Show afew JI THE GREAT consolidated GOLD MINES OF 1 y V W W i tt t the present time when public favor ais mis again turning to gold mining as an occupation that never suffers a setback set back because of fluctuations in the metal market or the drop in quotations on silver lead or copper the mining 0 review takes pleasure in calling calli ncr attention to the fact that mercur in camp floyd district tooele thoele county this thia state is greatest gold camp and that the consolidated murcur mercur is the greatest gold producer and dividend payer within the environments of our fair state so rich in its almost exhaustless deposits of the precious metals this statement is not intended in any way as a reflection upon any of the splendid producers dividend dt disbursers disburse rs and bonanzas with which utah is blessed and of which we so justly boast nor is it our intent in speaking of the really marvelous career of the mercur to make any odious comparisons the object being to call merited attention to what the con mercur has done in the way osgold of gold production alone park city bingham tintic gintic Tin tic frisco and ai 4 4 47 4 t 0 k Q V 14 7 77 THE GREAT GOLDEN GATE MILL OF THE CON MERCUR MINESs other utah camps have their great producers mines which have outputted out putted putte d their millions in gold silver lead and copper but these mines strictly speaking are not gold mines their principal princ values being in silver lead or copper or 4 a combination combination of these metals with gold old as h a ge general derai thing coming in as a by product with the Mercur mine on the contrary the entire output output t ingold is gold which goes to swell the worlds supply of standard and imperishable wealth an and d awhile while other camps bare steadily addingto adding 0 the supply of commercial commodities mercur is supplying the real sinews of war with which to buy manufactured articles machinery and supplies in the production and manufacture of which lead copper and silver are very largely utilized there are other gold mines in utah many of them of magnificent promise but none of V 7 Z 70 nn N n ak aad A F LIZZIE OPEN OUT AND TUNNELS OF THE MERCUR AN ENTIRE FACE OF ORE them in the way of size and productiveness equipment and dividend disbursements approach 1 the wonderful consolidated mercur mines gold mountain stateline Stat eline and park valley can boast of properties that give every promise of developing into stalwart producers and prolific dividend payers but up to the present time they are mere strip lings when compared to the giant con mercur immensity is one of the most striking tricking of the consolidated mercur mines and visitors to this bonanza never fail to be impressed with the sense and feeling of magnitude which pervades everything connected with this really marvelous property for whether hether v one considers its practically inexhaustible ore bodies its production of gold its immense ton tonnage R ag a its dividend disburse ments its acreage of ground its miles of underground desgro der ground und workings the magnitude of its reduction works or Us its large force of oi employees pin plo the same sense and feeling 11 of size is paramount and still prevails amplification of some of these points may be of interest to those readers of the mining review who are not fully conversant with the history of the fhe f he consolidated mercur and of its posses possessions slon and operations and we take pleasure in reviewing them in the order named 1 L the size side of the ore bodies in the con mercur have I 1 been a matter of surprise to many old time and experienced miners men who have been accustomed to ordinary fissure and contact veins the ore bodies of the mercur ranging from fifteen to ninety feet thick and presenting bg something unique and not often encountered in metal mining indeed so extensive are the ore deposits of these mines that it may be stated in this connection that a disinterested mining expert who recently made a careful examination of the mine reported that in their workings all of tons of ore was in sight with a mining probability of tons more between developed ore bodies and with three fourths of the companas comp anys territory in fihe he very heart of the mineralized portion of the camp remaining untouched and the new developments in the lulu claim which will be presently referred to are in in ground that was included in the u area 2 the total value of the gold produced by the properties included jn ia the holdings of the consolidated mercur up to january 1 1902 aggregates a fortune in itself the production for the year 1901 amounting to 3 the annual report of the consolidated consolidate u company has bl as disclosed the fact that during the first eleven months of its operations there were mined and milled tons of ore this means an output of tons per month or each day in reviewing those these figures the question naturally arises how many gold mines are there in the known world that are equaling this record or that are making a greater tonnage ton nage altogether up to january 1 1902 the mercur mines included in the consolidation have produced tons of ore 4 the dividends disbursed b by y the consolidated soli dated mercur company have assumed magnificent proportions the company is now ilow paying in dividends quarterly or at the rate of half a million dollars annually the total amount paid in dividends by the consolidated mercur and by the companies it absorbed when the consolidation was consummated totals a splendid record for a camp which a little more than ten years ago was ignored and considered as worthless by the mining world 5 the ground owned by the consolidated mercur is as extensive in its area as are some mining districts the company owns acres of patented ground acres of which at least are located in the richest and mos most t favorable portion of the camp of mercur 6 the golden gate mill as it is popularly known and designated because it was built on captain J R Lamars delamare De golden gate mine is capable of treating more than one thousand tons of ore every twenty four hours it was the lar largest crest cyanide mill in the world until the new homestake Home stake mill in the black hills recently went into commission w with ith a daily capacity of 1200 tons the homestake Home stake mill however is for straight le leaching ching while the mercur plant cont contains ains roasting equipment in point of actual size therefore the latter can still claim first place the golden gate mill covers several acres of ground its lea leaching china floor is feet in length and contains twenty six tanks of tons capacity paci tv each giving a total capacity of tons 7 the companas comp anys records do not show the aggregate length cenath of its under underground around mine workings but there are many miles of tunnels drifts cross cuts shafts raises and dinzes to walk through which would occupy several days 8 the companas comp anys payroll is almost the sole sole support of the town of mercur a thriving little city of 2500 inhabitants which is reached by the salt lake mercur rail railroad connecting at fairfield with the gintic tintic tin tic branch of the oregon short line every month is distributed by the mercur company among the men in its employ in the mines and mills the enu enumeration aeration of tha above named features conn connected ted with the operation and maintenance ot the con mercur mines is sufficient to ohof sho that the affairs of the company are conducted on a large scale every month this marcua in e handles a larger ore tonnage e than many x f our leading bonanzas produce in in a year a aad d yet the mine comparatively ively speaking alting I 1 s still in its infancy indeed on such an e extensive e sive scale is the pro of gold carried on by the con mercur that there is seemingly much truth in the statement ent made by a gentleman recently to the effect that this is i not mining but manufacturing the material is there in unlimited quantities and it is simply a question of producing the gold at the least possible cost in this he was right and he could not have expressed the situation or conditions more truthfully or concisely the con mercur mines have never suffered from a shortage of ore since work in their development and operation first began the only problem with the company has been to treat the ore successfully and to do this so cheaply that the lowest possible grade of ore might be made to pay long before the mercur gold mining milling company was incorporated in 1890 it was known that a large deposit of material in the old abandoned silver mining camp of lewiston carried varying quantities of gold because it did not show in the pan mining men at first paid but little attention to these deposits then an attempt was made by the above named company to amalgamate the gold but the effort proved an utter failure and the future outlook for the company was anything but encouraging as there seemed to be no known method of process by which to recover the golden millions which it was by that time firmly believed were hidden by dame nature in the mercur hills then the cyanide process was discovered and the problem was solved the mercur mine became a steady producer and dividend payer and other mines of the camp began to add their yield to the output of the yellow metal upon which the circulating medium of the world is based it was about this time that captain J R delamar bought the golden gate mine and began a vigorous and sue successful cessa ua campaign of development immense bodies of ore were blocked out in the workings of the mine but a new and unexpected obstacle in the operation of the property presented itself instead of the ore being oxidized and consequently easy of treatment as the original mercur ore had been it was base an and d refractory frac tory A season of costly experiments followed before a process was evolved for the successful and economical treatment of the golden gate ores the golden gate mill was then built the works being adapted for the treatment of base as well as oxidized ores meanwhile the mercur company was milling only oxidized ores leaving the bodies of base ores from time to time encountered standing untouched in the mine workings As time rolled on the volumes of oxidized ore in the mine began to diminish while a great tonnage of arsenical or base ore was blocked out the same being unavailable for want of a plant for its treatment confronted with this condition the company rather than go to the expense of building a new mill to cost in the neighborhood of from to concluded a consolidation with the delamar company and the consolidated iller mercur cur gold mines company began operations on august 1900 adlof all of the ores from both mines are now reduced at the golden gate mill the economic principle of intensified production is employed to the utmost and operating expenses are kept down to a minimum automatic mechanical appliances have been installed at both mill and mines and from the time the ore is loaded into cars in the mines until it reaches the leaching tanks it is not touched by hand and yet improved methods and appliances are constantly being introduced trod by the company which is abreast of the times in the way of enterprise and progress in this way the processes ses and methods of ore handling and treatment continue to be developed to illustrate the beneficial results attending this policy of keeping out of ruts ton yet all oxidized ores assaying 2 wid and all base ores goings going 4 to the ton in their gold contents conten tg are mined and sent to the mill as the show a margin of profit the developments of f the past year in both the mercur and golden gate mines have been very flattering and during the period mentioned the companas comp anys already immense ore reserves have been greatly augmented A very gratifying feature of these new developments is that they are almost exclusively in oxidized ore which is much more cheaply reduced than the bilse base because it does not require roasting the manao management ement believes belaev i es its reserves of oxidized ore are now again ag ain equal to if not in excess of the base ore in sight pit ci 01 crittl 0 ore zt ae re 40 ea ore 0 53 ore qa we X MAP SHOWING RECENT developments IN LULU GROUND MERCUR MINE and in close touch with naw new ideas and inventions and to show that the treatment of mercur ores has been a matter of gradual evolution with the company it is only necessary to allude to the fact that within the past tyro tuo or three months a most important import ant improvement has been made in the roasting furnaces of the mill which increases their capacity nearly one half with scarcely any ad additional dit ional expense this improvement has materially reduced the treatment cost v very ery per ton and makes it possible to realize a profit on ore a dollar a ton lower in grade than could formerly be made to pay while the general av average erae of all the ore milled by the company is in excess of 6 per it would be an endless to attempt to describe the workings of tile the con mercur mines nor would it be possible to do so within the limits of a newspaper article it would bo be impossible in this brief write up UPI to tell of the magnitude of the ore bodies blocked out in both properties to convey an adequate idea and impression of the wealth of this great property and nd of its future possibilities it being only onla necessary to reiterate the statement that the con mercur mere aur mines are in splendid physical condition and that for years eias to come they will b be e able to respond to all demands that may be made upon them by the 1 b big I 1 mill while there ne need ed be no doubt in the minds mind s of any but that for ten or awen twenty ty years I 1 to come the company will be able to maintain regular and heavy dividends in n the mercur mine superintendent george Z edwards has developed a body of ore orein in the lulu claim which has lately been causing something of a sensation in local mining circles and which bids fair to equal or surpass in size and richness the main ore shoots in the older portions of the mine through the courtesy of the management we are enabled to present to our readers an authentic map of these new workings it will be observed that two inclines have been put down on the dip of the vein both of which are headed into virgin ground with no other workings working within several hundred feet the lulu incline has now attained a depth of nearly feet it having been steadily continued since the map was prepared and its entire length is in ore the grade of the ore has been good the whole distance and it seems to be improving as tho average of fifteen samples taken in the past five days is 1178 the highest assaying 2170 and the lowest per ton As is shown by the map levels have been driven at intervals on the strike of the vein these are all in ore and a large tonnage has already been blocked out no has been done in any of these workings working 4 the values are uniformly good wherever work has been done As is noted on the map the face of the third east level is in 28 ore first east no 3 is a crosscut cross cut toward the foot wall which was started to determine the thickness of the ore b ody body it is driven on a level while the incline has a pitch of about 15 degrees although this crosscut cross cut has already gone nearly feet the foot wall has not yet been encountered the value sas platted on the official assay map in this crosscut cross cut are as follows 1995 2925 2549 30 51 1667 1217 the crosscut cross cut from the ath west level is the farthest west extension 0 of f the lulu incline wor workings kinas 1 the values have been high the entire distance from the in cline and the last two samples from this face assayed 1051 and 1116 elevations are marked for the various drifts on the map and by noticing how the different levels |