Mohave County miner., 1910-06-11

| surplus now stands at 4,b9,ZlbS, nav ing been gradually eroded from the stately height of 6,261, ,46Os in 1907, by
 persistence in this policy. We believe
 that il is better practice to face the
 facts, to live within one's income, and
 to keep a surplus we'll guarded during days of stress. However, if the specu- lative public chooses to pay 40S for a stock of 25S par value under the cir cumstances it is no affair of ours. On
 the other hand, it is matter of deep concern to everyone interested in min ing that a great enterprise like Ana conda should be maintained upon a secure footing. In some ways it is the
 premier copper mine of the world; it has superb prospects for the future; its plant is unexcelled: the milling and
 metallurgical operations are conduct ed in a masterly manner, under the direction of Mir. E. P. Mathewson; but | there are difficulties still to be over come, and the company may find need for its resources before improvement in the price of copper shall increase its earning power. The smOke-prob- lem is still before the courts, and the economical way out is not apparent. | While the expenses are not analysed
 in this report, the mining costs are
 known to be high. The most encour- aging feature of the year was the in | crease in metal recovered from 57.6
 pounds per ton in 1908 to 59.7: the im-
 provement, moreover, was not spas
 modic, as shown by the fact that the | product in 1907 was 56.l pounds per ton, which in turn was on approxi- mately the same level as in 1906. The total output for 1909 was 75,S6O, 194 pounds of copper from ,2S2,6Sl tons of ore, and the recovery of precious metals was 2.363, ,lS4 ounces of silver and 7466 of gold. The total of ore from all sources treated in the Ana f conda reduction works was 3,5l7 7,3S6 tons. The gross costs were 9,S20, ,Sg7S, and the cost per ton of ore was 7.65S. The net cost of the copper produced, after crediting gold and silver, was lO.7 cents per pound, the precious metal credit being O cents per pound.
 During 1909 the company suffered en- barrassmenIs from blockades on the railroads cutting off the supply of i coke, and also from a mine fire which put the Anaconda shaft out of commis- sion for many months. This necessi- tated hoisting the ore from the Ana conda workings through tie Never Sweat and St. Lawrence shafts. Among the outside operations of the company are coal mining and lumber ing. the sales of coal from the mines at Belt, Montana, being los, 600 tons out of a total production of l47263 for the year, and the lumber sales reach ed 2, ,S02, 1883 feet out of gross cut of over 24 million. The possibilities of prodl cing acid pho ,phate from the smelter.tume have been extensively studied, without encouraging pros poets of earning profit. The demand for fertilizers in the West is not yet sufficient to consume large quantity, and the long haul to the East places prohibitive freighU-charge against the product. MT. B. B. Thayer, president of the company, calls attention to the difficulty of applying apex rights to determine ownership of ore bodies in Butte. He states that the only solu- tion of these conflicts lies in a consoli- dation of the Butte mines The re- lations of the deposits are such that economical mining cannot be conduct ed in many places upon adjacent prop critics by independent operation, so that vertical side-line agreements do not avail to remove friction and diffi- culty. We heartily endorse his posi- tion in this matter. In conclusion, it | is important to observe that the stock ]. of copper. silver, and gold on hand at the end of 1909 was 5,9S6,964 pounds, |. as compared with 6,l69,245 for 1908, | and that the receipts from sales of |. these metals during the year were H. 59I, ,S45s, while in 1908 the correspond | ing figure was 9,O6O,472S. Considering the increased output for last year this | is an encouraging result.-Mining and . Scientific Press.