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Show THE MARKET AND THE MINES a THE year 1918 in mining was different from any year that preceded it and unlike any year Hj O that ia likely to come after it. The lessons of H experience and the axioms of the business were H knocked galley west by the war. H Metal prices were so high that the owners of H producing mines would have been smothered in H wealth if the mine workers and thv government H had not come to their rescue by carrying away H the increased earnings as wpges and taxes. In H many -cases the residue, when these demands H were satisfied, was less than the mines would H have cleared under normal conditions with nor- H mal metal prices. H The above remarks apply to the producing H mines. To the non-producing mines and pros- H poets the war, from a business standpoint, was H a nightmare. While their labor and supply costs H were virtually doubled they had no opportunity H to reimburse themselves. High metal prices meant H nothing to them. The extraordinary demand for B mine products should have at least made it easier H to finance, but even this consolation was denied H owing to the absorption of capital by war loans H and war donations. H In view of the circumstances it is not strange H that no new mines of consequence were discov- H ered in Utah in 1918. The most noteworthy oc- H currences of the year were the development wit- M nessed in the discoveries of the year before. At M least .two such strikes have made good in a large H The find on the 1200-foot level of the Tintic m Standard proved to be a history-making event. H The ore bedding entered in the original workings Hl was picked up 300 feet north by a new working - m shaft and found to continue northward indefi- M nitely, getting richer as it went. The new shaft Hj was driven more than 300 feet through ore of mill- m ing and shipping grade and crosscuts on various B levels proved that the ore extends laterally for H at least 400 feet. h Although of lesser magnitude the discovery H made by the Columbus-Rexall in the Cottonwood m ' district, proved to be important. The major value H here was copper with a goodly allowance of sil- H ver. Receipts from the ore quickly extinguished m the debt of the company and put about $60,000 M . in the treasury. The accumulation would have M been larger but for a scarcity of miners, the M "flu" and other difficulties which reflected in no H way on the merits of the mine. M Minor strikes have been made at Alta this year M ,, by the Michigan-Utah and the Alta Consolidated. H The stock market was greatly depressed by the M conditions mentioned above as preventing the M financing of mines. The brokers who continued M to go through the motions of doing business were B rewarded for the pretense when the revival of M the market after the signing of the armistice M demonstrated that the public had not lost its in- M clination to match dollars with Mother Nature M in the most fascinating ol all legitimate games. H There are certain signs that mining activity B will take a fresh start and enough development H work be done during the coming year to bring in M at least one or two new mines of the first class. M It would not be fair to tell the names of these B mines as it might discourage the rest and also M take the zest out of the search, so we let the Hj public do its own guessing with a timely hint nbw M and then. H H HOW UTAH COPPER HELPED WIN H THE WAR THE pride of the Utah Copper Company this year is not in the amount of its dividends or H the volume of its profits but in the part it has Lv taken in making the world safe for democracy. And that is not an inconsiderable part. When Daniel C. Jackling and his associates found the means to wrest copper metal from the barren hills of Bingham they accomplished more than they dreamed of at the time. They prepared to save Europe from subjugation and seal the doom of military autocracy throughout tho earth. Credit for winning the war has been given to food, to ships, to gold and to men, but it may be said with equal truth that copper won the war. It was essential for the construction of the ships that carried the food and men. Without it the tanks and aeroplanes would have been impossible, im-possible, not to speak of the shells and other munitions muni-tions in which it was so prominently used. The war consumption of copper by the United States for the seven months ending July 31 was estimated at $56,000,000 pounds. There was exported ex-ported to Prance, Italy, England and Canada during dur-ing the same period 446,690,484 of which 99 per cent is thought to have been used toward the winning win-ning of the wnr, making a totai war absorption of copper in the seven months of 1,302,690,484 pounds. The contribution of the Utah Copper to this total was approximately 110,000,000 pounds about one-eighth one-eighth of the domestic consumption, or one-quarter of the exports. The total production of the great Bingham mine for the year 1918 is estimated in round numbers num-bers at two hundred million pounds figures electric elec-tric with human interest when we think of the millions of pounds that have been used for the holy purpose of smiting the Hun from the air, the land and the sea, or for transporting the products pro-ducts of our fields to the lean larders of our allies al-lies in hungry Europe. The 1917 production of the company, which was used largely for the same purpose, was 206,-174,442 206,-174,442 pounds and the 1916 output 197,417,480 pounds. The details of this tremendous production are not without interest in view of the far-reaching results. In January the output was only 13,500,000 pounds and in the short month, of February It fell to 11,900,000 pounds, but March saw a big gain bringing the total to 16,380,000 pounds. The gain was held in April when 16,609,883 pounds were produced. In May and June the company did still better turning out 18,200,000 and 18,500,000 pounds respectively. In July there was a drop to 16,021,-766, 16,021,-766, but August broke the record with 19,920,947 pounds. September's output was 17,785,000 and October crowded August by turning out 19,000,000 pounds. The output in November, the month of victory, was estimated at 16,500,000. The average monthly production from July to October 1 was 17,770,648 pounds. In order to make the 53,311,943 pounds yielded in tho three months it was necessary to mine, transport and treat 3,412,700 tons of rock averaging about 1.2 per cent copper, or 24 pounds to the ton. In the process of treatment only 65.07 per cent of the copper in the ore was saved, the remainder passing off with the tailings. A larger saving could be made but would not be economical. The actual cost of producing copper during this, the third quarter of the year, was 16.814 cents. This was an increase of nearly two cent over tbo cost for the the previous quarter, an increase which was explained by the increased smelting, railroad and labor costs, all these items having b' advanced in June and July. An advance of 50 cents per day in the dages of all employes alone amounted to more than $2,000 per day. The raise was made on July 1 and affected.nearly 4,500 men. Besides being tho greatest copper mine the Utah Copper is the heaviest gold producer in the Jm state and also produces a considerable amount "3 of silver. The value of the two precious metals recovered from the copper ore during the third & quarter of the year was $408,593 and this, with J the income of the company from its stockholders in other companies and its miscellaneous receipts, was equal to 1.054 cents per net pound of copper produced. Ig In the operation of its huge m)ne and millB -J during 1918 the company was beset with difficul- gi ties which at times taxed the abilities of its execu- 4 tive staff. Costs rose very rapidly after the en- trance of the United States into the war, the price of copper was1 restricted by the government and no curtailment of output was to be thought of. jfc Enlistments and the draft made heavy inroads on 2 the working force and many highly skilled men. . s left for shipyards and munitions plants. When 33 the handicaps are considered the enormous pro- j duction record seems the more wonderful and the Jjj work of the management deserving of the high- Zig est admitration. ''"' w Although profits were a secondary considera- ?$ tion in war time, the Utah Copper not only paid the heavy federal taxes, donated liberally to the war charities and took its quota of every loan, but $ maintained dividends at a rate Which gave its H stockholders a fair return on their invested j capital. Payments were made quarterly at the rate of $2.50 per share. The aggregate of disbursements '$ for the year was $16,245,000 which raised the j grand total of the company to $91,861,000. Divi- V. dends for the previous year, when war taxes i'm were not in effect, amounted to $14.50 a share. " Not the least valuable contribution of the Utah ''" Copper to the winning of the war was the service I of its managing director, D. C. Jackling, on the War Munitions Board where his technical skill ! and rare business ability were of great benefit of : the government. ,Ji The manner in which the company has ac- J qquitted itself in the ordeal of war leaves no room , j for question that it will pass through the recon- 8j struction following the war with flying colors. Jl www 'jjsjp PRINCE CON. A BIG MINE 1 , 1 THE state of Utah has plenty of good mines of a its own, but there is at least one mine beyond 1 its borders to which it claims an extra-lateral is right. The Prince Consolidated of Piocho, Ne- vada, is a Utah mine in everything but Jqcatlon. $ It was developed by the Godbe brothers of Salt Lake, its headquarters are in Salt Lake, its price J is fixed by the Salt Lake Stock Exchange and a large proportion of its stock is owned in Utah. Tho Prince is not one of the "picture-rock" mines whose shipments have to be sent out in ' steel safes with companies of armed guards, but what its ores lack is opulence they make up- in volume. Its stockholders are eligible to the "Don't Worry" club, being secure in the knowledge that the mine has ample ore within its line to last for a generation. j&j It has so much ore that its owners have to ., look a long way ahead and make provisions for the future that would be unnecessary in the case of a property of the average life expectancy. Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent iu im- " 1 provements and for property in the last ten years are as good as dividends for bona fide stockhold- J ers for they will reappear later on in the net earnings of the company. jj Among these improvements may" be mentioned ',, a private railroad, a mill, a new working shaft ,; and a now hoisting plant, while the purchases in- it elude the Pioche King group to the north, the Davidson to the south and a considerable interest in the Virginia-Louise, to the southwest. The mill is the only one of the improvements k! whose value is questionable, and it was not con- tj structed' for the purpose of treating ore from the I mine, tfut to handle some old smelter dumps miles away which the company acquired early in its ; career. So far the mill has not been a success, ' i but there is hope that it will eventually reimburse i ' the company for its cost. i t With all of these outlays, most of them assets yt of cumulative value, the Prince has been able to tf "" ., remember its stockholders generously from time M to time and, now that its extraordinary expendi- . tures are out of the way, these remombrances may $1 be looked for regularly. 1 One hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars f j weye paid out in dividends in the latter part of V ; 1915. In 1916 a quarter of a million was paid !'f "" and in 1917 the disbursements amounted to 20 cents a share, or $200,000. ' Its ore reserves consist of great beds of ore ''' carrying uniform quantities of iron, manganese, ' lead and silver. The beds lie one above another V ' and have been proved at intervals of hundreds of feet by upraises. Hundreds of thousands of tons of mineral are blocked in this way. The following figures are taken from the smel- I K ter returns for the month of November, 1918: Shipments, 8,000 tons. This was 2,000 tons J below normal owing to the decimation of the min- siB ing force by influenza. Net receipts from smel- Jftl ter, $6.38 per ton. Freight charges and war taxes, 111 $2.38 per. ton. Mining cost, $1.80 per ton. Net ll profit per ton, $2.20. With normal production the l mining cost would be only $1.70 a ton, the profit IL would be $2.30 and the monthly net earnings from ' 10,000 tons $23,000, or at the rate of $276,000 a im year 27.6 cents per share. I GREAT RECORD OF CHIEF CON. ? f&$ npHERB is so much to be said of the number 5p and richness of our Utah metal mines that C lk we have not taken the credit to which we are s' HE entitled for another distinguishing feature of our ir mining development. , 1 IX Utah is the proving ground of new ideas and " Ik' methods in mining. Oil flotation is about the V j only revolutionary improvement that did get its Jl start here. Cyaniding was first successfully prac- ' lis ticed at Mercur Utah; long-distance electrical K Jk power transmission was a Utah idea; the extrac- tIIf tion of cPPer from low-grade sulphide ores was !, rs' Practiced on a commercial scale at Bingham, J Utah. JSjttl In keeping with the traditions of the state are "f Ij the methods introduced and practiced at the Chief l .1 Consolidated of Tintic district. The Chief, under I the progressive management of Walter Fitch, Sr., -I is always at the head of the procession. It is a fJi conspicuous monument to the value of brains and Wmi initiative in mining. Pm$ To relate in detail the new ideas originated I and adopted at the Chief would take more space I than is available here. One can only touch on a " few of the more important innovations. Ii One of the first things done by Mr. Fitch -was fMam to employ a first-class geologist not to make a lxi' report and go on his way, but to become a part of lHB the organization and make a continuous study of & e PrPerty and surrounding territory. The Chief - IJL was probably the first mine in any of the. silver- "I " lead camps of the state to take such action. 1 A scientific system of stope-fllling was intro- duced at the Chief. It proved economical in money I' r and life and limb and has been extensively I copied. 1 When it become necessary to enlarge the work- I ing shaft Walter Fitch, Jr., accomplished some- k thing that astonished the engineering profession. Ii He added another compartment without intorfer- ing with the usual hoisting operations and he did it without accident. The world's record for speed in sinking was broken by Mr. Fitch in driving another shaft for the company. Now he is sinking sink-ing a third working shaft under contract. In dimensions di-mensions it is one of the largest shafts in the west being 17 feet, 4 inches by 6 feet two inches, it will be lined with concrete and is to be continued con-tinued to the water level- perhaps 2,000 feet before lateral development is attempted. Does it pay to try out new ideas? The best answer is to be found in the last quarterly report, covering the quarter ending September 30. At that date the Chief Consolidated had on hand $433,482 in Liberty bonds, $399,760 cash on deposit and $257,045 in other assets besides the largest acreage acre-age of mineral ground in Tintic or the state. Practically the whole of these vast resources was accumulated from earnings of the company, nor has it been niggardly in 'the matter of dividends. divi-dends. Its stockholders received 45 cents per share in 1918 and have had $1.40 per share since the company began paying dividends about five years ago. Altogether they have received $1,234,-871 $1,234,-871 in profits. The best of it is that the development develop-ment of the Chief has only begun and that its earnings promise to grow rather than diminish for several years to come. |
