The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-04-06
The Boston n Montana Mining Company.

Inc Boston ~ MONTANA MINING company.
From the editorial columns of the En-
rineering and Mining Journal Of March
II we quote the following:
considerable space is given to alb
stract of the report of the Boston ~ Mon
tana Mining company. not only on &C
count of the Importance of the company
itself. which is now producing between
1000 and 10000 tons of copper yearly,
no unimportant item in the worlds sup
ply. but also because this report marks
the closing Of a period of transition in
the history Of the company. In its ear
lier stage the company was a mining
corporation simply, working the proper
ties which it had acquired in Montana.
and passing its ores only through the
first stage Of treatment. the resulting
matte being sold or shipped for further
treatment elsewhere. Since the pay
ment of dividends was suspended, some
what over two years ago, it has entered
upon a new enterprise and invested
d large amount of capital in the con-
struction of extensive works for smelt-
ing and refining copper according to the
latest and most approved methods.
Shipments Of matte ceased nearly Il wear
age, in May, 1893. and product is now
put upon the market in the various
forms known to the trade as pig, bars,
plates and electrolytic copper.
The new works of the company have
been erected. not in the neighborhood OF
the mines at Butte, but at Great Falls,
Mont. This location involves a consid-
cradle yearly expense for the t%ransporta-
ton of ores, but this is much more than
counterbalanced by the use of the water
power furnished by the Missouri river at
Great Falls, which is more than sufi-
Gent to meet any demands likely to be
made upon it. The expenditure upon
the new work has been large, but seems
to have been judiciously made, and the
present condition of the mining proper
ties is such as to justify a belief that
they will furnish a sufficient supply of
ores for a long time to come.
The total amount of the securities
issued by the company up to the close of
1893 was S3.7JO,000 in stock (of which
S625,00O was issued in 1909 and $780,
600 in bonds; IF the bonds, however,
SG4i,OO0 had been retired to the sinking
funds; leaving s~l,456,O00 outstanding;
that is, the total Investment represented
by securities at the close of the year
was S5,20G,O00. Up to the close of 1891
the company had paid 100000 in
all in dividends on its original mining
investments. Since that time the min
ing profits, with the amounts realized by
the issue of new stock, have been used
in paying for the new plant. The total
cost of the Great Falls works, now sub
stantially completed, has been S2,1Oj,-
2!Ji, and a further sun of SS5S, AGO ap-
pears TO have been in rested in the pur-
chase and development of new mines.
There has thus been very nearly $1,000
900 used in preparing for future work on
an extended scale.
THE report under consideration,
which covers a period of eighteen
months, including the second half Of
1902 and the whole of 1899. is somewhat
defective in one respect, as it does not
give the data for ascertaining exactly
the average receipt for the output nor
the average cost of production. AS near
iy as can be a%scertained, however, after
deducting the gold and silver which
formed part Of the product, the copper
produced cost about rs cents, and sold
for % cents per pound