Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-29
MINING IN The BLACK HILLS
Jupiter Company Pushing Work on 0yanid-
ing Plant in Black Tail.
SPEARFISH COMPANY BRANCHING OUT
Rush 90 Finish Up Assessment work
Before Close of Year in order to
lead on the Claim
JumIe rs.

DEADWOOD, S. D., Dec. 2S.-(SpeciaL)-
The grading for thu 150-ton cyanide plant of
the Jupiter Mining company, in Blacktail
gulch, has been finished and the carpenters
and stone masons have begun their part Of
the work. The plant will embrace all the
improvements in the wet-crushing process.
and the contract calls for it's completion
by March l next. Work in the mines of
the company has been suspended pending
the completion of the plant. only a small
force being employed in them, and that for
the purpose of keeping up the timbering
and providing against accidental c~ave-ins
in the workings. There is an immense
amount of ore exposed in the workings on
the ground, and when the cyanide plant
Is ready to start up there will be plenty Of
ore on hand to keep It running indefinitely,
the company, unlike most Of the new ones
which have recently built plants in the
northern Hills, having purchased ground
which had already been developed. The
ground included in the company's holdings
has been worked for years, and the ore
bodies on II thoroughly explored, and the
Character Of the ore and its richness known
TO a fraction of a cent.
The Spearhsh Mining company this week
sent down from its mill in Johnson gulch
another gold brick, the result OF a two
weeks run, which weighed $11, AS. The
mill at The company's mines is now run
ming at about its full capacity, and when
1t is doing its best It should produce from
$4,000 to 1000 at every semi-monthly
cleanup. At the present time there is
being treated in the mill about 5000 tons
OF ore a month and the grade is constantly
increasing in value. Another ore body has
been encountered in the workings at the
rnfnn Tho 80 -
at a depth of thirty-hve feet below the
second ore body opened up a few weeks
ago. The new find is from ten to twenty
feet in thickness and assays from SO to S12 a
ton. Development work done during the
past month shows that the lime floor of
the first ore stratum is really the roof o.
the second ore body, which shows that the
first ore body is really thicker than was at
the beginning of operations believed. These
two ore bodies lying below the first have
actually more than doubled the ore reserves
OF the company. The company has been
talking of increasing the capacity OF It's
plant, bringing it up to 500 or 900 tons
daily, and during the coming year this i'm
provement may be made.
Working Belle EIdridEe GrOup.
Aaron Dunn and associates have started
e 49, - Oh a. lAA hAuAAuk |
group Of claims in Spruce gulch, a few
miles from this city, and are taking out
$40 rock at the present time, which is
being stored for shipment to Deadwood
treatment plants. The ore is being taken
from the upper contact, from workings
which a few years ago shipped 1000 tons
OF ore, which went from IS to $23 a ton
gold. The ore shout at the point where
work is now being done is from three to
five feet In thickness and Of the same grade
as that which had been shipped in former
years. On the Belle Eldridge group sew
eral good shoots of ore have been exposed
on the lower contact. but as yet very little
work has been done on them, but it lie
understood that when the present work In
hand has been finished a force Of miners
will start on their development. The ore
on this group is a cyaniding proposition,
and IL the necessary arrangements can be
made with the owners Of adjoining ground
a treatment plant will be erected the COM
ing spring.
The ore which has been shipped froia
this group Of claims, after being hauled
In wagons over rough trails, has paid q
profit, and a plant on the ground
should prove to be still more profitable.
same parties own the Mowee group
OF claims, in the same neighborhood, and
have recently begun the development of a
vein of ore which, besides carry
ing gold and silver values of 50, also carries
a high percentage of iron aud a little zinc
and lead. This is a smelling proposition,
and the development which is being done
upon 1t is for the purpose of testing the
values of the ore. The ore occurs on fossil
which at that point are about 200
feet above the quartzite. The group also
has exposed In 1t several shoots Of cyanid-
ing ore, but these have not received very
much attention in the way of development,
the owners thinking that the smelling
proposition will prove to be a good thing,
and SO are putting in all the work on IL.
The owners Of ground in the same district
are now busy doing their annual assessment
work, but 1t is not believed that the dis
trict will be bothered by Jumpers" as
most OF the ground has been worked ali Of
the last summer and fall. The Highland
Chief cyanide plant in the district Is work,
ing to its full capacity on ore from the
eompany's claim, which is being taken
from the quartzite contact. This ore will
average better than 81 a ton, and there
to be a lot of 1t,
e1ObscOt Buys More Ground.
The Penobscot Mining company at Garden
City has been adding to it's already large
holdinRE in the Ida Crav dIutrtot, a..