Bisbee daily review., 1908-09-09
RESUMPTION
At CANANEA
AND RESULTS
Labor and Wages, Output of
Mines and the Methods of
Handling Materials-0il for
Fuel Purposes.

The following is taken from the
Mining and Scientific Press and tells
of conditions at Cananea:
With all the mines being operated,
three of the four units OF the concen-
traitor plant running, and four of the
eight new blast-furnaces with two con-
verters and the reyerbatory furnace
In operation, the resumption of work
at Cananea is well under way AT
present the total number of men EN-
pioyed is about 200, of whom 2070 are
Mexieans, and $50 belong to other ma
tionalities, mostly Americans These
men are distributed among the differ
ent departments as follows: mining,
1850; narrow-gauge railroad 150,
concentrator. 240; smelter. 400; me-
chanical construction. 200; with the
remainder in the mercantile. account
ing. and bank departments. and under
the head OF miscellaneous. Wages
Tor all classes of labor are considera-
bly, lower than before the shutdown
in November. In general white men
have been cut so cents per day As a..
Illustration. mechanics formerly re-
ceived s475 for 10 hours. while now
they get s425. and white helpers have
been reduced from $3.50 to So per day.
Mexican labor runs from 81 TO $3.50
gold. governed by the class OF work.
On all outside common labor, where
very little skill is required, such as
shovelins. running cars, and rousta-
bout work. they receive 81 for 10
hours, and the scale varies from that
up to 1925 for the highest paid men
in the mines. with % cents per day
bonus If they work &c days per month.
Aside from this general reduction N
wages the efficiency of each man is
greatly increased: this is due partly to
the more active and progressive tone
in the camp, and partly to the fact
that there is an abundance of labor of
all classes. so that more can be de
manded of the men.
The mines are at present shipping
about 2200 tons of ore, iron, and silica
to the concentration ard smelter per
day. OF this amount 1850 tons is sec
Qnd-class ore sent to the eoncenfrator.
OF first-class ore 4s5 tons are sent
directly to the spreading beds and
200 tons of iron and IS of silica for
fiux and conyertor-lining respective
ly. In addition to this there is some
limerick Tut on to the spreading
beds. the amount depending on the
per cent OF lime already in the mkt
ure. mainly in the EIica and Puer-
tocitos ores.
The Cananea-Duluth mine is prob
ably receiving the greatest amount of
attention Just now, about $50 tons o.
ore being shipped daily. of which 200
tons are being mined and the remain
der taken from the dump Until re
Gently the entire output has been go
ing to the concentration but now ship
ments of frst-class ore directly to
the spreading-beds have been started.
The mine is being worked with two
shifts with about 100 men on a shift.
The system of mining used almost ex-
1cIusiveIy is back-stoping. taking out
100-foot sections The ground holds
well round stulls. supporting the
back as the Slope is carried up, being
the only timbers required except the
regular chute and raise-timbers. The
ore as shipped carrics from 3 TO 4
per cent coDDer, 5 20 6 ounces silver,
and so to so cents gold. The Over
sight mine is producing about SOC tons
per day. both first ana second-class
ore Here the top-slicing system OF
mining is in use, caving the ground
as the slices are carried down The
oEe NOIhSu III cV-AOOt DiOChS- hC
ground is soft and caves easily. The
Veta Grande is producing about 2G5
tons daily. Here the ground is harde.
and is worked in blocks of As by S.
feet by the caving system There are
at present 10 of these blocks of ore
broken, down ready 20 be drawn orr
the thickest of which. from top to Dor
tom. is 165 feet The other two pro
ducing mines are the Elisa and tRt
Puertocitos, the Elisa with under
ground workings. while the Puertoci
tos is an extensive surface orebody
worked in large quarry-faces.
The concentration. which consists o
two mills of two units each, is hand
ling a good tonnage. but is not beint
pushed Ali of the new mill Is run
ming. It has daily capacity of 75i
tons per unit One unit of the on
mill, which has daily capacity o
zoo tons per unit is also running. Tn
ore handled carries from to 5 pc
cent copper. and averages about s.
per cent in silica The ore concer
'trate, iron, and lime are delivered b,
means of narrow-gauge cars into bin
at the sampling min. From these bin