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About The Sumpter miner. (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1900)
Wednesday, July 1 1, 1900. THE SUMPTER MINER. AVOIDABLE LOSSES. Mills in This District Each Lose $500 a Day. All losses in mining '? not uiuvnid able, observes the able mining editor of the San Fraiuisco Chronicle, but there are avoij.ihl losses u hicli usually figure in paying mines where a percentage of the mineral contained in the material treated escapes the processes in Use. Ol late years much of the Ingenuity ot mine managers has been uirected to devising means of arresting this waste. It has been demonstrated through a series of carefully made assays that two tiftlis of one per cent of the copper con tained in the ore passed through the mills of the Calumet and Hecl.i mine of Michi gan escapes in the tailings. The loss amounts to only eight pounds of copper to each ton of ore worked, but it aggregates f 1, 500,000 a year at the present price of copper. Another mine In the same dis trict saves less than i 2-io per cent re fined copper at the mill, while 40 per cent of the copper actually contained in the stamp rock escapes. The problem which the managers of these mines are endeavor ing to solve is the preventing of such losses. If it is solved, it will make a ma terial addition to the earning of the cor porations. As it now stands, the loss is classed among those that are avoidable. Most of the extravagant waste in the earlier treatment of the ores of the Coin stock lode was avoidable. The bed of the Carson river is full of material con taining wealth untold which ought never to have bedn allowed to escape. Perhaps some day an intelligent effort will be made to recover it. It is estimated that the slimes of a few quart, mills operating in the Snmpter dis trict in Oregon carry otf at least 5500 worth of gold per day which flows into the Powder river. This is all avoidable loss. It is estimated that 25 p;r cent of the actual contents of the ore of one of the most productive gold mines in the district passes otf in tailings. Now the energies of the mine owners are being directed to prevent it and to recover what is already gone into the bed of the river. In Cahlorni.i there are innumerable ex amples of avoidable losses in mining which are gradually coming to light with a closer study ot the economies of mining. For example, from 2 to 53 ot the assay contents per ton of one of the largest gold quart mines in the southern part of the state has been steadily passing nut of the mill into tlie tailings. It has been care fully computed 111 it 1,000,000 tons of tail ings have acumiulited from past opera tions in the mill waste. A cyanide plant capable ot treating 300 tons per day has been installed, which yields a net profit of f 1 per ton per day from the treatment of the mill waste. It is intended to increase the capacity of the plant to 1000 tons per day, and as the mine turns out about Koo tons of ore every twenty-four hours, it will take many years to work otf the big pile, which will vield a revenue more re liable than tlie direct product ot the vein, for that fluctuates as all ore podies do', while the mill loss remains unchanged. A Grass Valley quart mine was oper ated for lortytive years before any siil cessiul method of stopping the losses due to tlie escape of gojd in the mill slimes was discovered, then an ingenious in ventor evolved an appliance which re turned him a revenue of about 5000 a month alter paying the company a royalty, ' his was all obtained from material that liad beeii previously allowed to run off as waste,aijd become irrevocably lost in the beds ot the adjacent water' courses. For nearly h tlf a ceuturyjan avoidable loss of (rom.KJooq to Sio,ooo a yearjiad been per mitted to go in this one mine alone. What has been the total loss of the oper ated quart mines in Call lorn i.i during the period ot their operation from a similar avoidable cause would make an interesting computation tor some patient investigator. In unwaterlng the copper mines at Copperopolis it lias been discovered that all th-rails and tlie workmen's tools left in tlie works when abandoned over thirty years ago have, through a well known chemical process been sime transmuted into topper. Tlie hkident proves that there Is an avoidable loss hi every gallon ot the drainage of these mines that Is al lowed to escape without being subjected to a very simple treatment which was dis covered after these mines were closed 'down and which when applied to the drainage of tlie big copper mines of Mon tana proved a large source of revenue to the owner. In future it is more than likely that much of tlie profit of mining in California will come from processes ap plied to prevent avoidable losses of the mineral contained in the ores worked. American Mining News. Modern Hospital Apparatus. Drs. Tape and Pearce have received lor the operating room of their hospital the most modern and approved appliances known to the profession. The leading Idea of up-to-date surgery is cleanliness, to do away with disease germs. With this in view, the operating chair, unlike the old upholstered concerns, is made en tirely of enameled iron and glass, It can, of course, be adjusted in many positions. The "drainage" Is also very near perfec tion, the blood being conducted in gutters to one basin. There areall the conven ient accessories to this center piece. Reserved for LAWTON INVESTMENT COMPANY. 'i i Lead Cut on Gold Bug-GriUy. J. J. Hennessy, of the Gold Hug Grizley, was in town Monday and re ports that on July 1, they cut the lead on that property, when in 150 feet in a tun nel, giving a depth of 80 feet. I he vein at this depth Is between seven and eight 1 Mining Men's Headquarters teet without the foot wall in sight. I he values are perfectly satisfactory to Mr. Hennessy. It is his present intention to drift some 200 feet on tlie lead, hoping to get into a good ore body by this process. All kind of cake, pies bread etc., at Hrechtel's bakery, opposite the depot. All orders promptly tilled. Quart, and placer location blanks of the most approved form for sale at I III: MlNI:H office. George W. Weigand... HIGH GRADE LIQUORS AND CIGARS HOURNF., OKr Net Door to Wonder Store J 4.'''fe SPOKANE Drug Co. Only exclusive whole sale drug house in the state. We sell only to merchants. Make the best prices on min ers' and assayers' sup plies. Freight no higher than from Portland. Write for quotations. BUTTE HEADQUARTERS x C. B. & M. Co.'s Beer Best in Town J. B. SCHMIDT Spokane .Drug Co. .Spokane, Wash. THE GEM SALOON A. J. STINSON, Prop. tSuccessur to Snyde A Stiusnii) Only the Best Brands of Liquors Served Over the Bar SUMPTER, 7- OREGON Paul E. Poindexter, MIN ES Bcofomd McNcAL'a Code. Sumpter, - Ore.