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Show GOOD WORK DOIIIE BY SILVER PEAK WBm Big Low-Grade Gold Mine HUB Has Third Lowest Costs HI MILL BEING IMPROVED HB Litigation Near End and the HI Outlook for Company Is I Special to The Tribune. ' GOL.DFIEL1D, Nev., May 4. The PHts-hurp PHts-hurp Silver Peak property Is making a gratifying record of production and economical operation, and with tho vast ore reserves In sight, the Installation of machinery designed to increase the efficiency ef-ficiency of Its plant and the prospect of , nn early and favorable adjustment of the litigation In -which It has long been involved in-volved It Is assuming a position that places It nmong tho foremost of the Iow-" Iow-" crade mines of tho country In point of potential productiveness and assured P 'General Manager W. A. Bradley states that the company's mill, which is equipped with 120 stamps, Is treating an average of 15,500 tons monthly, or more than 500 tons daily. The ore is low-grade low-grade and carries about one ounce silver to $100 gold, the process of reduction Involving In-volving crushing, amalgamation and cya-nldatlon. cya-nldatlon. Heretofore there has been no regrindlng of the product, hut a tube mill Is now being installed, designed to handle han-dle tho product from thirty stamps, and by regrindlng the coarser sands, In which the greatest loss has boon sustained su-stained In- the past, this material will be reduced to slimes from which a better recover- will be effected, and tho time of Immersion In the cyanide solution will be reduced from five days to seven hours. I Process of Milling. The ore first passe through a gyratory gyra-tory crusher at the mine, whence IL is conveyed over a tramway, 13.S00 feet in length, to the stamp bins at the mill. The crusher reduces tho ore to pass through a two-Inch grizzly and after passing the stamp batterlos and the tube mill the slimes will be sent to the "Merrill filter presses and thence, together with the fines that have not required resxlnd-itig.'to resxlnd-itig.'to the leaching vats. Prior to the installation of tho tube mill tho recovery has averaged from 90 to 01 per cent and I lie improvements now being perfected will increase this by from eight-tenths to one per cent. The properlv is developed and the ore extracted altogether through tunnelB. Tho ore deposits occur in semi-blanket vein form, corresponding closely to the contour of, .the country, flattening or dipping dip-ping uniformly in relation to the sur-fsi'.-c. and thus are readily followed and blocked out for extraction Tho system of ininin- employed Is effective and economical. From the various tunnels foot-wall drifts are driven for long dis-tanoea dis-tanoea on the veins and from these, at Intervals of forty feel, raises 'and crosscuts cross-cuts arc driven to block out the ore and prepare the ground for sloping. Pillars of ore are left in the slopes and as tho slopes arc worked out these pillars arc hlnsted in such manner as to fall down the raises, thus saving .nearly all the pay material In the pillar area. Tho company employs a normal force of 200 men in the mine and mill and on IIk .standard gauge railroad and ore tramway. tram-way. U pays the highest wage scale of Any lor.--pnide "mine in the country, exceeding ex-ceeding fven thai of Tonopah, but Its total 'operating costs. Including expenses f every nature and morllzation allowance. allow-ance. Iiave been reduced to $-.70 per ton. Only two largo mines In North America operate at a lower lonnago cost the Alaska Tread well and Ihe Melones mine, on t ic mother lode In California. End of Litigation Near. . The litigation in which the company has been Involved for a dozen years or more is likely to be finally settled within a I'hort time. It had Its origin in a suit charging breach of contract. Instituted by ilanchett and Gamble against the Blalrs, original owners of the property, and Involving title to the old Drlnk-watfir Drlnk-watfir mine and the Drlnkwater group of claims, embracing about 600 acres of the company's present holdings of 2000 acres. The company received over a year ago a decision In Its favor from the I'ultcd Slates court of appeals at San Francisco, but the case has remained in the hands of the Nevada supreme court for over a year, and a decision is expected ex-pected within the next few months, which, if it is in favor of the company, should terminate all litigation, as It is not believed there Is an oven remote possibility pos-sibility of the original plaintiffs taking the case to the United States supreme court. |