The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-06-03
An 1Kp1RT VI1w
or 1utss's Silver and Copper Nj,

>oOA
or Butse's Silver and 0opper NJ,
The Price Of 0opper-0ond,t,o
the Alice. "
A conversation yesterday with
known mining expert, whose r..,a "e'''
in Butte, preceded by q number ~
IN the principal ca'''ps of Nevad.' ae
California, has given him exner,.. aud
Will ~ judgment, brought to l,pht "s
aud unprejudiced view Of the m;..
interests Of Butte which is yalu.h,."s
must necessarily prove of interest "''
NO." said he, II would not ersh.
the silver interests Of Butte for its -.
per mines, II I could do 20. You 90. y
price Of copper has been high dn,; ae
the PAST winter, higher than u.u.l .'.
than was really justified in view Of ,s'
great supply. Do you know that Il :. e
fact that the Lake superior comn.n;.
have been sending abroad and .o,,;.'
ut fourteen cents u pouni c.r,<.. :.
copper which they asked eiyht+e" c:..
per pound for in this country, ~
other words, copper was worth f.n.
cents less abroad than in Butte, vet ths'.
preferred to sell abroad. The reason :.
this Is e,,sily gotten at, the fact he;,.
that they were compelled to send a c.,
tain amount Of their copper prMluc, ON,
Vi the country in order to Keep ~ ,h'
price OF the remainder in the home ma,
ket. Of course such policy would h.
ruinous eventually, and the price Of th.
metal would have to come down. An
other thing, you know that the presen,
tariff protects copper, and that a du,v
of four cents per pound is charged On al,
ilnp"rtations of that metal. Well, th;.
four cents duty rerresv nls the ditlerenc.
in the price of copper at home and
abroad, and when the Tariff Commits.
sion hears Of the methods the Lake >u.
perior Companies have felt COMPELLED t.
resort To, and the amount Of copper nov
produced yearly in the United Stats
and Territories, THY will hc al,uo.,
Obliged to remove this tariff, and Aence
/ cannot see why the price OF the metal
IN our home markets should not d,o,
then If not BEFORE"
"NOw Us for the silver mines OF Butte
they are numerous and valuable. \ou
refer me to the Alice for an illustration.
I am willing to abide by it. The ALICE
Company paid no dividends, you say
since last winter. Well, the COMPANY
is making at least $25,OOO per month
clear profit now. The reason why thy
have not been paying dividends lie
in the fact that they had the pur.
chase price ofthe Magma Charts, s:No, ooo
to pay the Walker Bros in four in.
stallnlents of $50, 600 each, to begin with.
Then they have expended a good deal
Of money in Improvements, and in thu
new Magma Charta hosting works.
There was talk of sinking another shaft
on the Alice mine, tut there could not
really be any necessity for this, as any
man ought to be able to
work the mine from the seventh level
up with single shaft. Besides, there
is enough ore in the Magma Charta to
run both mills. I believe the Magns
Charta 10 the better mine Of the two.
The old mill has not yet been
started up, as the boilers are leaky. II
has done splendid service in its time
though, having been hacked and pulled
to pieces more than any mill in the
country. When they stopped the new
mill they were really very short Of wool
"A thing which ought not 70 have been
tue case, and a stoppage Of something
was necessity. The company USES
p $40 cords u year, and is now prepared
10 make long and successful ruin with
the mills. l expect they will pay ni're
by Christmas pcxt.
"TEe copper mines, Of course, need
but not so badly aS the silver
mines need mills. There is so mucn
low grade ore in the camp that mine
owners cannot afford to send to cCs;cIn
mills. The Ste> ems would do finely
With twcnty-stanp mill, but that costs
so, 600, aud these ''an,icah!e assess
nen:s," although the Stormon, has just
SIG, 600 on ore, are not mr.:
With much favor