| Show REASONS FOR CLOSING COMSTOCK MERGER in a recent interview the tonopah mining reporter quotes thomas C baker general manager of the comstock merger mines company concerning the reasons for closing down the properties as follows the merger has mined approximately tons of ore having an average recovered value of a ton all this ore came from the old fills of bonanza close selective sampling was required to maintain this grade these bodies are scattered over a distance of two miles from the overman on the south to the gould an and d curry curr y on the north miles of drifts in heavy ground had to be kept open to render them accessible and two mining organizations with separate surface plants have been necessary for their exploitation I 1 under the circumstances the operation has not been a commercial proposition this was indicated shortly after the middle mines were prepared for sloping and for over a year the company has end endeavored cavorted to save the situation by finding new ore bodies in the last year over has been spent for this purpose but no encouraging developments resulted in view view of this discouraging outcome the company stopped most of the exploratory work in august with the intention not to do any more work than could be paid for by money acquired from operations an analysis of the costs show that there would have been an operating profit of about to date this year if no exploration work had been undertaken consequently there was sonic some hope of continuing for an indefinite time on the new basis until the recent severe decline in the price of silver precluded any chance of profitable operation work at the property is being continued until about december 10 in order to use up supplies on hand if it can be done without loss and to give the employed emp loyes a chance to secure work elsewhere asked as to whether there was a possibility that the mines might inight be operated at sonic some future time by the company mr baker said he thought not while there is enough ore left in the mine of even better value than has been the average treated to keep the mill running on or tons daily for some time it would cost several hundred thousand dollars to reopen the workings after they have been idle for any long period on account of the heavy nature of the ground it was said since operations were started the united comstock and 4 lie merger mines companies have treated tons of ore and done a vast amount of exploratory work the man ager t reported without finding any virgin ore of consequence mr baker will ae leave ave nevada november 10 for fredni zacatecas Zacate cas mexico where he will assume the management of the property of the mexican company this mine is said rc to handle the largest silver ore tonnage in the world the pro and treating tons monthly am |
