The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-08-26
TRICKS IN SMELLING TRADE
A Seller Of Ore Must Figure on a
Good Margin for Treat
ment.

OASIS on Wn1ch SmelterS pay for ore. A
good many miners with promising prop
critics expect that they will get the assay
values on a shipment. less the freight
and treatment charge In this fond hope
a good many people think they have ore
, that Will net them good return, fwhen
in fact 1t will not pay for being handled.
This condition is particularly true OF cop
! per ores.
1t is not pleasant task to undeceivc
the miner who believes that he has a
shipping grade of ore. In justice tn him
self. however, ne ought to know exactly
the system of smelter payments. Then
! he can figure exactly what he can get.
| The assayer who tests piece of rock
! calculates the value of the gold at so. 81
an ounce the copper at about 1914 cents
pound, and the silver at about 60 cents
| an ounce
He furnishes a certificate something
like this:
Gold, at $20.61 per ounce ............$ 4.13
Silver. ounces at 60c per ounce. 2.4O
Copper. per cent Cor so pounds)
at 1612 cents per pound. ..... 49, 20
Iotal ........ $19. IS
The mine owner may figure that it will
cost him, say, 81 ton to haul his ore to
| the railroad. $l.5o for railway freight and
, 81 for smelter charges That would
make total of s1l50. AS his assay value
| is Si9.13 ton, he believes that he should
! make profit OF 1923 ton. Possibly he
las 100 tons OF his first class o.e on the
dump. and he counts on getting profit
of over $500 from the SINE. ter.
But the snelter would not pay any,
thing like $19.73 for the ore. The smelt-
ers have an arbitrary system Of their
own for settling. The customary sprac-
tice is to deduct per cent from the gold
/ and from the silver values for refining
! charges. They are, perhaps. justified in
| this. for the refinery sometimes pays
! the snelter for only IS Per cert Of the
gold at $50 an ounce and for silver at
the current market price. whic.l is now
5*1s cents.
1T is in paying for copper that the
smelter makes the biggest r. duction.
! An old Cornish custom is to Fay for no
copper except the amount in excess of
1.s per cent. If the ore Goes not assay
more than l.3 per cert the mir ~ gets
nothing at al for the copper. This GUS
tom was started when smelling was
primitive business. and a coed deal of
copper was lost in matteing. Nowadays
metallurgy has been improved so that
Only about 3 of l per cent of copper is
lost. Neytheless the smel.ers usually
charge their old toll of 1.3 per cent. In
i addition to this they only pay 70" cn,per
!, at about 10 cents pound instea tbof al
1872 cents, the market price. This de-
| (uction is alleged to cover the refining
! Charge.
| The assay value Of ore carryinge4 per
cent in copper is $3.50. The smelter,
however, deducts l.3 per cent, leaving
81 per cent, or "a pounds, fer which it
! pays 10 cents a pound. $40.
! The smelter payment therefore. is
! about like this:
Gold, at 500 per o., less rer
cent ......................$ sos
Silver. o., at 59A per o., less
per cent 2.2S
| Copper per cent, less 1.3 per cent,
"a pounds, at 10c per pound ...... $40
! Out of this must come smelter charges,
81 per ton; wagon haul, a. and railway
Heights. 81 so PEI ton, making total of
$50. AS the smeiter only paid at the
"a tie of $11.48 ton there is a net loss of
cents per ton.
Instead of making profit of over $500
on his shipment. therefore, the mine
owner has suffered loss of 81. and that
does not include the cost of mining.
These deductions made by the smelters
are a never ending source of bitterness
| between smelter men and mining men.
Or their face they appear almost afhold-
up. In deducting 1.3 per cent from the
| copper assays the smelter makes afclear
profit of about $3.50 ton. The deduc-
| ton of per cent from the bold and the
silver is a profit that varies with the
richness of the ore. In some cases these
deductions alone are enough to pay big
profits for the smelter, with corre-
| spending loss of dividens for the mine.
Smelter men defend the tolls with the
plea that if they did not get the tolls they
would have to raise Their smelling rates.
| It all amounts to about the same thing
| in the end. they say.
This system of payment is practiced
almost everywhere over the country.
There is ore conspicuous exception.
That is the smelter at Trail. b. c. The
, low grade ores of that camp seldom carry
much more than 1.3 per cent copper.
Therefore under the old system the mine
owner would get nothing for the metal.
| The War Eagle-Center Star companies
| have made a contract with the Trail
smelter for 100000 tons of ore. The
smelter does not deduct the usual 1.3 per
cent, but pays for 70 per cent of the cop
per. 1t pays for the metal at the New
York quotation, less 81 cents That
contract is peculiarly advantageous
one.
In paying for lead ore the smelter
makes a deduction of 10 per cent from
the assay value of the lead. and pays at
the market price. There is the usual de-
duction of per cent for silver and gold.
| Sometimes an ore carries both copper
and lead. 1t Is not practicable to smelt
both copper and lead from the same ore.
| One must be lost Therefore it Is usual
| to give up the metal which is the less
valuable. This makes a still further
| complication.
The smelling charge Is usually based