Arizona republican., 1901-04-17
ARIZONA TO LEAD IN COPPER
Mining Deals and Strikes Promise
 Enormous Mineral Output.

The general impression abroad tha
 the copper interests of Arizona ar, csntered in the three great producing regions embracing the United Verde the Copper queen and the mines oi Morenci. shared 10 limited extent by residents of Arizona, is being rapidly dispellei, The high prices of coppel have stimulated mining for that metal all over Arizona. and activity in the territory generally is unprecedented At many points at present copper is being mined and shipped to the smell ters at Fl Paso and Colorado. and al many other points the development of copper ore is SO active as to warrant the assertion that Arizona will soon lead in the production of the red meta
 An important factor in the coming increase in the output of this young territory is the policy of the big cop per companies of expanding the ca pacity of their plants as rapidly as possible to meet the constantly in- Creasing output of their otes. but much is expected Of new properties and |new regions One of the most signifi- 'Cant deals in Arizona for years, was |the securing of an option by the Gen. |eral Electric company or New York ion a number of claims in the Clifton and Moreno disu!.t. This deal took place during a period of deals and mining strikes all over Arizona. creat- ing an epoch in the mining history, and in the mils. pf high y interesting repqCts from various points, the im- portance of this and other deals has been undergstimated. The General Electric company has a double purpos. in developing copper mines in Arl- 2ona. Its aim is Co combine produc- tion with consumption. the company being one of theA greatest copper con suming concerns in the world. After two years of searching all over the North American continent, in quest of mines to satisfy an enormous con- sumption. the General Electric Com- pany. through its agents, D. NJ. Rior- dan and corps of experts, selected the Morenci region above all others as the one most likely to satisfy its pur- pose.
 what ls the use, queried min ing man yesterday, "of a big corpora ton ike the Genera Electric. paying T. cents a pound for copper when the cost of production rarely exceeds : cents. The company has an unlimited amount of capital and it might as well produce its own metal. Arizona con. tains enough copper to supply the en- tire world for years. 'The New York company is one of the latest and most important institutions that is under- taking to unearth g portion of the immense mineral wealth."
 Cheapness of production is one of the aims of that company and to hat end Edison electrical machinery and devices will be employed. not only in She treatment but in the mining and transportation of the ores.
 The copper production of this terri tory for the year 1900 was estimated by Dr. J. NJ. Ford at $3O. O.OOO GOO. Gold was placed by him at 1000, 900, while silver amounted probably to not more than $lo0o,00o. There are few records upon which Co base the mineral out put of Arizona, as the laws do not require statements by companies. and mining operations are seldom prone Co advertise their affairs. But in general way, the mineral production