The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-09-12

In the Munlng ana Sclentlnc freS0 IOs
May II, 1901. that:
Lessons Of Cyaniding.
" Experiment showed that If Cripple
| Creek ores could be crushed fine enough,
cyanide would extract the values from
them without requiring preliminary
roast And he proved the truth Of his
assertion by successfully cyaniding his
mill dust. Most of this dust would no
| doubt pass a 200 mesh screen, which
would mean 100000 particles to the GU
bic in h. But it is absolutely certain that
the particles would be finer than 10
mesh, so we know that the ore was re-
duced to over 1.72S. 900 particles to the,cu
bic inch. The Cripple Creek ores are not
| the only ores of this character. There
are comparatively few ores from which
| better extraction cannot be made by
finer crushing. The writer has made IL
| quid tests on ores many times where an
extraction of about so per cent only
! could be obtained by crushing to 30
mesh, when by crushing the same ore
finer than was necessary to pass 12O
mesh screen the extraction would be over
| go per cent.
| Solutions Could Not Penetrate.
Now. when we are to d by our actual
| experiences in every day work that we
cannot penetrate particles of material
with solution until those particles are
reduced to over 1,72S0O00 to the cubic
| inch, what reason have we for believing
| that solutions have permeated and leach
| ed out the precious contents OF solid, I'M
penetrable walls of country rock? The
! user of liquid processes, at least knows
| that such thing is among the lmpossl-
bilities.
THE practical miner, whose experience
has not been confined to some one or two
mines. knows that pebbles or boulders OF
quartz or country rock are frequently
found either in or adjoining bodies or 're
mined. The reason there are not more
as in our present streams, Is thats the
ancient streams flowed over fewer varies
ties of surface rock. Granite, dlsinteS-
rated. was replaced near Helena IN the
u,a,1s of the Whitlatch- Union and other
mines in the form of coarse granular par
ticles known locally as 'shelled corn
granite. The finer PARTICLES were un-
doubtedly carried farther where they
were deposited to form gneiss. II, IN some
1oealities boulders or large blocks OF
granite were laid down, they Wouid ne
surrounded by broken fragments OK the
same granular material and their oouioer
charac ter would not be noticed. II can
hardly be doubted by any one VINO wiz
mine in the shell-corn granite that ln'le
are large boulders in it, for some OF IL
will pick easily and mixed IN with rock
of this character will be found In punch
es which must be blasted. Inc granite
in Butte, to the south of the leadlhs
mines. all show evidence of having oeen
disintegrated and replaced and 1t IS not
unusual to find boulders Of quartz IN
great quantity are found in the original
mine in Butte, between the 500 and 12oo
foot levels.
Boulders Are River-Wash.
IS F, Emmons says of certain fault
fractures. in Butte: 1.-The assures con-
tain within them dragged-in and more
or less rounded fragments OF these sui
phides together with quartz and country
rock, seams a few inches think carry
ing small rolled fragments of granite,
quartz and ore in sort, kaolln-muo.
They are found in foot or hanging wall.
or within the vein itself, often several
to a given cross-section, and extend IN
depths as far as the explorations have
yet reached.
walter Harvey Weed tells us Of the
Ruby mine in Jefferson county, Montana.
where the surface of the quarts crys-
tails lining the opening spaces between
boulders is literally sprinkled with ruby
silver and Hon. A. e. Spriggs. presi-
dent of the Ruby Mining company. in
forms the writer that throughout the
mine is abundant evidence Of heavy river
wash.
"At Wickes, Montana, in the Dunehee
property, is boulder wash of vein matter
over twenty feet thick and of unknown
extent.
"a recent press item gives details of
half a dozen mines in Colorado where
boulders have been found and Becker
speaks of the presence of slickensides
and rolled pebbles in the clays. in the
Comstock mines. See Geology of the
Comstock Lode. page 157.
''Newberry tells us, In the Bull Domin-
go (Col.) and the Bassick (Col.) the peb-
bies consist of various kinds of igneous
rock, mingled with which in the latter
are masses Of cilicified wood and charcoal
while in the Carbonate mine Frisco
Utah) the pebbles are mainly trachyte;
hut with there are others Of limestone
and quartzite.' Scientific American Sup
plement, April 10, 1880.
I'm the Overland mine, near Helena,
Montana. is a mass of boulders and clay
which anyone would say was the wash
OF river, II it We're found anywhere on
the surface of the earth. 1t Is on the
50-foot level and on the under side of a
large body of ore, between the ore and
>the solid line foot-wall The wash is ten
feet or more in thickness and most of the
houlders are of granite, many of which
are a foot or more in diameter.
I'm the Bonanza. Chief mine, one mile
eest of the Overland, boulders of iron
pyrites We're found in considerable guam
tity at times. encased within a shell Of
oxidized ore. The pyritic portion was
valueless, assaying generally 81 or So
per ton. The castings were always rich
and were broken off and either milled or
sent to the smelter. Returns from some
OF the shipments are said to have been
as high as $50 to the ton.
There is but one tenable theory for