Birmingham state herald., 1896-05-24

1NO1t OI tifc OtHcT pfOptflleS III tllfS oiS- trict have been developed to the same ex- tent as Pine Hill but from the work that has been done on them am of the opin- ion that there will be but very little diff ference found between any of them, ei- ther as to the extent of the ore bodies or average of grade; and so far as the chemical character of the ores from diff ferent'locations is concerned there Is com paratively no difference.
 In Cleburne county the Hicks-Wise mine, which was worked for few months in 1893 by miner from Colorado, showed the most extensive body of ore known in that country. Today the work ings have all caved in because of the sus- pension of work, which was caused by the business depression and the inability of the lessee to negotiate sale.
 I visited this property in 1893 and ex- amined the workings, which consisted of an incline shaft 107 feet in depth and about 100 feet of drifting on the 85-foot level. I found that the ore had been stopped out above the 40-foot level for a thickness of 16 feet and milled in ten stamp mill. This, I am informed, yielded about $2 per ton by amalgamation, while the ore from the bottom of the shaft which carried quite large percentage of sulphuret, assayed about $14 per ton. The occurrence of cave in the workings soon after opera tions were suspended demonstrated the fact that the maximum thickness of the ore body was nearly 30 feet, but what was its grade for that thickness has never been determined to my knowledge.
 In Tallapoosa county we find the exten- sive ore bodies are composed of lenses of quartz, interleaved with graphite slate, and so closely are the slate and quartz associated that mining has to be carried on by the quarry or open cut system, and the entire mass sent to the mill without sorting. By amalgamation something less than $2 @ ton is saved, as I am in- formed by the superintendent of the mine From pan tests, which l made myself in 1893, from fair average of the material sent to the mill, I am firmly convinced that the ore carries much greater value, but I could not ascertain the average assay value. There Is evil dently great loss, though, for the reason that the graphite sickens the quicksilver on the plates, and in consequence the particles of gold fail to amalgamate and are carried off through the sluices with the tailings. When I last saw the mine being worked the material sent to the mill was from an ore body about 50 feet in thickness, with the heading of the open cut some 30 feet deep. I have been in- formed several times since my visit in 1893 that this property has been in active operations most of the time, and the su- perintendent has told me that he has been experimenting with the view of eliminating the graphite from the ore, but up to few months back his experi- ments had not been attended with any signal success.
 In Clay county the large deposits of low grade ore are located near the west flank of the Talladega mountains, oc- curing in mica schist and home-blending schist country rock. Two ore bodies have been partially developed, which show thickness of 50 feet of pay. ore. One of which operations were conducted for sev- eral months about seven or eight years ago, yielded, am informed, satisfactory results by amalgamation when the mate rial was quarried a thickness of 50 feet and sent to the mill without sorting. Litigation, which has recently been de- cided, caused suspension of the work. The company is now putting in Hunt ington mill, because the superintendent is of the opinion that the ore can be more successfully treated in that description of a mill than in an ordinary stamp mill.
 This new mill will be in operation prob ably about the end of June next, and the results from its work will undoubtedly prove very beneficial not only to the inn mediate district, but to the entire state, because in this same belt of country rock in which the Idaho mine is situated there are several ore bodies possessing very much the same characteristics, and if ore is successfully treated in Huntington mill 1t will prove an incentive to owners of other properties to commence work, because the Huntington mill Is one Of the cheapest gold mining plants manu- factured.
 Some of the reasons for the policy of the superintendent in making a change are that there is a great deal of clay as- sociated with the ore, which is very undesirable factor in stamp milling, be- cause it reduces the crushing capacity to a minimum by clogging the screens. There Is also associated with the ore large quantities of decomposed mica hict xxthi while if iS mt actHallV talcose, yet is sufficiently talcoid to cause shines to form, in which small and light particles of gold are held in s1s- pension and pass off with the tailing. In feeding quicksilver into the battery the clay flinders it from becoming properly disseminated through the pulp in the mortar. There is also associated with sthis ore quite considerable wad, which to some extent interferes with perfectly satisfactory amalgamation.
 By introducing the Huntington mill the superintendent expects to overcome all these objectionable features by. treat ing the soft and clayey ore in that mill and the harder quartzite in the old stamp mill So far as the work has progressed on this mine no su1phurets have been encountered, but no mining has been carried on yet below water level.
 The average yield by amalgamation of this ore when the mine was in operation was about g per ton, and the cost of mining ana tredLlIS lHc Oic uio HUI cA- ceed 1. The crushing capacity of the old plant was about thirty tons per day, and that of the new and old plants will be about seventy-five tons per day. Of course at the present time there is some little extra expense to be considered in reopening, which is properly chargeable to cost of mining, and the capital invest ed in the new plant is chargeable to milling expense, or at least the interest on such Is. Therefore, when operations are resumed doubt if the extremely low cost for mining and milling which have referred to can be maintained, and 1t would also appear as though that when deeper mining becomes necessary the cost would be increased, but the superin- tendent informs me that taking every thing into consideration, he expects to mine and mill this ore for g long time to come at a cost not to exceed q per ton.
 could continue this description of oc- currences of extensive low grade ore bodies in Alabama which have come un- der my own observation for a consider able period of time, but the illustrations have given are sufficient to convey to your minds an intelligent idea of what results may be expected from operating