OCR Text |
Show MINING NEWSl ! ALL METALS CARRY (UNUSUAL RANGES The remarkable rise In the prices of metals thlB year is a source of gratification grati-fication to owners and operators of mining properties and, in fact, to all who aro In any way affected by the prosperity or the mctal-mlnlng industry. in-dustry. The prices of silver copper, tin, lead and spelter have shown an almost steady rise during tlio year; such declines as have occurred being but temporary, says the Mining and Engineering World. Silver began the year 54 5-S cents an ounce high, and has risen to C3 5-S cents high on September 23. Tho lowest quotation so far for tho year was 54 5-S cents on January 2. The present quotation of C3 5-S cents Is A i the highest since 1907. " ll Copper began tho year at 14 1-2 l cents high for Lake and climbed L steadily to 14 7-8 on June 20. Since that dato the quotation has varied 1 1 botween 17 7-8 and 17 1-4. Tho low- f est quotation of Lake copper during I tho present month has been 17 5-S cents. .11 Tin Is at present 50.40 cents high, ?f tho highest point yet reached for tills j1 metal. On January 2 it waB quoted J I at 45 cents high Thero have heen J5 1 marked fluctuations since that dato, ijt the lowest quotation for tho year so J I far being 41 3-4 cents on January 23. ll During the present month tho lowest 3l quotation was 47.1 cents on Septem- 21 ber 3. W , Lead during tho present month Q i reRched 5.25 cents on several days ? ; and la at present quoted at 5.20 cents, g i Not Blnce 1907, when the record price was 0 cents, has the high point J r of this month been attained. On I ; Janu y 2 the quotation was 4.50 Jj ! cents gh and 4.40 low. q i Spelter, too, has made a record this , ' month with the high quotation of S J cents on Soptcmber 11 and 17. Not ! ' Blnoo 1S76 has. speltor reached this ? ; figure. Tho present quotation is 7.80 7 ; cents high. On January 2 the high ? ! quotation was down to 6.35 cents and J " tho low to 6.25 cents. ! The genoral effect of these high 7 metal prices has been to stimulate '! mining. Increased activity has been ; especially evident In the great lead-zlnc-produclng regions of tho central states. Many old Idle mlnsB are be- l lng revived and production resumed i and now mines are being opened. Tho copper situation has greatly l t Improved and large developments of ' ( low-grade products havo "been under war. BIG FOUR PLANNING j ' MILL INSTALLATION p "It 1b up to the contractors and we I have nothing further to do except to , pay for tho Big Four mill upon its completion. All arrangements for tho i Immediate construction of the plant i have been perfected and tho machln- i ery Is now boing built and will be In I operntlon at the earliest possible mo- ment." The foregoing statement was I made to a reporter of tho Goldfleld i News and Tribune by I K. Koontz, it' president and general manager of the J I Manhattan Big Four, upon his return 4 I from one of his frequent trips of ln- j spectlon to tho mine. I "Practically no grading will bo re- lf quired," he continued "Tho concrete f rock and there will bo no need of ij costly retaining walls such as are f necessary In many installations of . 'B this character. At one point the con-! con-! tractors will blast out a 3mall quantl- :k ty of quartz, and this will be making H an excellent product for thia ubo. I iff "Tho mine is In better shaue than lr ever, with a world of good ore In sight l and more being opened on every if shift The ralee from the 500-foot ill level has connected with the work- P IngB on the 400, and after being in S15 I oro for part of tho distance It ran Into a largo body of material that averages $50 per ton. Tho big ore : body opened on the 200-foot level Is r r ftlso making a moBt satlsfactorv show. ing and will afford a large tonnage of ' ' an excellent milling product, which ; j has a capacity of 300,000 gallons dally is working quite smoothly and good i progress Ib being made at ovory point where development Is going on. The Big Four Is one of the best mines in the state and at the prcsont time Is i producing at least $1,000 a day for I the company " I BELMONT MAKING EXCELLENT RECORD All knowing the conditions at the Tonopah Belmont property are by no mean6 disturbed by tho recent showing show-ing in the report for the quarter ending end-ing AuguBt 31. Tho net earnings account ac-count of ?393,124 was hold down ow-ji ow-ji lng to the expense of mill Installation if and the expense that naturally fol-i fol-i lowed the changing over from the old J to the new concentrator, and tho divl- l dend requirements for tho period were $376,000, leaving but a narrow ' margin, but one satisfactory In view of all conditions. At the present time tho new plant j Is in successful commission and the I week ending with Soptember found u I matcrinl Increase In the tonnage i handled aa compared with the previous pre-vious week, the figures being 3,300 against 3.0S3 tons. September was a i romarkablo month with the Belmont from a bullion shipment standpoint, a totAl of very close to eight tons having hav-ing "boon shipped, the estimated value of which was $187,000 Since tho new mill was started there havo been five cleanups, each more satisfactory than Ihe last as the plant is brought down to a safer basis of operation. 1 Thnt nothing underground la wrong at tho Belmont Is evident from tho report IsBued by tho management for tho past week, and this follows In full: 900-foot level Operations continue to bo confined to tho stopeB, with the usual tonnage. ' 1,000-foot level Crosscut No.. 1,008 was extended tho usual dlstanco In lhachyto. The tonnago from stoplng Dporntlons remained at the usual point Intermediate level between the i 300 and 1,000 foot levels Tho west ) drift from raise No. 8, on the shaft vein, waB advanced tho uoual distance, dis-tance, tho values obtained showing an ncrease. 1,100-foot level On the Desert ', Queen side, crosscut No. 1 made tho ' usual progress without any material i :hange. Raise No. 12 In the east drift I if 3n the shaft vein made good hcad- l way, exposing a full faco of good ore. I Ralao No. 11 on the shaft vein, work ill In which was recently resumed to M, connect with tho intermediate level m run raise from No. 8, advanced tho It usual dlBtanco in oro of good grade W, l,16G-foot level Thero was a slight W improvement in the value of ore ex- l tracted from the face of the east drift from crosscut "H." the rock being better than a fair grade. Twelfth levol Raise No. 6, sent up to prospect the shaft vein between this and the level above, made good headway In trachyte without any change In conditions. North crosscut No. 4 made the UBual progress and cut a Btreak of very good ore, tho extent of which has not yet been determined. deter-mined. The northwest crosscut, in which a 3-foot streak of ore was cut last week, continues to intersect other seams of quartz of fair value, but thus far no drifting has been done on the new finds. Thirteenth level Tho work of cutting cut-ting out for a pump sump is still In progress, a preliminary to the resumption re-sumption of sinking in tho shaft. Tho east drift made good headway in an excellent grado of ore. GRAND CENTRAL AT INTERESTING POINT Work In tho Grand Central property prop-erty of Tlntic has reached one of the most Interesting points In tho history of th property, and when seen by The Trlbuno Thursday afternoon, General Manager C. E Loose explained explain-ed tho conditions upon which the management and shareholders are depending with every confidence. At the greatest depth In that district, tho 2300-foot level, tho managoment Is drifting both ways and crosscuttlng at frequent Intervals the vein which has been opened so generously on practically all the upper levels. In places on the 2300 level this vein haB been opened to a width of twenty feet, and in other places the walls have not been brought to view, so just how wide the eln averages even sufficient shown as yet to permit Mr. Loose giving any statement state-ment in regard to this, but the management man-agement is rushing development with all possible snecd, the plan being to find the strongest part of the eln and to drive a winze or series of wlnze3 upon the same. Manager Loose points out that the Grand Central is confldentlv expected by tho officials to be an entirely new mine below tho 2300-foot level There alread3r has been ore found on the 2300. In regard to the Gold Chain property, prop-erty, he states that developments are progressing In a every satisfactory manner. It Is not generally known that the management Is operating through the 1500-foot level of tho Lower Mammoth shaft, and this corresponds cor-responds with the 1700-foot level of tho Gold Chain The work Is being done along the vein, conditions are splendid, there having been some ore opened in this work, but the big ro-sults ro-sults expected have not been attained at thla early 3t3go of the work, and here again the management believes that large and rich bodies of ore soon will bo deployed". NEVADA POTASH IS SUBJECT OF REPORT Nitrate of soda and nitrate of potash pot-ash wore imported into tho United States In 1911 to the value of $17.-177.0GS, $17.-177.0GS, according to tho bureau of statistics. Nearly all tho nitrate imported im-ported comes from Chile and Is used for fertilizing. This enormoiiB expenditure ex-penditure for imported nitrates lends Interest to a pamphlet Just Issued by the United States geological survoy, "Nltrato Deposits," bv Hoyt S Gale (bulletin 523.) All tho known occurrences of nitrate ni-trate deposits in th6 United StiteB aro described by Mr Gale and though most of theso aro probably in tho nature na-ture of "prospects." thoy aro interesting inter-esting and of importance as indicating indicat-ing the possible origin of deposits which can bo mined commercially. Last year Georgo Otis Smith, director of the survey, and A. H. Brooks, In company with Mr. Gale, visited a reported deposit near Gorlach, Nov., whero s'peclmens of Bait running high In potassium nltrato wore obtamea. Reference Is mado In the bullotln to areas In most of the western states where discoveries of these nitrates havo been reported from tlmo to tlmo. Tho extreme solubility of nltrato salts renders It unlikely that concentrated concen-trated deposits will remain anywhere except In places cither not subject to or protected from tho solvent action of rain, surface water or moving ground water. Thus nitrate salts aro found chloriy in caverns or caves, or under overhanging ledges, or, as In the Chilean and other Sonth American Amer-ican occurrences, In a region of exceptional ex-ceptional aridity. The assertion that none of tho nitrate ni-trate deposits of the character mentioned men-tioned will provo commercially workable, work-able, Is, according to Mr. Gale, not warranted. Such deposits have proved to bo of value under exceptional excep-tional conditions, as when they were utilized for tho manufacture of gun-powdor, gun-powdor, during war times, in the eastern states; and It Is entirely possible pos-sible that changing conditions may render some of the western doposlta valuable. It must he recognized, however, that so far as may bo Judged 'from present evidence few if any of the deposits now known warrant much outlay for development as a source of commercial nitrate salts. A copy of the roport may be obtained ob-tained free on application to the director di-rector of the geological survey, Washington, Wash-ington, D. C. |