Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-04-23
AN INTERESTING MINE.
A Mexican Copper Property of Great Rich
MESA Hot Place.

Among other remarkable mines re-
Gently visited by a correspondent of
the Denver Mining Industry while
travelling in Mexico was a copper
property in the state of Coahuila,
about 120 miles north of Monterey,
and fifty miles west of the Mexican
National Railway. The mine is known
as the Cobre de Panuco. and is owned
by New Workers. While it is not be-
ing worked very extensively, employ
ing about twenty-five men, ii has been
operated as far back as the mining
history of the country extends. A
great, open pit, and much caved sur
face ground outlines the extent and
form of the ore deposit. which appears
TO have more or less circular form,
and perhaps 500feet across. The enclos-
ing rock is hornblendic porphyry. al
though the general country rock of the
district is a calcerous slate. Toward
the surface the ore exists mostly as a
carbonate. and evidently of superior
grade, as most of the work is carried
on in close proximity to the old, caved
workings. In descending on the ore
body the mineral becomes more fer
ruginous, and in places vast bodies of
solid iron pyrites have been opened
up. In places where the sulphides
contain considerable chalcopyrite the
mineral is mined. ii being of suffi-
GENTLY high grade to warrant hauling
out to rail and shipping to some CEN
trail smelling point. In one portion of
the mine there is an immense mass of
material that seemingly has been
crushed to fragments of one-fourth to
one inch in diameter. and then ce-
mented again, making a strange APP
pearing mixture of iron and copper
pyrites and quartz, assaying about Z
per cent. in copper, being less than
the average copper contents of the
product of the mine, which is stated
TO average about % per cent, and to
be twenty tons day.
Owing to imperfect ventilation. the
mine is the hottest one the writer has
ever entered, due no doubt to the de-
composition of the sulphides. So in
tense is the heat in some of the slopes,
that it is impossible for one not accus-
toned to so high a temperature to en-
dure it for but few minutes. and
the heat of the ore in some of the
breasts Is so great that 1t is unbear-
able to the naked hand-there being
no Thermometer in the district gradu-
ated sufficiently high to determine the
exact temperature in some of the hot
ter workings. The mine is perfectly
dry and quite dusty, and in places the
air is filed with atoms of sulphate of
copper. The natives work. wearing
nothing but breech clout. and
handkerchief tied about the face. pro-
tecting the nose and mouth from the
poisonous fumes and dust.
One of the most interesting features
of the mine is the occurrence of large
deposits of very clean sulphide of mo-
lybdenum, which is mined and shipped
to Europe, constituting a considerable
portion of the commercial product of
the property-the shipments last year
aggregating about $4,000 the mate
rial yielding about $500 per ton.
This mineral is found mostly in the
lower level of the mine. associated
with chalcopyrite and thoroughly crys-
talized quartz. In appearance the min
eral could easily be mistaken for
graphite, being about the same color
and thin foliated. Its streak on pa
per, however, discloses, with an OBJ
lique reflection of the light. purplish
tinge, while that of graphite is gray
ish. The ore is easily mined, as it is
quite soft, and some pot holes or OPEN
ings have yielded several tons at
time without any blasting whatever.
The chamber yielding the molybden-
um. at the time of the visit, was prob
ably forty feet long. The roof was a
mass of quartz crystals, while the
floor was mixture of sulphide of
iron and copper ore and massive
quartz. The product, as it comes from
the mine, requires no preparation, be-
-. ~s,.x Ia.