The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1875-03-06
WHITE PINE NEWS
Saturday. March 8, 1875.
INTERESTING 10 MINERS.

INTERESTING TO MINERS.
Through the p~oliteness Of MI. James
Montgomery, who has recently returned
from an extended tour in the East
ern States, we are placed in possession
of some very important facts connected
with the refneries at Newark, Baltimore
and elsewhere. These facts. coming
from the keen and observing miner and
mechanic, add greatly to their import
ance. The question as to the feasibility
Of a refinery has been discussed, and
opinions pro and con have been freely
given, but the most conclusive proof we
have heard that a refinery will pay, we
lay before our readers.
On visiting the refineries at the above
places, Mr.. Montgomery was astonished
to learn of the great loss in lead bullion
from Nevada, Utah and other places. A
careful estimate, according to the returns
from these refineries, show a dead loss
of from FIVE to thirty per cent, or in
other words. out Of one hundred tons of
base bullion, there is a loss to the ship
per Of from five to thirty tons. The more
copper and anthony the bullion con-
tains the greater the gain to the refinery,
for they only give you the returns Of the
lead, silver and gold the bullion contains,
keeping the anthony and copper them
selves, and at the same time charge you
eighteen dollars per ton for extracting
the silver. If you ask them to give you
the amount of copper and other metals
the bullion may contain, they inform
you that it costs too much. and yet tons
of antimony and barrels of sulphurets of
copper are to be seer at these refneries
which have been extracted from the ores
worked there, and no return to the own
srs of the ores is eyer made. Then again
the skimmings are rich in silver, which
is another clear gainto the refneries, and
as the freight on the bullion ia all paid,
they have a good thing. It Will be seen
by these facts, that if the owners of
furnaces will employ men who under
stand skimming, and skim the pots be-
fore pouring the metal into the moulds,
enough will thus be saved to more than
pay the freight on the bullion. The loss
on bullion from Eureka-h has been from
twelve to twenty per cent, while that of
Robinson District is from three and a
half to five per cent, and as the skim
mings are as rich as the bullion, it is
actually giving to these refneries this
large per cent, which and should be
saved.
One or two examples win illustrate the
workings of these refineries. Suppose
you ship ten tons of copper bullion con-
tanning three hundred dollars to the ton
in silver, you pay-the freight, and when
you come to get your returns you are
charged eighteen dollars per ton for ex-
tracing the silver. and the refinery (po-
litely speaking steals your copper. They
have another way of robbing, they will
give one dollar per ounce for the silver,
and as much for the copper as it brings
in the market, or, if you put it into mat.
say fifty per cent. copper, containing
one hundred and fifty ounces of silver, it
is worth two hundred and seventy-fve
dollars per ton. If you ship them copper
mat, say City per cent. copper. said mat
containing anthony and arsenic, they
don't wish it any higher per cent, for
they say it is too expensive to work. AS
the ores about White Pine contain a large
amount of anthony and copper, it is no
wonder we never get any return from
these refineries, for they have gobbled up
the antimony and the copper. Some of
our ores contain sixty per cent. of cop
per and anthony, leaving about forty
per cent. of lead, and as it was skinned
deep at these refneries, the balance was
eaten up in expenses. It will readily be
seen that it would be to the advantage OF
u furnace men to refine their own bull
lion, for they get nothing but the gold
and silver it contains when refined at
these model Eastern refneries. Better
have all the base metal on hand, and save
the expense of freight. ass
LIZ, anybody doubts that the Legislature
of Nevada is a dignifed and intelligent
body of men, says the Virginia Chronicle, |