Gilpin observer., 1909-07-01
Discusses eIIpIn County.

dividends most regularly is one that
carries an abundance Of ore worth
from IS to 500 per ton. High grade
mineral containing from 500 to $500
per ton is exceptional, yet there are
many mines in our state that produce
these rare values occasionally, says
General Frank Hall in the Denver
Post A few pounds at time, but
seldom in large tonages. 1t is upon
the contents of low and medium
grades that the bulk Of mining divi-
dends are paid, as the result of eco
nomical and thoroughly we'll directed
management from start to finish.
The miners of Gilpin county claim
and with justice-that there are as
many cases of what may be termed
phenomenal returns in that section
as are met with in Cripple Creek or
any other division of the state, and
that the major part of the ores mar
keted from Gilpin county mines Is
equal to the best averages shown by
any other part Of the field. The re-
cord of the years confirms this view.
In talking with a Gilpin county
mine operator yesterday, he said:
1T has been demonstrated by recent
shipments of ore that the values
which governed at the surface of the
veins are maintained in the depths,
and furthermore that the veins ex.
tend to the lowest points yet pene-
trated. Take for example the yelling
ton No. 6 of the King Bee combina-
tion, where, at a depth of 100 feet,
ore was recently extracted that ran
as high. as $1,2sS per ton, and the
manager Is now shipping material to
market that contains as high as $500
per ton. Again, below the level of
the Newhouse tunnel on the yelling.
ton No. 6 lateral a winze has been
sunk to depth of eighty feet, and
the showing in this winze is quite
favorable as the shipments already
forwarded.
The King Bee company has, accord
ing to my informant, a large number
OF veins exposed in the big tunnel
that will be taken up and developed
at an early date. On the Gilpin coun-
ty side at the surface, the Iron Duke
has vertical shaft 500 feet in depth
whence crosscut has intersected a
vein fifteen feet wide, the values of
the ore in this great breadth ranging
between 81 and s64 per ton. This in
stance is cited merely to indicate
what may be expected when the
operators advance further with their
lines of development.
Branching off to another subject
which is exciting much interested at
tention, my informant stated that
Percy Alsdorf, the local assayer and
metallurgist, who has for six months
or more been carrying on a line of
experiments looking to the success
full cyanidation of Gilpin county sulp-
hide ores, has worked out the prob
lem at last and is now making demon
strations of its feasibility. His re-
cent work has proven that he can
cyanide such ores in ten-ton lots,
and he is ready to guarantee that in
fifty-ton mill the cost will not ex.
ceed S1.25 per ton. The laboratory
work has been superseded by actual
milling tests of ten.ton lots in the
Black Hawk mill Of the Fifty Gold
Mines corporation where Mr.. Alsdorf
is now operating, SO that the public
may see what he is accomplishing
from day to day. The result of his
demonstration means that 80 per cent
of the Gilpin county sulphide ores
that do not carry above 2Ia per cent
copper can be handled by this
method. and recovery OF from SO
to So per cent made. Alsdorf sells
the iron by-product of his process to
the smelters for flux, after the
gold and silver have been extracted.
His recovery of silver is from S5 to
80 percent.
l am all the more inclined to cred
1t the statement foregoing because
OF my personal knowledge Of his skill
and thoroughness. Assuring that the
good results already obtained will fol-
low operations on much larger than
ten-ton lots, it will be seen that the
Alsdorf process will, when operated
on large scale, be of very great
benefit to the ore producers of Gilpin
county in the saving of values above
what they are now getting and also
in transportation and treatment
There are several other districts in
the state to which the same method