Arizona daily citizen., 1901-05-03
Interesting Talk
on Copper Ore,

Professor Traphagen has given out
some very interesting things about the
copper mines of Montana as compared
with the copper mines of Wisconsin and
Michigan. "The Superior ore of Wis.
consin and Michigan are known in the
mining world" said the professor, sis
different in the nature from that found
in our state, and the process of getting
it into commercial form ia much more
simple. Were it not for the fact that
In Montana a considerable quantity of
gold and silver is always found with the
copper, and for the further fact that the
the Montana ore is richer, it would be
Improbable to mine copper in Montana.
The Superior copper ore runs from n to
Ia per cent. copper, while the Montana
ore which is now being worked seldom
falls below 4per cent. wish to explain
that this statement means that the.
figures have just given you means that
the copper forms that per cent Of the
bulk OF the ore taken from the mine.
The methods of mining and extracting
the copper and other minerals from the
ore are improving, however, and the
Montana miners are preparing to work
the properties where the copper runs
as low as 2 per cent.
"The Michigan ore contains what is
known as metallic copper, with OCCASION
ally little metallic silver. The Mon
tans ore contains what is known as sui.
phide OF copper, and generally has with
it paying quantities Of gold and silver.
The silver. which is the principal metal
found with the copper in Montana, gen.
orally amounts TO fifteen to twenty five
ounces to the ton OF ore. The Superior
ore is easily handled and the copper
easily extracted. The ore is crushed,
washed in water and the copper which
is brought out by this process is in COM
mercial form. The Montana process is
rather complicated. In our state we
first crush the ore just as your wiscon-
sin miners do. Then it is roasted to or.
adize the iron. and burn out the sulphur
which is found with the copper In con-
siderable qu antilles. Following the roast
ing, the ore is smelted to eliminate the
iron, which is also prominent in Mon
tana copper ore. Then the copper which
is obtained from the smelling has to be
electrically treated to drive out the 9TH
or impurities. and finally, after all these
steps we have the commercial copper.
There are various stages OF the prepare
tion which would hardly inferes. q y
man, such as blowing air through mol
ten copper and the like, all Of which are
necessary TO get as pure copper for the
market as you got 70 easily i'm the SUI
perior region and. a. | said before, II 1t
were not for the fact that gold and silver
are found with the copper, and the fact
that the Montana ore 10 several times as
rich as the Superior product. ve could
not mine copper in Montana with profit.
As 1t is, however, the score 10 even.
"The copper mining industry in Mon
tana is immense, and anyone who has
not visited that State and seen the big
mines and the amount OF ore which ID
taken ont OF them daily can have but
little comprehensive OF the magnitude OF
the business. The Anaconda, one OF the
largest properties, works 5000 tons Of
ore every day. That IL large quantity
Of material to take from the bowels OF
the earth and extract the metals ii con-
tains and put them in commercial form
The Anaconda is often spoken Of ~ one
mine, and many people in the Middle
West believe ii TO be one mine, bat II ID,
as q matter Of fact, group Of mines
which are known by that name. As ]
said before, the amount Of the precious
metals found with the copper is not
large and would mot be worth working
for II it were not for the copper. Silver
10 the principal metal found with the
copper, the amount OF gold found in
most copper mines rarely going more
than two dollars ton.
s.The silver mining business 10 start
up again. When silver went down in
price we believed that the industry Of
4 -. -
mining for that metal was done Tor, but
that opinion appears to have been
wrong. Many Of the deserted silver
mines are being opened up again, and
the industry 10 being put back on it's old
basis. We used TO give our attention al
moet exclusively to mining for silver
and neglected the gold mines, but they
are now being worked. and az silver and
gold are generally found together. the
output OF both metals is increasing"
Mse.x N~n~