Show faw aa iz sass 3 ws w w ww w w rj UTAH COPPER CO MOVES MOUNTAIN AT BINGHAM INGHAM 13 sst lac r wa A says a AI IT v u w 4 ti 24 wiy IVA SS 4 ss e 1111 ww wy cywa wa y way 11 w sw S t 1 EA wyba wy bw i w WW WW 1 w r A i a 1 wr 01 WW 4 IA shovels loci tood ng i low grade copper ore t ell W it y by D D MOFFAT WENTY pounds til of copper to T TWENTY 2000 pounds of rock rocky such sue Is the average content of the he mountain at bingham utah be being ng shipped hi W a and nd milled by the U utah ah copper C co C 0 the net value ot of the recoverable copper and the cold gold and silver in the ore Is at present metal prices 3 the waste overburden being removed the ore Is drilled blasted loaded by electric shovels into rail way cars and transported 20 miles to a concentrating plant alter after crushing and grinding the ore to a size and lin fineness eness at which it will pass p through 9 a screen with 40 openings to a square inch which fineness of grinding Is necessary to liberate the mineral from the gangue it then Is subjected to a process of flotation concentration where the separation ot of the min eral takes place the ratio of con cent ration being roughly 34 to 1 that Is from 34 tons ot of ore I 1 ton ot of concentrate product Is produced containing to pounds ot of copper compared with the 20 pounds per ton in the original ore the concentrate is smelted shipped 2000 miles and refined the 3 metal value must cover all tas these charged if operation la is to be profitable cr or beil possible it I 1 to this job the utah copper co has learned to do so well that a once worthless ore body is today one ot of utah a va valuable leable resource at bingham one sees electric locomotives assembling cars ot of ore tor for the mills hauling waste to nearby gulches and bringing in trainloads ot of supplies hundreds ot of men are at work their needs provide patronage for merchants professional men mon and vendors ot of farm products northward on the shore ot of great salt lake hundreds more are employed in mammoth concentrating mills the world worlds s largest copper smelter and a powder plant turning out millions ot of pounds ot of explosives annually tor for the mines the utah copper ore body ably was first prospected in 1862 by soldiers from ft douglas A tunnel in the mountainside side yielded assays ot of about 2 copper in 1887 col enos A wall discovered the tunnel and relocated the forfeited claims with others he optioned the group to apt pt JT li delamar delamar TV ho had purchased a gold mine at mercur from wall sent two members ot of his mercur staff to bingham to investigate little dreaming that they were to change the copper history ct the world daniel C jasmins was to supervise assay and tests robert C gemmell to report on the ore possibilities of 0 the property they completed a joint report in september 1899 the first comprehensive analysis of copper production from very low grade ore their plan called tor for the stripping and loading ot of the ore by steam shovels and its con cent ration in a 2000 ton plant near great salt lake on account per haps ot of the novelty ot of t the he scheme and the initial outlay required delamar balked and surrendered his option jackling persisted experimental data was verified and colorado capitalists came to his support A pilot mill at copperton hopperton Cop near the mouth ol 01 bingham canyon was completed in 1904 it returned a profit but tonnage to lustily justify a 4 investment in a commer caal plant remained to be demon drill testa tests in 1905 having proved 20 million tons ot of copper ore the capital was pro vided and utah copper became a going concern since then hundreds ot of millions ot of tons have been added to the original ore body by economies econom les in treatment ot of successively lower grades gr ades ot of ore lengthening by many years year a the life ot of the mino A 20 mile rall railroad road to traut transport Dort ore or from the mine to the mills wa was built in the mills gravity concentration y has been replaced by flotation the steam shovels have been converted to electric shovels capable ol 01 ot t load ing a ton car in 5 minutes and the mine haulage system has been electrified since its it inception the company has expended for wages tor for power supplies services etc tor for smelting freight and refining and tor for taxes 36 ot of the total nearly has been disbursed in utah approximately 10 Is the annual average amount circulated in the comman ity wages are now higher than dur ing the 1924 1928 period and 60 higher than during the years prior to 0 o 1912 common labor Is up supplies taxes etc have also tol owed lowed the same trend it Is apparent therefore that an sive policy ot of continually improve ing methods and equipment must be the rule otherwise the foregoing factors would force the ing of the ore body that la is selecting the high grade ores such a procedure would materially X laduce the life of the mine with consequent loss to stockholders n and more serious a loss to the community in payrolls supply pur chases and taxable wealth jj |