Show MILL RUN AT THE AJAX tribune dillon mont al J noyes manager of the ajax mine in the big hole basin and thomas B landers amalgamator amalgamate at the ajax arrived in town monday from the mine to remain for several days it was reported that there had been a test run made at the mill at the mine and that a nice cleanup clean up had been made also that extensive work had been carried on at the mine during the past summer and fall the tribune man asked mr noyes monday what the owners were doing with the mine to which he replied we have closed down the mill for the winter because we cant do anything advantageously until we have an aerial tramway on account of the depth of the snow and the expense in getting the ore from the mine to the mill a distance of feet we expect to run the mine and mill this winter when we started the mill up in the fall but it was simply our aim to make a test of the ore on the lumps dumps from the several different tunnels we had T B landers a practical mill man and assayer to make tests for us and have proved from the cleanup clean up and concentrates cen that the mine is bound to be a winner and dividend payer 1 I dont care to say in particular what the cleanup clean up amounted to but to give an estimate will say that the concentrates and bullion from a hour run or little over six days probably amounted to 1500 we have always been handicapped in trying to do anything with the ajax mine by the amount of snow which usually falls in that hig halti tude and remains about eight months in the year however work done has given us a showing along the mountain for r 1200 feet where the vein has been exposed and while the ore exceedingly rich it contains values enough on onan an average to make it a success As to its richness I 1 cant say for we never assay picked pieces in order to create an excitement as a great many mining men do I 1 have seen pieces of gold as large as my thumbnail thumb nail after they were flattened out by the stamp and ot of course were too coarse to go through the screens the miners when they leave ge generally n have nice specimens in which free gold can plainly be seen specimens of this kind would probably assay algay thousands of dollars to the ton but you understand these are exceptions the particular thing in a gold mine is to have a good wide lead with a general average sufficient to pay and a way by which that can be saved we have found by several different tests made that we can save on the plates and by concentration a sufficient amount of gold lead and silver to make the mine a paying proposition if one uses the same business ability and economy that he would use in any other business it is not a matter of extravagance because you have a gold mine but a matter of extreme conservatism which makes success we have four patented claims on this property a ten stamp mill built by thomas white fisher one of the best mill men in the united states four tunnels three of which run in one the vein and the other is a crosscut tunnel the latter being known as tunnel no 4 which recently was mentioned in these columns at this tunnel the lead is nine feet wide while the whole nine feet would pay with a larger mill it is only advisable to run through about four and one half feet of it as present leaving the rest on the dump until such time as a larger mill can be built the ore is exposed along the ajax claim as I 1 have said for 1200 feet and the vein is all the way from three to twenty feet wide with ore shoots from fifteen inches to twenty feet in width will the aerial tramway be built this winter was asked no replied mr noyes for the building of an aerial tramway requires quite a lot of time the order for the machinery must be sent to the manufacturers several months before it can be filled by them especially is it so with the san francisco manufacturers with whom we have been figuring A and nd then the snow falls early on the main range of the where the mine is located and makes it an impossibility to haul anything later than the middle of november or the first of december we will begin the middle of june and install the power drills which we already have and run tunnels 3 and 4 so that as soon as the tramway is completed next year which will not take long after the material is on the ground we can begin to drop the stamps and keep the mill in continuous operation pounding out from to every twelve months as tests made at several different times have proven entirely possible mining property has more or less chance attached to it but when one has expended a considerable fortune the possibilities of its return and in a very rapid manner too are much greater than in any other known business the expense both in time and money in opening up a mine building mills testing ores gres to determine their commercial values is something which cannot be appreciated by anyone other than the active participants no one on the outside cares to go into an infant industry of this kind until successful tests have been had or in other words until a mine has been made |