Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-12-15
oNsOLIDATED MERCUR Ia
Utah's greatest gold mine. and

Utah'a greatest gold mine. ana
- IN point Of tonnage enjoys
the distinction Of being the heav-
lost producer IN the state. The
compRnys annual report Tor the
necal year ending June 30, 1895,
shows that SO2. S06 tors of ore were
mined and mllled, being an average 81
$50 tons for each dpy Of the year No
other mmo IN Utah. and very fow M
the United States. can boast of such
large output.
Taking into consideration The coudi-
| lions under which the Consolidated
Mercur Gold Mines company operates,
| It 10 also undoubtedly true that during
the past year It has come very close
TO making worlds record for econ
| omy Of operation. There are mines
| which work By means OF open cuts,
glory holes" or tunnels, and have
| nothing but oxidEed ore, which can
show a lower cost per ton. The Con-
| solldatod Mercur, however, gets prac-
| tlcaly all OF It's ore by underground
mining; all of the ore has TO be tram
| med long distance, and all OF Il
| has TO be holsted 10 the mill and
| about half Of the ore is IN the form
Of sulphide, requiring roasting be-
fore It can be treated by the cyanide
| process, thereby ental,ng an extra eS.
pense Of 81 per ton, Furthermore, the
company Is obliged to pay a high price
! for power, and 1t has 20 buy It's water
| In spite OF these drawbacks General
Manager George II. Dern reports that
Cor the last fiscal year he reduced the
expenses to s2.4S per ton. This M
| cludes not only the ordinary expenses
Of mining aud milling, but also all Items
OF general expense, including prospect
Ing, maintenance. repairs, admlnstra-
ton, salaries, taxes, and, IN fact al
Of the companys expenses except con-
strucuou work.
Utah has many able mine managers,
but any Of them might be proud OF
such record.
ORE or TWO CHARACTERS.
The Mereur ore is Of two characters,
oxIdised and base. The former Is
simply crushed, charged into teaching
,ats, and treated by the ordinary cya'
hide process. The base. or sulphlde
ore, requires roasting before 1t Is
amenable to cyaniding, and for this
reason It Is ground finer than the OK
idized After its treatment is ident-
lcal with that OF the oxidized, the two
being charged together in the teaching
| watts
METALLURGICAL SKILL SHOWN
Mercur ore Is low grade, having
averaged 50. 10 per ton during the past
year. 1t is obvious that on such low
| grade material keen metallurgcal
work, and low operating costs are es-
| sential, That skin IN these lines was
| In evidence the past year is shown
| by the fact that the company's net
| earnings aggregated sll2,7sLl5 OF this
amount 100000 was paid TO the stock
holders I'm dividends, SS,l04.34 went for
construction items and the remainder
was added TO the company's surplus,
| which amounted, on June &c. to S2I-
1876 05.
BIG MILLING PLANT.
The Con. Mercur mill, or the Golden
Gate Mill" as 1t is generally known,
| IS a wonderful plant. For long time
il was the largest straight cyanldlng
| plant in the world and even now II
| is surpassed but by few, IL any, Near
! " all Of the largest mills with which II
| Is compared, employ a combination of
processes, usually amalgamation fol-
lowed by cyanidation.
In Mercur, however, nothing but the
straight cyanide process Is employed
The plant is annually visited by scores
of travellers from all over the world
seeking information Of the most adj
vanced practise.
AN INTERESTING FEATURE.
One of the interesting features about
| the plant Is that everything is driven
| by electricity, From tho Mercur mine
| 10 the shaft the ore Is hauled by cleo
tric locomotives Thence 1t Is ele-
| waited to the mill by electric HOSTS.
| In the mill, the crushers, rolls roasters,
| pumps. air compressors, and, In fact,
| all the machines are driven by electric
| motors The electric current IL bought
| from the Telluride Power company
| ana Is IItllNHllikfI AlNlil hh' NNhNiNNi''H
plants at Provo and Logan TO Msrcur
| at 40 600 volts. 1t Is then stepped
down to suitable voltage for use In
| the motors.
PROGREssIvENEsS SHOWN
As instances Of the company's pro-
4 gresslveness may be mentioned the
| fact that during the past year
a foundry was built so that
the Consolidated Mercur company
now makes all Of It's own iron and
brass castings Of which II necessarily
consumes large quantities. Investiga-
ton has shown that this work could be
Zone cheaper at home than to buy the
| castings, and the foundry went up. Sim
ilarly. n lime kiln was built Large
quantities OF lime are used In teaching
the ore. and this lime was being shipped
I'm at considerable cost. Limestone Is
I the country rock AZ Mercur, and
there appeared 20 Mr.. Den TO be no
reason why quickllme could not be
burnt In the camp 4 frst-class lime
! Kiln was therefore built and the COM