Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-12-15
MerCur.

,,,ns and the knowing ones fancled they
cav the end in sight when the splendid
" located camp Of Mercur would be
classed among the have beens." The
eold will certainly not last forever but
che close OF the year 1900 shows the end
70 be still many years distant. New ore
bodies are being found and old ones are
belng developed in such way as 10
encourage the belief that next year will
be one Of the brightest in the history
OF Mercur. That a great many people
are impressed with this view is evil
danced by the number OF buildings
erected during the past year. OF course,
with the Geyser Marion shut down. the
Con. Mercur and the Sacramento mines
are the life Of the camp, and both OF
them present most interesting pros
poets for 1901, 1t Is probable, too, that
the Geyser Marion will be reorganized
into new company and there is a PROS
pect that something viii be done with
the silver Lode. Gold Dust and Rover
properties either In connection with the
Geyser Marion or the Con. Mercur COM
pany. There are also more than even
chances now that the Ingot will be
heard from az no distant day, and.
taken as a whole, there is every lndlca-
ton that Mercur will be the scene OF
much activity for many years.
THE CONSOLIDATED MERCUR.
The event Of greatest interest in Mer-
cur during the present year has been
the consolidation OF the Mercur and
Captain j. r, De Lamars mines. which
was consummated in Europe during the
past summer, In spite Of the doubts Of
some people, Il would appear that the
consolidation will serve the best inter-
ests Of both parties. II is true that the
Mercur had big bodies OF base ore par
TALLY developed. but sooner or later It
would have been necessary TO install
roasting plant to handle such ores by
the consolidation the Mercur company
secured the ideal mill already built by
Captain De Lamar for his Golden Gate
mine. and the captain secured an inter-
est In the Mercur mine. which with the
riches of the Brickyard and Golden
Gate properties insures a longer USE
funess for the expensive mill, and con-
sequently better returns on the large
sum invested, That II has been bene-
M 10 the Mercur is shown by the quo
tation OF the stock I'm the Consolidated
company. When the consolidation was
effected one-thlrd OF the million shares
was allowed for the Mercur property,
the remaining two-thirds going 70 Cap
tain De Lamar. As the old Mercur
company's capitalization was only 900
900 shares It meant / and 2-3 shares In
the new company for every share held
by stockholders Of the old company. At
the time of the consolidation McrCur
stock was selling around $j9j per share.
whereas the present quotation OF $3.50
for the Consolidated stock Is the same
as $3.50 per share for stock In the old
company, an advance OF about I2,25 per
share
THE MINE.
It would be impossible to give an
adequate idea in words OF the amount
OF ore opened up In the Mercur
mine since the consolidation Develop
ments have also been very successful in
the Golden Gate part OF the property,
where new bodies ~ oNidIZed and mixed
ore have been disclosed. II might he
said here for the benefit OF the uniniti-
ated, that the oNldized ore is that class
Of ore from which all bases. such as
sulphur and arsenic, have been leached
through oxidation. This Is the ideal
ore for treatment by the cyanide pro-
cess. The base ore IN the Mercur IS a
black ore containing the above elements
and sometimes others, which prevent
the cyanide solution from extracting
the gold. SIN another class OF ore eX-
lists which, when the solution Is run in
90 II, becomes more or less clayey or
Shiny, thus preventing the solution
from percolating the ore and reaching
the gold. This is called mixed ore. The
treatment Of these classes OF ores viii !
DE touched upon In a description Of the
mill. Suffice 1t 10 say here that by far
the most important developments this !
year have been made In the base ore |
bodies Of the old Mercur mine which |
are contributing heavily TO the |
100000 worth OF bullion turned |
out I'm the past three months. |
Under the able direction Of Superln- |
tendent George z. Edwards a big vein |
Of base ore has been followed $50 feet |
on It's strike This Is apparently the |
great mother lode of the camp, having |
a normal dip OF II degrees The vein
has been explored about COO feet below
its apex. or TO Wine In the old Silver !
tunnel. Nothing is definitely known as
90 its thickness. In one place an up |
raise has been extended from the silver
tunnel distance Of 30 feet without en-
counterirg the hanging wall. In sew
cral other places sublevels are being
worked on which so far indicate a vein
Of great thickness During the past
month an incline has been started on
the footwall OF the vein In the Silver
tunnel 20 open It up at greater depths.
Preparations are being made 10 install
an engine with the view Of pushing the
incline down several hundred feet Mr..
Edward expects 10 be able 10 60 al least
ZOO feet deeper I'm this incline before
reaching any fault In the vein, This
win give a depth Of 300 feet from the
apex. AZ one place In this magnificent
ore body a horizontal drift has been run
from the footwall a distance OF no feet
and no hanging wall has been found,
which allowing for the pitch Of the
vein, would be equal TO cutting the vein
NJ right angles for 40 or 20 feet or
course, while all OF the developments
recorded above have been accomplished
this year. the discovery Of the deposits
% base ore Is not new. They have been
known 10 exist for years but until this
year they have been avoided because
the old Mercur mill was not prepared
TO treat that class OF ore.
With the consolidation came the sue
cessful treatment OF these Mercur ores.
and during the past months Suporin-
tendent Edwards says a body OF ore
representing a value OF fully SO0000O
has been developed In the Mercur prop
erly alone The mine Is said 70 be In