Butte semi-weekly miner., 1889-03-27

c0n08 Ic0pte more ConcoEne0 - sn<
Loss Of the SmeIter-A Possible Out
come.
The interest in the position OF the con
per market continues unabated. The
Engineering and Mining Journal OF March
16 states that ''the sale Of the bulk Of the
copper held by the Syndicate has been
placed in the hands Of the strong
and well-known financial house ol
Matheson t. Co. in London, from which il
10 evident that the power OF the once
almost omnipotent French Copper
Syndicate is now completely broken and
that the control OF the market in the future
and the disposal OF the accumulated stocks
has passed into entiely different hands. y
It quotes q report from Boston "that the
lake companies will keep the prices in this
country up at about present level until the
end Of May, the time at which the last pool
sale contracts, at 16hc perp pound. expired.
This action seems not improbable, seeing
that the companies are secured mp to that
time under their bankers letters OF credit.
It seems very doubtful, however. whether
the arrangement arrived at last week, nm
der which the principal producers in thia
country agreed to reduce their output from
Is to rs per cent, will be carried oat, as it
10 exceedingly unlikely that these bankers
guarantees will be renewed again in May
for the unexpired period Of the Syndicate's
contracts, that is to May 1891.
Until all these questions are settled and
q definite understanding arrived at embrac.
ing the holders OF tbe large stocks Of copper
(amountiDg altogether to about 150, ,OOO
tons) and all the producers throughout the
world, it can easily be seen IL at confidence
in the future of the market cannot be re.
established. On the other hand, as the
stocks are now i'm strong hands, it 10 not
likely that complete collapse in prices
will take place, but it must take few
weeks at the least to bring about some sat
isfactory arrangement between all the
parties Interested"
1t was learned yesterday on good au-
thority that the Anaconda people dis.
counted the news OF the bursting OF the
Syndicate long before 1t became public
property, and were prepared to continue
right along, and would have done so with
undiminished output until the burning oi
the splendid smelter at the lower works
put q check ON their consumption OF ore.
1t 10 stated that the burning OF the smelter,
which was not yet finished, gave Mr..
DAILY far more concern than the
failure OF the Syndicate: Bis
plans for retrieving the loss and rebuilding.
Just what shape the new structure will
take, whether of iron an intimated in these
columns, or of wood. has not been deter.
mined. When q conclusion 10 reached the
emelter will 60 up again. 1t is stated that
the furnaces are much less damaged than
was feared and that they are very far from
total loss. The destruction Of the
smelter reduces the amount of ore treated
about 500 tons q day. The upper works,
however, are running at their full capacity.
Everything at present is only specula-
ton. but the ablest guessers cannot solve
the problem how Messrs. Haggin, Lew
isohn and others of the American pro-
ducers are going to take care OF the large
stock in the hands Of the Mathesons as
representatives OF the defunct Syndicate
without limiting production. The stock
on hand ESTIMATED above at
150, 900 tons) is more than enough for the
worlds consumption for a year even at the
most liberal estimate. The general opinion
here by men whose judgment can be relied
upon is that the price will come down to
about 10 or IL cents. and that this
will close out q number OF small con-
Germs, and the mines in Arizons. Mexico.
Peru and Chill. In the three latter places
the cost OF transportation from the mines
to the seaboard is such that they could
not afford to continue working the mines
with the price at so low O figure. Here in
Butte, the mines can be worked at very
good profit at that figure. With
the price SO reduced an immediate
rebound in the use OF copper
in many OF the arts and manufactures
would ensue, which the late high prices
have rendered completely impossible. With
the consumption thus enlarged and the
production considerably curtailed. these
gentlemen argue, the immense surplus could
he gradually wotked of. and it would be
possible to continue the operation OF the
copper mines here uninterruptedly.