The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1909-10-19
MORE CONCERNING
SHELTER

one WOulu Lnlnk Cnat IN tnese pro-
gressive times that all one has to do
to become rich, or at least independent,
it to find mine. Not necessarily gold,
silver, copper or lead, which are the
standard metals.
Uusally in this part OIL Nevada ores
contain several minerals. Even in
gold-silver ores the values are some
times largely represented by chlorides,
bromides, etc, which cannot be re-
covered by wet concentration. Cyanide
or some other process becomes neces.
sary, and that adds to the cost Of re.
ducing the ores. There are other
troubles. In fact it has been too often
proven that one's troubles really COM
mence with the discovery or purchase
of "mine' He is therefore q wise
prospector who sells the s'prospect"
at reasonable price to anyone willing
to buy--for there are others.
Passing over the worries and ex.
penses of locating, monumenting and
doing the "cinch' work, ore is found
and assays are obtained. If the as
says show values in gold and silver,
work is prosecuted with as much vigcr
as the owners means will allow. Plans
for mill are arranged, often too early,
before the claim has been sufficiently
developed to determine just the kind
of plant required for the economical
reduction of the ores. This is too
frequent mistake. Capitalists of large
means can stand the loss. With others
it frequently means bankruptcy, and
often one such mistake goes far to con-
denim really good camp, by discourag-
ing others.
Humboldt county is dotted over with
many mills, smelters and processes,
idle and going to decay, through the
lacking Judgment of mining engineers
or those who thought they knew more.
Not only these plants, costing many
thousands of dollars, are useless AMI
hardly worth removing, but the mines
and camps feel the blight Of these
mining mistakes.
Five-dollar ore, in quantities, should
and can be made to yield profit. Yet
there are many thousands of tons Of
$40 and better ore on dumps and ex.
posed in mine workings in this county
awaiting some practical method of
treatment. As the Silver State has
said before, the ores of this section are
essentially smelling ores, mostly very
base, but carrying good values in as
says. Therefore to handle such ores
economically they must be smelted, or
treated by some teaching process, not
yet proven. The process must be as
near as possible automatic. The re-
coveries must be as near 100 per cent
as possible and the operation rapid.
The plant should be able to handle
with equal facility every class of ores,
regardless of varying contents, and
save the different values in a CONNER
cial form. With such process in sue
cessful operation and all of the
abandoned or idle mines in Humboldt
county alone again in operation at
their full capacity, using up all the
ores produced, both high and low
grade, it would require more miners
and helpers to operate them than are
now employed in the whole state Of
Nevada
The bullion output would exceed in
value the combined gold output Of
Goldfeld, Tonopah and all southern
Nevada.
Such plant has been discovered
smelter-and negotiations are pending
to build one of the first of the kind in
Nevada at Winnemucca, if it can be
shown that sufficient ores can be OBJ
tanned here.
After looking over the situation and
consulting mine owners along the lines
of the Western Pacific and Southern
Pacific, together with the ores of the
Harmonic on the east, and Winnemuc-
ca mountain on the west, both within
four miles of the proposed smelter
site, there is no doubt that by de-
velopment, one thousand tons of mix
ed ores per day could be delivered to