New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-19

away. which, from their position, seem 10 NC u
continuation of the same ledge as that upon which
work is now being prosecuted, while to the right
and left of the present workings the vein can De
traced for nearly half mile.
The mine is opened by tunnel driven INTO the
side of the mountain little north of east, dis
lance of about seventy feet The tunnel starts
into the porphyrv some distance below the loot
wall and runs horizontally until it strikes the
ore body, from which point its inclination Is the
same as that of the vein, which keel it in what
miners call the foot country" that is, In the rock
living Immediately beneath the ore. The roof OF
the ,unnel follows along the lower side OF the
yein ana within few inches of it, The advan-
tage of this kind of mining is that when 1t Is de-
sired to remove the ore, 1t all be broken down
from above and can be made to fall into the cars
which transport it to the reduction worKs by It's
own gravity. If the ore lies below the main work
ings it must be raised and that increases the cost
of mining.
WHERE GOLD ORE WAS FOUND.
Near the point where the tunnel first strikes the
ore Colonel Gillette has caused upralse or ver-
teal shaft to be cut to the hanging wall IN order 10
ascertain the thickness of the vein and the CHAR
acter of the ore it contains. The porphyry was
reached at a distance of thirty-one feet from the
foot wall More than twenty feet of this thickness
was copper ore of varying richness, and the re-
ore the latter seeming to lie, for the most part on
ton of the former On the upper side of the VEN,
where il formerly cropped ont of the mount; III,
there is series of round chambers, about SIX feet
high but their extent the direction III when tney
have been excavated / could not see as ana not
On into them Their sides and roofs look black, as
though smoked by camp-fires. These are OLD Next
can workings the dates of which, presume, are
not known. The natives took out little or none OF
the copper ore, but scooped out the free MILL
ing gold quartz that lay on top Of it, placed IT in
raw-hide bags and transported it to the creek,
where they washed out the yellow dust in arastras
or rockers with what little water they could OBJ
tam.
A short distance from the mouth of the tunnel a
drift has been cut few feet to the left and up
raise into the vein made. The was found to be
of the same general character as that found ABOVE
the main opening. Again, about five feet from the
face of the tunnel sixtyive feet from its mouth
the roof of porphyry was removed, and exposed
copper ore of richer character than any that had
been previously found. The mass of copper ore
that is now actually in sight in this mine is about
seventy feet long. fifty feet WIDE and twenty-five
feet thick with every probability that the VEN eX-
tends indefinitely INTO the mountain, and possibly
all the way through it, both east and west and
north and south 1t is by far the largest mass OF
copper ore have ever seen. In addition to this
and living chiefly above it, is stratum of free mill
ing gold ore averaging about six feet thick. AS
work progresses. square sets OF timbers OF great
strength are put in TO make the mine secure
THE YIELD OF COPPER.
The copper ore is of excellent quality and re-
markably free from substances which woud IN
terfere with its easy and cheap reduction. 1t con
tains no arsenic which more than any other MN
eral makes copper ore refractory Taking the rock
.4n. tear-
ries from 10 TO - per cent of copper \ LOT
selected for shipment averaged % per cent. Inc
copper is in the form OF brown oxides, carbonates
tmalachite and azuritel and silicates lcrysocoal.
The carbonates and silicates carry 20 per cent OF
the metallic copper; the remainder is found in the
brown oxides The ore has very small percen-
tage Of sulphur
The copper must be extracted from the ore by
smelling and two sample lots of ten tons each OF
IT. have been sent TO Baltimore to be tested The
returns believe were respectively l6 and u per
cent of copper | think the managers of the Canon
del Aqua company would be glad to induce the
owners of the Baltimore reduction works to erect
sInclter ont here. near the minc and purchase the
orc as it is taken ont. With that end III view, rs |
SUPPOSE. the development of the mine is being
pushed with great vgor in order to show that the
quantity of ore is great enough to keep furnace in
constant operation. If the Baltimore company
does not conclude to establish branch reduction
works out here, the mining company itself VIII
probably erect a furnace of its own.
To reduce the gold oIe Colonel Gillette is now
removing to his camp from San Pedro Creek,
! twenty-Stamp quartz mill which was purchased
| and operated for while hv the company which
formerly owned the grant. If water is soon OBJ
famed either in the well which have already men,
toned in this letter from the hydraulic works
there is no reason why that mill should not pc
started this autumn. The gold ore is not of high
grade but can he mined and mlled very cheaplY
and Is found in sufficient quantities to insure good
profits in handling it.
found it impossible to obtain any statistics OF
the probable cost of mining and treating the gold
and copper ores of the Canon del Aqua mine. The
number of men employed is about forty. but they
are taking ont little ore possible, while they
are pntting the mine in such condition that the
mineral can he removed with great rapiIity and
mt slight expense when stopping once begins Al
present prices the copper contained Ill an average
ton of The ore ought to lie worth, here, at least
$40 To mine the ought not TO cost moro than
So a ton and while have no facts on which to
base an estimate of the cost of reduction. should
think if certainly ought not to he more than $50
especially as lead and iron ore which will be
needed for lux are very abundant near the mine.
| and GOOD coal for fuel he obtained ut small
cost The expense of smelling NAV not be Onchalf
| of 500 The entire amount spent bv Colonel Gill
lette for buildings and in his mining operations,
since he established his camp here last April. has
| been about 100000
SILVER AND LEAD DISCOVERED.
! Abont half a mile from the mine have been de-
! scribing and further down the mountain some
miners began to dig. two or three months ago upon
Ali out-crop that assayed well in gold As they cut
Tunnel into the hill, they took out some low grade
| gold quartz stained with oxide of iron and appa-
rently identical with that which is found in the
| copper mine. After passing through this they
struck a vein of galcna which is the first that has
been found in the ncighborhood and seems to he Of