Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-06
WILL INSTALL
CONCENTRATING
PLANT TO MINES
ORE is SAID TO BE FREE FROM
REFRACTORY SUBSTANCES
HEADQUARTERS OF COMPANY
ARE IN LOS ANGELES
Property ocated in Jalisco, Where
Labor Is Cheap and Lumber
Lime and Iron Ores for
Fluxine Plentiful
BY CHARLES F. sPILMAN

AmeCa Copper company win AL-iA-N7
in the Ameca district state OF JaIlseo'
Mexico, and offices In Los Angeles
has about consummated plans for the
installation OF a concentrating plant
of 100 tons a day as the first unit OF a
500-ton mill. AT a meeting OF the dl-
rectors of the company held yesterday
in the Los Angeles office, 2OO-2Ol
Union Trust building, James P. Har-
vey, general manager of the mines
was present and discussed with the
other officials the data which nave
been prepared and upon which Will pc
determined the exact process to be
used for the concentration of the ores
Mines Are Novel
In many ways the Magistral
mines are novel, as copper mines CO.
possessing many advantages not en-
joyed by the big producers of the
United States and presenting wonder
full possibilities for the future. For
one thing, these are the only known
bodies of copper sulphides which are
absolutely free from zinc, antimony
and bismuth, giving the operating
company two-fold advantages, name
ly, the usual penalty on these metals
prescribed by the smelters ana max
ing themselves manifest in the ADDED
charge per ton for smelling Will be
avoided; secondly, this class of copper
in the refined product is used for the
manufacture of copper wire ana Is
worth from one-half to one cent per
pound more than ordinary copper.
Cheap Operating Charges
In addition to these advantages,
which can safely be said to add 10
per cent to the value of the ore, the
mines are located in a section of Mex
leo where the wages Of miner is %
cents per day, as against So to 81 in
the copper mines of the west; where
the mountains are heavily wooded and
we'll watered, and where cordwood tor
fuel is furnished at $3.50 cord and
mine timbers and rough lumber are de-
livered at $3.50 per thousand feet;
where lime and iron ores for huXes
are plentiful for smelling; where coke
can be had for $12 ton; where cleo
tric power costs but $50 per horse
power per year, and where everything
that is eaten by man or beast Is raised
within a few miles of the mines and
sold at prices that, to an American,
are ridiculously low.
Officers of Company
H. L. Percy, president of the Magis-
tral-Ameca Copper company. is an
experienced operator of copper mines
and is the organizer of the company
which succeeded the Mexican company
of the same name. Associated with
him as general manager is James P.
Harvey, one of the old-time Butte
mine managers who has spent the
greater part of his life underground in
copper mines. The other directors of
the company are all residents Of Los
Angeles; F. L. Lyon II. N. Manning
ton and George c. B. Robinson. The
company has ample finances with
which to carry on its work and eX-
poets to begin construction of the
first unit of the reduction works in the
near future.
Geology of Mines
The Magistral-Ameca mines are
eight miles from the town of Ameca,
which Is the terminus Of the Ameca
branch of the Guadalajara division Of
the Mexican Central railroad, on an
easterly spur of the main range Of the
Sierra Madre mountains, and the
company expects to secure a spur
track directly to the property. The
ore bodies occur in a wide belt of
porphyry, both walls of which are
diorite. The porphyry belt is approx
hnately one mile in width and is sew
eral miles long. The ore zone in
which the developed ore bodies of the
mines are found is 200 feet in width
and the management has devoted its
attention to three separate veins.
which have been opened and blocked
out to a maximum depth of $50 feet.
The mines embraced in the Magis-
tral-Ameca group were formerly ex-
tensively worked in the carbonate
zone by the natives, the period of
operation extending over a century of
time. The carbonate ores, which oc-
CURED in large deposits, were convert
ed into "maSistral," or sulphate of
copper. The character of the ores
changed to sulphides at a compara-
lively shallow depth, and the natives,
having no means for the reduction of
III 49,. D4@
desist.
Large Reserves of Ore
The present owners have opened the
mine by means of two tunnels and a
vertical shaft. together with drifts,
crosscut raises and wines measuring
1000 lineal feet, and the ores exposed
in veins No. 1 and No. 2 have been
thoroughly sampled The first ore
shoot, which was entered on the
hanging wall side through the main
tunnel, has been developed by drifts
for a distance of 200 feet.
The vein was then proven by means
of a raise to the upper tunnel and by
a winze to vertical depth of 115 feet,
giving a total depth on the dip of the
vein to $50 feet. An average of the
several hundred mine samples taken,
according to Mr.. HarVey's report to
the directors show that the entire mass
of ore in this vein, measuring 35 900
in silver and gold. With copper at 10
cents, which is the accepted basis in
figuring copper values, and allowing
for loss in smelling, treatment charges,
ETC., Mr.. Harvey places the net value
of the ore shoot already developed in
No. 1 vein at $385,000.
$675,ooo in One Shoot
The contents of No. vein, while not
running so high in average value per
ton, is much greater because of the
great size of the ore body, which is
az feet wide and 250 feet in length. The
ore contained in this ground, which has
been blocked out and sampled from the
upper tunnel to a depth of $50 feet, is
found to contain an average of pei
cent copper and $1.50 in gold. Mr.
Harvey places the tonnage at 10000
tons Of a total net value of s675,000
Number vein was encountered l0C
feet beyond the second vein by the