El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-03
MINING NEWS
Noted as a Gold Silver Sec
ton, Other Metals Have
Been Neglected.
CBY EARL J. WILSON,

The famous Black Range of south
western New Mexico, whose summit
is the dividing line between Grant
and Sierra counties, will not alone be
noted for its great production of sill
yer and gold. but will rank among the
cOuntryS greatest producers of zinc
and lead as soon as mining investors
get a good conception of its posi-
bilities-
With the gradual advance of zinc and
the price Of lead firm, with improved
methods Of lead-Zinc separation, and
with decreased yields and imports OF
these ores from Mexico, the large rich
Zinc-lead region paralleling and JUST
off the backbone Of the range on the
west side cannot long remain only q
prospectors field. This region lies 125
miles northwest of FL Paso and 20
miles from Lake Valley on its east and
% miles from Santa Rita on the west
1t is accessible by way Of Lake Val
ley, Sierra county, or Sherman on the
Mimbres, Lake Valley and Santa Rita
being the nearest railroad stations al
so.
This great belt. said to be a con-
finuaIiOn of the Cooks belt 10 miles
southeast runs from DOnahue canon
on the south TO Iron creek, 10 miles
further north, with hardly break
without ore groupings. me DelL lS~a
quarter OF a mile wide in many places.
Its general direction is north, but when
it reaches Silver Greek, II swings east
for a mile and thence north again
While the Birt-Maghee claims in Dona-
hue are valued for copper silver and
lead with little zinc, tbs ores farther
north are valued for their zinc and
lead with the Others secondary
About ten mining groups along the
belt have been attracting attention
for the past 25 years when zinc was
worth little an lead was so low that
it was used al lOst only as a fluX-
In fact two remains Of old smeIters
may be see 10 this day giving eVl-
dence Of their use of the lead as such.
The Oldest is said to have been Oper-
ated by the SpaniardS over 100 years
ago, and the other is known TO have
been erected and operated for the pur-
pose Of smelling stolen silver ores from
King ston, nine miles northeast, and
Georgetown, Is miles west.
PrOspected for Silver.
Much of the belt was prOspected 70
years ago for silver, and it was about
that time that an English company
secured what are now the Grand Cen
trail group and went to considerable
expense in prospecting, surveying and
grading a road from Lake Valley The
general repression following the slump
in the silver market caused them TO
cease operations. D. S Miller of Lake
Valley later became the chief owner
and he opened up the property a great
deal more, finding zinc and lead
abundant
In Carpenter district on the north
end, c. T. Barr and Mitch Gray OF
Kingston, owners of a splendid group
of claims, effected a sale with a Penn
svIvania company and after small
amount of work was done by them the
claims reverted to the original own
ers without machinery and roads the
company could not economically oper-
ate. OOther groups have been under
option or under lease and bond at times
chiefly by promoters, and hence the
region has experienced little real de-
Telopment work in the past
The ore lead is found to be on lime
porphry. contact The contact dips into
the range at an angle of so degrees.
The ore bodies are not al found IN
place and il has not been until re-
Gently that they have been found IN
mace in the Grand Central district
Porphretic intrusions occur along the
contact and apparently cut the con-
tact in many places The general char
acter Of the ore is zinc sulphide with
some carbonate and Smithite, while
lead galena with some lead carbon
ates and oxides are also prominent
The ore carries from eight to 20 ounces
silver with the exception Of the Brit
Maghee claims, which are r1cner IN
silver. Copper is sprinkled throughout
the ore but generally carries no com
merciaI values. The ore bodies average
IS per cent zinc, 10 percent lead and
six dollars in silver in the Grand
Central district, while in the Carpenter
district the average is 20 percent zinc,
Is per cent lead, and o. silver. Much
richer ores are found in favored spots,
and in some cuts zinc predominates
while in others it is lead.
On the zinc lead belt proper, the zinc
and lead are so blended that they can
not economically be sorted for ship