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Show IDAHO MINERAL OUTPUT IN 1917 TOTALS $50,000,000 Operators Realize Excellent Profits and Many New Properties Developed; Scarcity of Labor Cause of Some Difficulty. IDAHO'S niim-ral out put in 1017 ri moil it t to ;iipn,.im.-itfly f.',')0,-(mi). f.',')0,-(mi). rc;i!i.in i-xi-.-llut prot'iH to ti.e .j it-i-;j toi-n .'in. I rc4iillin in the il"M'loinifiit ol' many " fTiincrtii's. II nm l.y I'.-ir Mm mo-t .io-,.rrou yiiii- in !hr milling lii-torv of tli htati. Thr final in. lnl o.iq.m fur tin: v;ir will n-a.-li tin' follonini; faun's, i-imi piled by Main Mini hi:-'iior . lii-II: Li;nl, :i.r,ii,(iiO,niiii (ioihi'I-; silver, 11,000,000 ouiiiti ; z.iiu-, Sn.OOii.OOii pnumls; copper, n. 000,0011 poiiiii ; :;ol,, -10,000 oimi-01. The outslanilinv .-tnr 'ho f'lir I tvih I ho iliauniiratirin of new cnterprisi'S ruvl llio inst.-illaU'iti of morn new rmi-! rmi-! rlmiOT lor ininins ili'vi'loplnt'ilt and arc, ri'iluiaii)" tloin ilnr'ni any similar period in the utiiln'a lii-.it.nrjr. II wart not until lain in t h ! soason tlml a slump was rx-poririu'r-d. Then a lii',. l uas rxpi'io'iH-od ilur to tlio drop in trih'.ir, bad and v.hn: prii'in. While! oprralor.i arc iiiidinrd In think tho n:-l.-ipr-r- will I'lintinnn bci'iuiso of thn ox-,o'?-, proiil Iiii on nunc and drop in niotal prirfs it is not linliovod lliat the n .'rnnii'iit 'will sot an arbitrary low ,,ri.o that will furt-o Iho oporatorrt ont of .Imsini's-i. lint will instead leave a worlsinu profit. Labor Is Scarce. The ,rt ft ienltv to sivure labor cspn-eialle cspn-eialle iimVurniind ".orators, has j.rn-vonteil j.rn-vonteil or little new development urtik in the larger properties of tiio f'oenr d'Alenes. t lie resonrees of wriii;h have liei'li heav.ilv drawn upon. Ihis mi trim Ihree-qvnrlers ol the year, nhni the, most atl.raetive metal yprie.es were offered. In otfcer .sections uiclud-in" uiclud-in" southern and sout.h eentral Idaho, a number of important ore properties nere opened, espeeinlly load, silver and cupper properties. The most notable center ol Jdalio minim' netivitv, oiilside of t.lio Coenr il'Alenes, una 'that of tho 5 Lack ay district, dis-trict, whore the Kmpin) Cupper company com-pany en juved a record year in production produc-tion of crude shipping ore, and started nil extensive plan of permanent, development devel-opment and ecpiipnieiil , ineludine; an aerial ae-rial trnnnvav three miles luns;, with a capucitv of' lL'.i tons an hour to deliver de-liver tho ore .from tho mine on White, Knob mountain In thi-ir mill and smelter smelt-er site on tin' railway near Mackay. Install Compressor. A I 'iOII cubic foot air compressor was another improvement recently completed com-pleted nnil put, in operation by this coin-pnnv. coin-pnnv. Thov have also contracted for h three compartment raise to connect their 0000-foot tunnel at the 11500-foot level with tho Alberta tunnel at tho 700 level and to connect the latter liinuel with their bipt oxidized wine of surface ore, a vertical four-compartment raise oti foot lii'h is well under way. Those extensive improvements are designed to facilitate the handling of Iho ahippinir ore resources of the mine, anil In supplv a 1000-ton daily capucitv mill that is contemplated for next ve.tr 's equipment plan, to utilize a vast resource of slea.m Vliovcl capacity capac-ity of lower erade ores that have been loft in I lie extensive development, and operation of the property for its crude shipping value. , Adioinini; the Umpire Copper com- I pauv''s oround to the west a series of ' new discoveries were made during the ' vein- of vorv desirable lead-silver bear- ii ic iron oxide .fluxing ores that found i ;i Teailv market at the Salt. Lake smelt-; smelt-; ers. these deposits are ot the Utah ; ivpe iii limestone and porphyry forma-i forma-i funis and occur as immense lens shaped shoots up to thirty feet, thick. The Kecnan property, of this srouri, produced pro-duced and shipped 10.000 tons ot crude ore carrying hih iron oxide and fair Mlverdead values between Mawh and October. The adjoining Horseshoe roup, ou the Fitcer.-ilcl lease, shipped ! between 2000 nmf liOt'O tons of crude ore carrying twelve to fifteen ounces silver and IS to -3 per cent lead, with , h-ch iron excess. A dozen other pros-i pros-i pects and subleases in the same vicin-; vicin-; itv mnrkercd ore in carload quantities. Financed in Salt Lake. At Covpei' bcisin. twenty-three miles west of Macksy. the Copper Kasiu Aiin-iu,r Aiin-iu,r company, another enterprise f in -i aiued bv Salt I.-ke capital, installed a tie-dril'l compressor ph.nt and sawmill :',mi mished a vhimuis campaign of deep development' on its extensive uroup of chums which embraces a wide Tone of copper tniiuralr.ation in sedimentary sedi-mentary rocks closely associated with u bio- erupt ivo crest of nionzonite por-pirwy. por-pirwy. l-'i ft v carloadf of crude ore was shipped' from this property that varied i" copper contents from 3 per cent to In per cent. The intervstinji feature of this development devel-opment diirinq the year was a body of copper sulphide mineral whose partial development demonstrates a dimension of ."0 bv (10 by TJ0 feet. It represents a replacement ot' a soft lime shale formation. for-mation. A series of flat dipping beds l hirtv feet thick that are eonneeted with two vertical fissures, one of which has produced some handsome shipping values in hijih-c' ado copper carbonate and oxide ore. Tonnage Promised. The dopoMt ery much resembles the tvoo of minerali at ion for which to nbiciple mines oi Park City are noted and srives definite promise of a bit ! .I nonage capacity of ood concentrating ; lOpior ore wlnui more fully developed.: Twenty miles further vo-t the Phi Kappa mine was equipped with a fifty- i iorsepovcr compressor plant and it was 1 Kiideroinc; intelligent development on ! 'n series of thick ivtuds of complex ; smelt in; ore carrying pood silver j -a lues. j In the Salmon river districts the foiden Sunbeam mill was built and put I in operation on ores from Montana j mins. A number of lease? were suo-',-essfullv operated at the Ked Bird mine and tweinv carloads of high-grade iratl-silver ore was shipped to market carrying values ranine. from ?0 to oO j "per cent lead, wit ii an ounce of silver to each unit of lead. I At Pay Horse the advanced prico of iler induce. 1 a revival of operation ft the old b'am-horn mine. A sorting i plant was b'tilt and a large portion of u thousand ton sto ap reserve of ore shipped to market, containing about ; p.r cnt copper and l'.O outn-es silver. 'I'll is property is ex"'ni"ely developed a::d if iher stavs at a deceit figure -hnuld boconie a pood pro-btcer. as its j pioveu csouice.i a c; rebate men e than JU,000 tons of lictier than 100-ounce o) o. Eight-foot Shoot. Tiju WilbTt, mint;, on Little Lost river, was suci;.'.-i'uliy op-raU;d throuh-uut throuh-uut l he vwr and iu Octoljer exhibUed an oro niioot at. itri 8uu-foot level eiht f.-et thick, imarly hajf ot w hich was dean 00 per cent lead ore and the bal-anco bal-anco luph rrado milling ore. A new electric hoit and tifty liorsepower eom-prii.iisor eom-prii.iisor plan 1 were -ins tailed at this in i no. A st raitfhtiMjjmr of tho shaft on a uniform incline from th surface to tfio Sob-foot Jivel was well under way. A small compressor plant was in-.-rtalled on the adjoining Wilbert extension exten-sion mine for the jiurpose of lonp crosscut, cross-cut, tunnel development. A number of other Krnall pro.-peets north and south-of south-of tlie Wilbrrt were operated in a small way and some very interesting lead ore results exposed. In the CUmoro district fifty miles north of Wilbert the two principle mines, Latest Out and Pittabur-Idaho, were good producers and a dozen other properties made shipments from this district in amounts varying from one to ten carloads ol: lea(-silver mineral carrying about .".() per cent lend and fifteen ounces silver per ton and usually usu-ally with a high excess of iron oxide. Substantial Plant The important equipment feature of this district was at the Pittsburg mine, whoso splendid oro development in its deepest level at 700 feet below the surface sur-face has warranted the installation of a substantial mining plant and tho construction con-struction hy raising and sinking, of a new fitty-degree incline shaft 7o0 feet deept which has been equipped with a i!30-horsepower Diesel engine power plant, electric hoist and station pumps. The bottom ore resources of this mine well warrant this extensive now improvement, im-provement, which has been put in at a cost of about a quarter of a million dollars. The AUio-Cilmore property, operated through a joint development and transportation trans-portation tunnel now (5000 feet long, through tho Pittsburg-Idaho group, was also operated under an intelligent plan of development from its deepest horizon hori-zon nearly 1000 feet below the apex of the vein system, with resulting ore disclosures dis-closures of marked interest to the future fu-ture of tho property. Bought by Utahns. At Load ore, the old property formerly former-ly owned bv the Junction Mines com-pa.ny, com-pa.ny, was transferred to Utah interests and operated under an intelligent plan of development which included in its deepest lvel a very interesting shoot of excellent concentrating galena ore of considerable size that gives promise prom-ise of the warrant of a concentrating mill of considerable capacity. Further north in Teinhi county, at Shoup, a gold mill of fifty tons' daily capacity is under const motion in Pine creek, and is connected with an aerial tramway for the treatment of ores from the Kentucky mine, whose cxtensivo dc- ; velopment carries a large reserve of , fair grade milling ore. i In the Blackbird district, thirty j miles south of Shoup, the Haynes-Stel-li to company installed a 300-ton concentrating concen-trating mill for the treatment of cobalt sulphide ore, which has been quite extensively ex-tensively developed and shows a big tonnage resource of fair grade mineral of this class that will jrive the state j a new variety of mineral product dur-j dur-j iug the coming year. , Handsome Deposits. ! In Blaine county some handsome de-1 de-1 posits of zinc carbonate and oxide ores , were purcha-sed and put under development develop-ment near Ketchum by the Kusa Spelter Spel-ter company of Vancouver. B. C. The Federal Mining & Smelting company com-pany continued its development in this couutv of the North Star mine, and its efforts to solve the metallurgical problems that the complex lead-silver ore of this property involves. This work was carried on with a new 150-ton daily capacity concentrating mill in whicii many changes and adjustments were made during the year for the purpose of overcoming the rather serious milling problem involved by this ore. This same company recently purchased pur-chased the Independence mine and is now operating ami successfully shipping its rich, clean high -grade lead-silver ore. In Idaho county a season of marked activity in new prospecting development develop-ment work was experienced at the Marshall Mar-shall Lake district, where the Holt mine 1 was equipped with a twentv-five ton I dailv capacity mill and is said to have produced gold values aggregating i $300,000. Veins Persistent. The success of this enterprise has induced in-duced quite a boom in this district and a number of other handsome specimen j ore disclosures have been made there. The veins are small, but apparently ! persistent, and in the Holt mine have carried their values down, so far, 400 feet below the eroppiugs of a vertical vein. This district is noted for some of the richest native gold specimen ore that has ever been found in the west and is likely to reveal deposits of bonanza importance im-portance with further work. In the same county at Oro Grande, near Kik City, the 'Oro Grande Gold j Mining company completed and put in i operation, late in the fall, an all slime ! cyanide plant of 300 tons' dailv capac-i capac-i ify for the treatment of an immense j rone of low-grade gold-bearing ore that : is said to average : per ton. This in ! stailation is in the nature of a pilot mill, and its successful sampling and ! demonstration of a margin of profit on j these values will likely result in the 'erection ot a plant of 3000 tons" daily j capacity next year. Big Surface Quarry. I This ore deposit is & wide zone of j sheared granitic gangue. from 100 to ;'0u feet wide of great mineral extent that is opened bv a big surface quarry and glory hole, connected with a drift from the back of the mill. It presents j steam shovel possibilities in capacity and the success of the present plant I will result in the large installation mentioned and further extensive development de-velopment along similar lines. This district dis-trict carries other big zones of low-grade low-grade gold ore that are believed to con- j J tain sufficient average values to war- j rant operations on a large scale. ' A new test mill of twenty-five Ions' j dailv capacity was built and put in I operation during the year on the Dewey j mine on t'r.c s'th fork of the '!oar-water, '!oar-water, .nea lianeville, with which I . tn-jti w rr:;ule on th1 co;' rT p'dd valiK-- available, with tne re-;dt that j ;uh(!S are now being furmuiated for S i i n ;j nc ; n g a n;'?"-lt larger plant in the near f -i r ..ire. This depos.it en; r races a '.vide '.:) ft of sheared green -rone. ai i vii. g several dollars er ton in gob!, with eori-iulurable econary copper ore and a n. in m some body of ch ai copy rite and bornite mineral, with 7, to 10 p-r ent cupper values tea feet wbie at the lowest point of development, where . permanent ground water l hi evi-'icn-'e. Handsome Prospects. Several ot her handsoui'3 prospects, with considerable development and of a similar nature are in evidence in this vicinity that have attracted the attention atten-tion of big mining capitalists who are considering making the district available avail-able with an extension of sixteen miles of railway construction to connect with the Clearwater branch of the Northern Pacify railroad? Xt-ar silver City, in Owyhpe county, the iJemming Mines company put in 'a busy season in tho construction of a 100-ton concentrating mill for the treatment, of a large fissure vein in granite five to ten feet wide and carrying car-rying average values of -5 per ton iu gold and siher. which has been under course of develoj meat fur the past year and dis-loses a handsome shoot of" ore more than "JOG feet in length of the I above grade. The old Trade Dollar Consolidated Mining company's properties, after an idleness ot several years, wore transferred trans-ferred during the summer to a Seattle con-many and are being developed at depth. Also several leasing operations in tho upper levols have been inaugurated. inaugu-rated. The scarcity of mine labor in the Coeur d 'A lone district ami its urgent demand for production, together with excessive high operating costs, worked against the progress of new development develop-ment during the year. The most important im-portant event, of tho industry in that famous field was the completion in .Tulv and the successful operation since, of the million dollar lead smelter plant and silver refinerv of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating company com-pany at Kellogg. This affords a local market for ore shipments that should greatlv stimulate new ore development enterprises when operating conditions resume a more favorable aspect. |