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Show HIDES COPPER IS" 15 UHBEPBDJECT Report Ore Body 1800 Feet Long, 900 Feet Wide and 10,500 Feet Deep. - The largest project in mining development develop-ment at the present time, says the Engl- ; neering and Mining Journal, is that of the Andes Copper Mining company, Ana- j conda's subsidiary, situated In Chile, j South America. This property- is in the Andes mountains, ninety miles from Tort ! at Chanaral, at an altitude of 10,500 feet, j Churn drills have determined an ore j body 1S00 feet long, )0 feet wide and SoO feet deep, containing over 32.iV0.000 pounds of ore. averaging 1.5 per cent copper. In addition to this known body, other ore in the vicinity has been proved to the extent of Increasing the total known ore to Ku. 000, 000 tons, averaging 1-4 per cent copper. The geology ui the ore body fs a porphyria por-phyria quartz in limestone." Plans of treatment have not been worked out in detail, hut since both oxidized and sulphide sul-phide ores occur, a combination f leaching leach-ing and flotation will probably be adopted. The method of mining will be one of low costs. Main haulage tunnel from the millslte terminates under the ore body at a point approximately 1000 feet below the surface. Above this tunnel, ore bins will be constructed leaving 150 feet of pillar over the tunnel through which the ore will be drawn from the caving level. It is intended to undercut the ore body at the caving level bv a series of parallel drifts, and then to cave the entire ore body by blasting the pillars between drifts. Willi this gigantic collapse of the ore bony eliminating much, expensive hu--man labor, engineers' believe costs will total only 20 cents per ton of ore on board railroad cars at the mine. A modern standard gauge railroad laid with 70-pound rails is in process of construction con-struction from Fct Chanaral to the mine, the last five miles of which will be through a 75 per cent hard ruck tunnel, the whole to be in operation within two years. Pending completion of railroad, freight is being transported the distance by mules and two-wheeled carts. In addition to building a railroad and steamship terminus at Port Chanaral, a 22.0'jO kilowatt steam-turbine electric plant is being installed which will provide pro-vide power for the mine and mil! at 100.-000 100.-000 volts. At the mine itself a 15. 000-ton concentrator is to be erected, and plans are being made for a model town of about 5000 inhabitants. Owing to great height of the mine an important question hag been the source of water simply. Situated on its plateau, the mine is in the desert of Atacama, which is noted for its aridity. It therefore there-fore became necessary to go into the region re-gion of perpetual snow and install a pipe line thirty-six miles long, of an average diameter of 26 inches, which will furnish water at a rate of 25 cubic feet per second. sec-ond. With a proposition of such mvgnitrde, duplications and confusion would be expected, ex-pected, but the engineers have all had their plans fully in mind before embarking embark-ing on any new phase, -with the result that within two years copper will be produced pro-duced in quantity from the Andes Copper Cop-per Mining company. Total cost of construction will, it is believed, total up to nearly $25,000,000. |