Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-01
Three Operators Have Bought
the Rimini Deposit.
CAN WORK WITH PROFIT
Big Mill Will Solve Problem of Making
the Low Grade Rock
Pay.

Z Aue recent acquisition ny three opera.
tors, or sets of operators, of practically
the entire extent of the porphyry dixie
neartHelena is perhaps the best news that
a come to light in recent years concern
ing the prospective development OF the
mining resources of this vicinity says the
Helena independent. 1t is a fact that the
properties on the dixie have been acquired
and that cash has been paid for them.
That points to the future erection of mills
Of large capacity for, milling the rock and
the employment of many men in the
works. Every one has known ever since
the railroad came to Helena that there
wal gold in he orphyry dixie, and it has
been all along surmised that someday 1t
would be milled on a scale sufficiently
large to make a profit Of rock that ran "a
a ton and under. The day seems nearer
now than ever before.
The porphyry dixie is above Rimini and
about twenty miles from Helena. It is
known to be an enormous deposit of low
grade free milling gold ore. 1t IS 600 feet
wide and more than two miles long. It 10
located on the top of the divide between
Basin AND Ten Mile creeks. The gold
is unusually free and coarse and Is car
ried with unusual regularity through the
hard quartz. Some narrow seams are
rich and specimens are found brdstling
with shining particles Of gold, but they
are rare and the gold is generally evenly
distributed through the entire mass.
Three mills of 10 vanners each have
outfits and after running for long enough
to thoroughly test the ores have shut
down, the last one a little over a year
ago, an injunction to prevent the pollution
Of the Helena water supply having hast
ened that outcome. Results OF the mill
tests of thousands of tons were to deter
mine the values to be somewhere in the
vicinity of "a per ton. While such a value
Is low-too low. indeed. for small mills
1t dy sufficient If mills of large capacity
could be installed. The water supply was
too limited in the vicinity for mills Of any
considerable size.
p Vt is claimed that the ore can be mined
and milled for IS CENTS per ton. This is
doubtless true IL one may Judge from a
comparison with other mines where large
quantities are worked. The Treadwell
mine on Douglass island, Alaska, mines
and mills far Less and it's ore is much less
in gross value; yet the Treadwen is one
of the great gold mines of the world and
earns enormous dividends for it's fortu-
mat owners The dixie is so situated and
the deposits are so great that lit can be
Quarrted therefore its mining WIZ be Of
nominal cose.
The dixie was covered originally by a
number of locations, many of the claims
had several owners. The divided owner
ship was one bar to working on the scale
necessary to success. The recent pur.
chase by Charles D. Mcclure. the Granite
mountain magnate, OF st. Louis. Of the
Midnight, and B. & K, claims of James
Swan, C. w. Darlin and c. e. AIKEN, Of
Helena, for $500 spot cash, makes Mr..
Mcclure now ne owner of about one
third Of the ground covered by the dixie,
he having already bought and located a
large area OF the ground. One OF the 10
stamp mills was built and operated by
Mr.. Mcclure and the ore on his claims
was thoroughly tested.
James Breen, manager of a smelter at
Northport, Wash. "a mining man of means