Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1905-12-09
OFFICIAL PAPER OF NYE COUNTY.
CIRCULATION IN TONOPAH
BUILD MILLS.

In our last issue we demonstrated
the limpracticability OF erecting
shelters at this point owing to the
enormous quantities Of lead ore
necessary to treat the silicious ores
of this district. As a rule it re.
quires four tons Of average grade lead
ore to reduce one ton of quartz ore,
and even il sufficient lead ore could
be produced in this state it would
be entirely out of the question to rail
road forty or fifty thousand tons of
lead ore into Tonopah every month,
and then railroad the bullion out at
an excessive high freight rate. The
next thing to consider, is, can we
still continue the ruinous policy of
shipping u ore month after month,
as we have been doing, to the diff
ferent smelters on the outside and
pay from twenty-five to twenty-nine
dollars per ton for railroad charges,
smelling and sampling, and then not
get all the values contained in the
ore? We all know that a twenty
five dollar per ton mine is the biggest
thing in the country, but Tonopah
has been shipping ore ever since the
discovery of the Mizpah, five years
ago, and it is the only camp in this
state that has ever done it. and in
fact, it is the only camp that can
afford TO do it and lose values on her
profit by so doing. 1t has gone on in
this way from year to year, and Tono-
pah has at all times been at the
mercy OF railroads and smelters.
How long can we keep this up and is
1t not now time to call a halt and do
something?
Let US have a change. Quartz
mills are our only redemption.
Some people will say that the rock
from Tonopah mines cannot be milled.
They do not know what they are
talking about, as Tonopah rock is
purely a milling ore and nothing else.
1t does not contain as much as one
per cent lead, consequently no we'll
informed mining man could call it
smelling ore. 1t is a genuine milling
ore and a be stamped, then ANAL
gamated, leached, or cyanided as the
case may be.
II this ore contains sulphides, like
the Montana, Extension and Midway
for instance, concentrating tables
can be put in and the sulphides ex.
tracted.
Tonopah ores are not refractory
or rebellious by any means, and if
they are handled properly by the COR
rect milling process, a very high ex-
traction can be obtained, and the
cost should not exceed over six or
seven dollars per ton, as against
twenty. five to twenty nine dollars,
the present cost.
The Tonopah Mining Company is
taking hold of the matter in the
proper spirit and in the right way.
The stockholders Of that company
r tired Of the enormous loss en-
tailed in shipping their ore to smelt-
ers, and they are now preparing for
radical change. They have given the
Moore Brothers of San Francisco a
contract for the erection at Millers,
but a few miles from here on the rail-
road, n Of the largest quartz mills
ever built in this State aud the work
OF construction is now under way.
1t will be q mill OF 100 tons daily
capacity. The ore will first be
stamped, then run through Hunting
ton mills and cyanided. w. L. Moore
who has the matter 10 hand, is a
thorough and experienced man IN the
business and knows what he is about.
Experiments have been made upon
ores from the different mines OF the
Company from time to time and a
stamp mill with the cyanide process
has been determined to be the safest
and most thorough process by which
any and all Of their ores can be work
ed, from the lowest to the highest
grade, and leave but little in the
tAilings.