Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-09
COPPER CREEK
MILL COMPLETE
PLANT TO OPERATE WITH 25O-
TON CAPACITY
WILL START ON RICH ORE NEXT
MONTH
Development Work at Property in Arl-
zona Reveals Vast Body of Cop
per-Smelter Is Proposed
for Region
BY JAMES WYNKOoP,
Mining Editor of The Herald

The concentrating mill of the Cop
per Creek Mining company in the
Bunker Hill district of Arizona has
Just been completed and will he in
operation with 250-ton daily capacity
about September 10. At headquarters
of the company in Los Angeles it is
learned that remarkable progress is be-
ing made in the developments a the
mines, especially on American Eagle
ground.
In statement received from Su-
perintendent X. Roy Sibley, covering
developments for three months, it is
set down that the American Eagle
shaft has been sunk more than 300 feet
and that numerous crossCuts had been
started or completed. In one drift the
main blowout was encountered, re-
Vealing about thirty feet of leached
porphyry. Beyond this about fourteen
feet of milling rock was opened, with
body of very fine solid sulphide along
th1 wall. Assays from this solid sui
phide run from is per cent copper and
S297 in gold to % per cent copper and
S4 in gold.
At present they are crosscutting on
the 300-foot level, under this ore body,
and expect to raise through the high
grade ore to the 2O0-foot level. The
superintendent says that the strike of
this ore will enable them to add enor-
mously to the high grade supply for
the mill. Other development work of
an equally assuring character is re-
ported to have been made and pros
poets for the summer and fall periods
are most encouraging.
Increases Power Equipment
At the power plant increased equip
ment has been installed, including
large boiler in addition, machine
shop, drill press and large electric
generators.
An ice plant is in operation and is
furnishing ice to the camp. During
the period a contract was made for
furnishing all the power for operating
the adjoining property of the Calu-
met and Arizona. The entire camp
has been equipped with electric lights
and, in general, conditions at the camp
have steadily improved during the
quarter until today the company is
at the producing stage,
striking feature of the develop
ment work is the driving of tunnel
to connect the main shaft with the
mill. This tunnel is now more than
two-thirdS completed, being driven
both ways.
With 1t in operation the cost of min
ing viii be greatly reduced and the
work simplifed.
The property of the Copper Creek
Mining company comprises several
groups, embracing over 100 claims in
Graham and PinaI counties. The prop
erty covers a variety of ground, in
Guiding all of the necessary elements
required i'm mining, milling and smelt-
ing operations. Wood is abundant and
water plentiful. The property also in
clides the only favorable camp and
smelter site in the Copper Creek re-
gion. The total area owned by the
company is over 2200 acres.
In The Upper Group
In what is known as the Upper
Group a large amount of underground
development has been made in shafts,
drifts. crosscuts and tunnels.
On the American Eagle group. where
operations are now centered, is one of
the largest surface showings of ore
in the great copper belt of the south
west. The ore outcrops for width
of about sixty feet, being substan-
tial grade of carbonate and oxide ore.
At a depth of forty feet the first pros
pect tunnel was run, crosscutting this
ore body, showing thirty-two feet of
solid ore. the end of the tunnel being
better in values than at the beginning.
Several other tunnels were driven
into the ore body, a large portion of
these workings being in solid milling
and smelling ore. The body developed
shows vertical extent of 200 feet and
a width of about fifty feet.
After this sngularly successful de-
Velopment and realizing this to be one
of the greatest ore bodies in the south
west the management laid out plans
for development work in keeping with
the vast possibilities of production in
dicated.
At distance of 100 feet on one side
of the ore body large working shaft
was started. 1t was in this shaft, at
a depth of 200 feet, that the high grade
ore was recently encountered. This
shaft is being sunk rapidly and will
be prosecuted until a depth of at least
1000 feet has been reached, with levels
opening into ore bodies at intervals
of 100 feet. From the immense size of
the ore body developed in the upper,
middle, lower and first shaft level it
is believed that at depth of 500 feet
this shaft will yield a production of
from 500 to 1000 tons a day
Another important group owned by
this company is that of the lime claims,
embracing practically the only lime