Arizona silver belt., 1892-08-20
raE el nh COPPER INDUSTRY


 . locality where the. copper industry
 though yet in it's early stages, is des :, tined to become one of the foremos
 in Arizona. In what follows referene, ' is made to the Territory of Arizona il
 general, but more specially to Globe district, Gila County.
 The copper production at Glob, dates back to 1882, at which time somt few efforts were made by the owners of the Hoosier and Buffalo copper 2 mines to smelt their ore, and, addi tional, the Old Dominion Mining C1m pany had small plant some six miles west of Globe. Want of proper man. agement and metallurgical skill made a sudden end to these efforts, however
 .. The working of the Globe Ledge
 mine by the Old Dominion Company,
 and the subsequent erecting of a
 smelting plant in Globe, in 1888, has
 been the real beginning of regular and permanent copper production te the present time
 Since then Q regular and nearly
 uniformly profitable output has been
 had of the Globe mines, in the face of many formidable obstacles, of which the enormous cost of coke is the chief one, aside the unreliability of wagon transportation from Wilcox at certain seasons of the year.
 Until 1890 the Old Dominion Mining Company were practically the only producers, the ore being taken from one or two mines only. Then the Buff falo mines began to produce copper under lease, and with success, not withstanding the very low copper market. Upon the lease being trans ferred to new parties the smelting was temporarily discontinued and work on large number of copper mines, pur- chased by them, started, for their de- vel6pmetit, with the object, as is sup posed, to start more e&tehsive opera tions in the near future, when it is thought railroad will connect the isolated district with the Southern Pacific Railroad.
 1 There can be no question to the ini- tiated that the capacity of the copper production in Globe and surroundings Is immense, and needs only the energy and capital of powerful corporation, together with a railroad, to bring il out in full, and to be ahead in clear profits when compared with many Montana and Lake Superior mines, now producing largely
 With such superior railroad facilities as are found in nearly all important mining districts outside of Arizona, it is not difficult to see that in the com ing struggle for existence, caused by low prices of copper, the Globe copper mines, and indeed many in other 10 calities in Arizona, will come out on top in spite of the enormous plants and the great production in Montana. The reason for this assertion lies chiefly in the great superiority or Arizona copper ores, their average quality and assay value is so far ahead, and the di- rect production of very nearly pure copper by one simple smelting so much more economical, that these natural advantages outweigh by far the inn mensity of production of low grade and impure ore, which has to be han dled and treated repeatedly for fine copper
 Tie greatness of plants, which, of course, admits of many advantages and Savings, is not exclusive in Mon tana. Money and skill can duplicate these in any other locality, and reap the corresponding results.
 Taking limited afea, comprising Pinal and Gila counties, there are sui icient copper mines in the Caliuro and Mescal mountains, notably in Mineral Creek, near Riverside, on the Gila River, and further north, between the Pinal and Apache mountains, ia the Globe district, again ir the Sierra An chas and Mazatzal mountains, toward Yavapai County, as to form fair of set with the productive copper mines in Montana, and with ore that will produce more than double what Mon tana ore yields.
 The Globe district ore is generally far above the average assay value of copper ore, outside of Arizona. It is mixture of iron and copper oxides and with a sprinkling of cop per sulphurets, It occurs mostly in contact dispositions between eruptive 1iorite and quartzite or limestone, opening into large cham oers of nearly pure ore, The gangue s quartzose except when found near i'm mestone, in which case the ore is en- ,irely or nearly selfhuxing Atgreater lepth'lt is more quatzose and requires rom 20 to 30 per cent. limestone as lux. The treatment in water jackets is imple and needs no explanation, hay ng been described already in the col lmns of the Engineering and Mining Journal.
 in several localities between Pinal nd Gila counties, the copper ore found 5 argentiferous. It is so. in Mineral f 'reek; in Globe, the Buffalo has sufi- t tent silver to produce bullion yield C ng 45 oz. per ton; in the Sierra Anchas i have seen ore that would verage 20 oz. silver per ton. in the | 'aliuro Mountains, and within 8 few .