Show HOME VISITING WESTERN ENGINEER TELLS OF ISLAND OF CYPRESS MINING J L bruce mining engineer widely known in the ranks of mining operators of colorado utah and montana where his latest activities were in connection with his management of the davis daly mines recently returned from the island of cyprus where since 1922 he has lyeen been managing properties for the cyprus mines corporation po ration to spend a few weeks with friends and relatives in denver deliver before returning to cyprus engineer braces recent visit to the old stamping ground at butte resulted in his relating interesting incidents not only with respect to the operations being carried on at present but also with respect to the ancient history of what are most likely the oldest mines in the world from one of the butte stories the following excerpts are taken mines in the island of cyprus that were producing copper long before the time of christ are now being managed by a former butte mining engineer whose staff of operators frequently stumble upon relics of operations that may antedate the dawn of recorded history today those ancient mines anines are being worked by an all american company under the direction of J L bruce whose latest butte connection was that of general manager of the davis daly company those ancient mines are producing today according to orthodox modern methods as it ii they had lain virgin until the americans came ancients knew how to mine and smelt the ancients used primitive mining and smelting smelling sm elting methods but the old roman flags that still lie about the mines as does the phoenician slag piles also was vas so skillfully handled that retreating produces no results whatever according to mr bruce samples of the slag have been sent to various laboratories throughout the united states in every instance the returns were negative the phoenicians Phoenicia ns and likewise the romans worked the mines with slaves the present day miners are paid from two to six shillings per day the higher wage being for skilled labor the mines of mount were opened up after some me difficulty by the cyprus mines corporation which was founded by the mudd family of st louis although 6 slag dumps abounded the entrance to the old mines could not be located they had been entirely obliterated A churn drill was finally brought into play nine holes were bored before the ore body was located of interest to metallurgists of int interest erest to metallurgists will be mr Bruc brucca cs statement that the question can sea water be used for flotation purposes has been answered at cyprus they not only manage flotation but selective flotation 6 as well through the e use ilse of sea water mr bruce states that the mines closed about the year A D and remained idle until 1922 when the american america company undertook their development not all its mines closed with the decadence of rome there is a lead mine at Lauri laudium laurium urn that has been worked since the roman era the march of progress is sparing nothing mr bruce says A huge reservoir now covers the area in greece where was fought the battle of marathon and a firm of new york contractors ulin and company is running an all eight Z mile tunnel to athens old world ore contracts ore contracts in europe differ from those in the united states in entering into such an agreement the mine operator must bind himself to supply a definite amount of ore at stated intervals and he must live liap up to the agreement at no matter what cost in the old egyptian pho phoenician en i c iana ian A assyrian an roman mine mr bruce found a piece of a pick he also found pieces of wood that had been completely changed to charcoal by the action of the ages the ore which assays essays 21 copper sulphur 4 oz silver and 01 oz gold is shipped to italy germany and england it is roasted for acid the residue is mixed with salt to make inake copper chloride and then leached beached to recover copper the iron oxide residue is treated for the recovery of iron operating ancient mines is not half bad mr bruce states cyprus surrounded by the historic places of the ancient world is an interesting place of residence the broken character of the island and the sea winds create clinia climatic tic conditions that are agreeable to europeans the population of the island is about greeks turks armenians Armen ians and other asiatic people there are only 40 english speaking persons of whom 30 are americans |