The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1907-07-27
STAMPING SILvER-lEAD ORE
MANY Dumps of Low Grade Stuff
Would Pay 70 Run Through
a Stamp Mill

n. P. Gordon, a prominent mining
nan at HALEY, Idaho. contributes the
,.Ilowipe article to the Los Angeles
u;ning Review, which we believe will
:, rsad with interest by the miners Of
Eureka district.
The Croesus mine near HALEY has a
large vein OF so-called gold ore. Some
here below the 400 foot level a silver
Lad vein was encountered. dipping in
a. o~nnosite direction from the gold
cain At about the 600 foot level these
two veins crossed. each continuing on
ne course as far as the 800. at prent the
lox est level, with good ore still in the
bottom.
The gold ore mills from q up in gold
and carries from 4 to @ per cen sui
phides.
The mine. for some reason. ha1 been
idle for SIX years until October. 1906.
when il was re-opened. The mill has
Tan stamps with ~ feet OF plates. and
two Whitley tables. They failed to ave
the gold. As a last extremity. l was
sent for, though / was not quite aware
NJ what / was going mp againt. "
The gold ore proved amenable to treat
ment without much difficulty. In the
meantime. however. the silver.lead
vein had developed into a bonanzi, the
mine making regular shipments of first.
class ore 10 the smelter. After sorting
ont the shipping ore there was left a
GOOD deal Of second and third class
stuff in the drifts. slopes and on the
dumps which, unless treated. would be
dead money" so to speak. for years.
The manager, Mr.. s. L. Rigg. suggest.
ed that this be cleaned mp and that we
run 1t through the mill for the cou-
centrates.
Everyone here who was familiar with
silyer.lead ores land this is a silver
lead camp said we would have to use
jgs; that the stamps would cause the
lead to slime 50 badly that we would
loss half Of il, etc. AS it vas my first
experience in milling silver.lead ores. l
began to think this might prove my
Waterloo; but | had milled gold ores
which had slimed pretty badly and had
learned a trick or two about slime IS. IL
woull make this article too long TO goin-
to details about how / set the discharge,
amour. Of ate used. the manipulate
ing OF the Whitley table. etc, which
was necessarily all somewhat different
from milling gold ores.
Suffice to say. we are milling 40 tons
In "a hours, saving four o n OF coDcen-
trates. and losing one and one-half per
cent Of lead and a little gold which
OCCURS in some spar. The tables
classify 10 a great extent. and save
lead, iron. copper. spar and gold. beside
which We a v quite a percentage Of
free gold on the plates. Strange to
say. there is no fouling Of the mercury
on the plates oy the ieao.
This was an experiment. and it turn
cd out so we'll and is so profitable that
we have continued to run on the lead
ores. A great deal Of waste. which un-
avoidably gets mixed with the ore
when blasting. goes into the mill.
This raises the question. ia my mind.
how many dumps of low-grade stuff
are there in the old and new mining
camps Of Nevada. and other silver-lead
States, which would pay well to run
through a stamp-mill.
This may sound n little boastful to
jig men and others. but permit me to
say to all those who doubt thai. IL they
will come here. we will show them.