ores but the deposits of sulphide ore now largely predominate more than ihan tons of better than two per cent sulphide ore is developed in the two mines and there is is a large area of undeveloped ground on the strike of the great ore bearing be ring fissure in the limestone the ore bodies are replacements of the limestone and range rane in width from five feet to 85 feet ore has been mined through to the surface by glory hole methods method the mires are re completely equipped and all machinery is driven by electric power |