Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-11-12
.ACOPPER PRODUCER.
NORTH CAROLINA THIS AS WELL AS A
GOLD FIELD.
Also N silver. bearing Region. Not 20 Mem
tion Iron-Orcs, Nickel, Mica, ETC.
Mining Suggestions.
,corre.pondence OF the Dispatch.


lima. II would probably be well to state 4
some OF the reasons why the large vaiue
OF this field G27. 5OO.coo.ooW is unproht-
able, and how II can be made available. |
But let me go further than did De .
fore. The above figures only had refer
ence TO the gold values. Assuming lnat
the same reasonings that obtained ana
were adduced by the mining engineer
who reported on the Witwatersrand held /
OF Africa to be admissible here. as re-
CARDS not only gold but other minerals
/ conteId that This State u worth az
much as o copper-producing held as IL II
for gold and that IL Is worth haif as inuSh
as a silver-producing field. l. p, that the Z
deposits of copper and silver IN TINS same
field I'm addition 10 the gold. can be made I.
TO Weld the relative sums each. This IS 4
| Independent and apart from the hume
rous immense deposits OF Besseiner IRON h
ores nickel. mica, and the lp oIher {
minerals TO be found and produced IN
North Carolina, the most important Oh
which will be treated In letters TO follow
this.
I know that I have already laid myself |
liable 10 ridlcule and disgust. and possi- !
blv that lots OF II has already been !
heaped on me for my first letter by those
who DO not know: by those who would !
not know. by those who nave invested
and lost and by those who are trying 10 /
solve the problem of how to make these !
mines n source Of profit. But that does
not deter me from stating facts.
WHY NOT PRODUCTIVE?
The values have been asserted; then. |
why are they not productive? In the last
twenty-five years thousands of people
have invested In North Carolina mines
Millions Of dollars have been spent on
them, and in many-yes, nearly every IN
stance-the investment has been met by
total loss. No one knows this better
than / do. for / am one OF the same
kind. Then, the wonder is why 1 write
as | do. IL IL not because OF Interior
sinister motives but of facts adduced
by experience One reason OF loss. is that
In many instances the mines have been
worked and the mills run by incom-
petent managers. This IS the case every
where but moro so here, possibly than
anywhere else. This reason covers the
worthless relative Of n rich stakeholder,
who wanted to get him out Of the way
as well as the scoundrel whose GU
pidty kept him from rendering there
fore unto Caesar the things which be
Caesars" Another reason with for
elgn. mostly English companies, Is, that
instead Of permitting competent mana
ger or board here TO operate the mine
1t usually has been the custom to ope-
rate It from the office Of the London
promoters. and stock spectators. who
usually make the most by ''liquidating'
the old companies and forming new
one for what there IS in the stock job
berry. and not I'm the mine. But what
OF the honestly-invcsted and now de-
funct company? No intelligent victim
but that will admit one of two causes:
]. That the company Will not have
enough capital to make a success; the
other that the ores were too refractory
sulphde ores to save the gold by the
common matchmaking process that has
been almost universally employed in ex-
tracing the precious metal. Remember.
/ am discussing vein mining, not placer
mining.
OPERATIONS THAT SUCCEEDED.
That all operations when on the brown
or oxydlZed and fTee-miling ores has been
success is admitted. This was the
case and was the source OF many Tor
tune here, and the mines sold on their
reputation; but what followed? These
brown ores, which are found only above
| water level. are soon exhausted; then the
trouble begins. Take the largest and
deepest mine in this (Rowam county
and it is also the deepest in the state
as a criterion, Gold HILL This mine is $50
| feet deep and has book record Of ScO,-
| 600, and il is admitted that 1t has pro-
duced $3000,000 more not accounted Tor.
i Yet four companies have failed on TINS
mine in the last twenty-five years, ana IL
| is now idle The ores at first were free
milling and the gold was saved at pro-
fit by simple Indignation. The veins
now are lust IS large and larger. The
| average contents I'm gold are about the
same as I'm former days, but the gold can
not be saved proftably from the undecom-
posed pyrite ores by amalgamation.
Hence the failure. So with hundreds OF
mines all over the State, or in TINS uer
| of ten counties heretofore named, ana es-
pecially so with the mines in this district
such as the Union. Hunnicutt. Troutman,
Dutch Creek, Reimer, Dunns Mount eI
| al.
MANY DIFFERENT PROCESSES.
thousand and one different kinds Of
| processes. one after another, have been
| tried. but they we're all failures; either
| because they could not save the gold
any better than by amalgamation, or that
| IL cost more TO work the ores by the pro-
| cess than the sum the ores yielded ana
| hence other failures. All the processes
| whether chlornation, cyanide concen-
| tration or amalgamatlon, have only at
| tented to save the gold. losing all the
| other contents OF the ores. some OF which
| we're more valuable than the gold itself
1
being the cause OF failure.
| II has been clearly demonstrated that
| the gold is mechanically, not chemlcaliy'
| combined with the pyrites; yet mechahl-
cal separation has failed. One would
| think then that the wits of geniuses would
| be at an end TO make this success. when
| the simplest. surest, most enectlVe' anu
profitable mode has not been tried at all.
The gold ores contain gold. copper,
silver, and sulphur; the copper ores con-
| tain copper. gold, silver. and sulphur.
and the silver ores contain silver, gold,
copper. lead, zinc, and sulphur. why,
| then. should any Of these ores be treated
l for one metal and lose all the others!
| Yes. and when treated as now, at loss
| for the extraction of the one constituent
worked at AS stated before, an ore Is
not worth what it contains. but what one
gets out OF II.
Why work 1t for one Of Its contents,
and that at a loss, when all can be saved
at n profit? They are complex ores. but
when properly treated they can be made
| 10 yield profit.
AN ILLUSTRATION.
Take a ton of ore from the big Sui
phur Veln," Randolph Shaft Gold Hi
Mine, as an illustration, and see what
| we find from its valuable contents. The
vein is II feet wide at $50 feet deep.
| Gold. per SIS 90
| Silver, per ton, 2 l-2 ounces at 70c.. rs
| Copper, per ton. 10 pr. Ct; 200 lbs. at
lOc. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 70 W
| Sulphur. per ton. pyrite 80 pr. CT:
sulphur % pr. CT; 500 lbs. at lc...... %
i
Total value per ton,.............. 81 70
/ AS II has been worked heretofore for
| gold alone. about 80 per cent, or s. per
ton, In gold has been saved, and the
| other $3.50 lost To mine and mill this
| ore has been costing about s. per ton
| Hence no profit, and this caused a fail
ure. and it Is why no other mines are ut
| work. Does any one wonder, then, why
| gold mining In North Carolina is fail
ure? Yet in this Gold-Hill mine alone
| there are several millions of tons of this
| ore in reserve above the bottom, left
standing in the slopes. because 1t cannot
be worked at a profit. What applies to
this mine also does to nearly every other
one where deep-vein gold mining is done
WHAT is WANTED.
What IL wanted here are reduction