The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-17
UTAH COPPER MINE
HISTORY IS GIVEN
Victory Over Vast Porphyry Ore
Bodies Only Due to
Perseverance.
MERITS OF PROPERTY
NOT APPRECIATED
Description of Mine In Eastern
Journal Is of Much
Interest.

The Utah Copper company was one of
the hrst to take hold of the disseminated
copper ore in Bingham Canyon. Utah.
and 1t Is one of the few companies in
the West using the cavlng system OF
mining, says the Engineering and Mining
Journal The first work was done upon
this property many years ago, but not
much was accomplished until Col. e. a.
Wall acquired 1t. He did some prospect
ing and then succeeded In interesting
Capt. ]. R. De La Mar. They drove
some short tunnels through the cappng.
into the ore bodies. and also did some
work on veins that occur In the property.
However, Capt. Dc La Mar soon with
drew, on the advice OF his engineer, who
did not think that these low-grade ores
would prove Of much value. AT the
same time the Boston Consolidated did
some work on its lowgrade porphyry
ore, Col. Wall was laughed at because
he stuck to the property and predicted
that some day 1t would become one OF
the largest copper mines In Utah, and
to him Is due especially the credit for
Grst recognizing the value OF the
disseminated ores of this camp which
Will doubtless yield far more copper than
Its mines on other types Of ore depos-
It's. In 1903 Col. Wall succeeded In con-
Vncing the people who afterward organ
lied the Utah Copper company that these
ore bodies were valuable and sold the
mine to them. receiving a certain amount
of shares in the new company the bulk
of which he still retains
The Utah Copper company's deposit
consists OF an immense laccolith OF por-
phyritic monzonite which has been in
truded into the mass of Bingham quartz
tie. This mass OF porphyry has been
much fractured and broken. The mineral
value Is in the chalcocire and bornite.
There is little chalcopyrite present In
the ore, but it Is not sufficient to give
any band on the Wiley tables at the
mill. The naturalization seems to be
very uniform throughout the orc body,
wherever 1t has not been leached There
is a surface Gaping Of the ore body con-
sisting Of leached porphyry. which has
considerable green copper carbonate
along Its fracture planes, but the copper
has been leached TO such an extent that
this Gaping will not pay for mining and
milling. The ore is porous whtish por
phyry. but In some parts 1t is inclined
toward darker gray color (felsitic
grey).
Mining System.
The Utah Copper company is at present
mining this immense deposit by a cavlng
system, which Will be retained TO mine
the ore body where the Gaping may be
too thick to pay for stripping the de-
posit and using steam shovels or the
milling method, The object OF the cay
ing now being carried on near the sur
face is to break up the ground so that
a steam shovel can handle It. The leached
Gaping of the ore body will be stripped
off by steam shovels. Part of the
stripped ore will then be mined by the
steam shovels and part by the mill-hole
method The company intends soon to
begin to use the steam shovels Two
Marion and one Vulcan steam shovel
Will be used at first,
The upper part of the ore deposit has
been cut by the Bingham canyon, form
ing an east section and west section!
That on the east side has been opened
UP by a series Of nine sub-levels; that
on the west by ten sub-levels Each Of
these sub-levels connects by adt to the
surface, so that. owing to the numerous
raises from one level to another, a very
good ventilation Is obtained. On the low
est level a system of haulage ways has
been laid out A horseshoe shaped
double tracked main haulage way runs
into the ore body on one side of the
canyon, swings around and comes out in
the ore on the other side OF the canyon.
The deposit on both sides of the canyon
has been opened up and mined in very
similar manner, go that what is said Of
one holds good in a general way for the
other. Therefore, the manner Of work
ing the western part only will be de-
scribed
AT intervals of $50 feet along the main
haulage way, side drflts (about 6x1 feet
in the clear) have been run off toward
the east and west. The west drifts are
placed staggered with the east In order
TO facilitate putting in the switches, Five
OF these east drives and four OF the west
ones have been run. From the casts and
vests have been driven at intervals of rs
feet series of south drifts. In places
along the first south drift on either side
of the main haulage way. a series of
casts and VESTS has baPn driven be-
tween the main casts and vests, so that
the level Is blocked out into a series of
pillars rs feet square. On the east side
OF the main haulage way, there are six
Of these south drifts, while on the west
side there are four. All Of these drifts
have been run Ski feet In the clear, SO
that the trolley trains can go into any Of