El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-24

TR HE mining districts and camps Of
New Mexico are all rapidly fol-
= lowing the lead of those of Ari-
iona and really wonderful improve
ments and developments have been
made in that state the past year, espe-
ciaIly in the western part
Great Chino Mines and Mills.
The Chino mine easily has led all
others in the state of New Mexico IN
DEVELOPMENT and Improvements. In
deed no mine owner in Arizona can
excel its record the past year. ms
property constitutes one of the largest
and richest porphyry copper properties
in the United States ..,
eraI extensive groups of copper mlnlhs5
claims (144 claims) at Santa RITA Grant
county, New Mexico, % mAes noI -
of Deming. Except the copper depoSits
of Michigan, the Santa Rlta Is Ihe
earliest known copper producing as
trict in the United tates. Up 10 lyOV
ii is estimated to have produced SlS'-
GcG GOO in copper. Three years ago the
Chino Copper company ACQUIRED oIo
principal mining properties in the S 9ea9
ia Rita basin and now controls va
acres, and a total acreage OF all AlliuS
of lands of 2S03 acres
Chino Copper Ore Deposit.
This occurs in the form of morse
shoe of mineraliZed quartz olorlte poIrr
Dbvrv containing a great variety sHL
conner minerals; c alcoclte and natlNe
conner however, predOmlnatlnS- tdch
seams of native copper permedte thS
entire mineraliZed zone The olsseHi-
inatfon of the ore body is not so uni
form a & in some of the Arizona proper
ties above mentioned. the average
thickness of the ore body Is ITO teet
capped by an overburden averaging %
Prospecting by Churn Drills
The ore deposit has been prosDected
by churn drilling. In this manner
54.97O,646 tons of copper ore nave peea
blocked out averaging 80 per cent
copper per short ton. 46i. drill holeS,
aggregating a total of $4,000 feet OF
dTiiiing had been completed the past
year.
At least so percent of the Chino
ore $4,000 600 tons, can be mined by
steam shovels- Stripping operations
are several years in advance OF the mill
requirements. Other great ore DodleS
are known to exist for future under
ground mining. Sis steam shoVelS ana
mine locomotives are employed, Two
more being ordered.
The total quantity of material re
moved by steam shovels up to the first
of the year was 1000, 600 cubic yards, OF
which 100000 yards was waste ana
800. 600 yards was oXidiZed ore. the aV-
erage cost of steam ShoVel1ng was SI-oS
cents per cubic yard or Is cents per ton
Stripping and ore handled amounts 10
100000 cubic yards per month at
cost of IS cents per cubic yard
5000 Ton MIL at Hurley.
The big Chino power plant, mill ami
machine. shops are at Hurley, New Mex
leo. nine and half miles by rail from
the Chino mines From there 1t is con-
nected by its own railroad with the
Santa Fe railroad three miles distant
At present the plant is a 4,OOO-ton con-
contractor. but when the fifth section Is
completed the capacity will be 5000
tons per day.
The first section of the mill was COM
pleted October 1911; the second section
last December; the third last April; the
fourth in June; and the fifth section
will be completed in September next.
The capacity of each section is 1000
tons per day. The yield of copper per
ton of ore treated was twenty-four and
a half pounds. The cost of producing
copper in January was eight cents per
pound. In February the cost was only
seven and a half cents per pound. The
concentrates are shipped drom 200 to
go tons per day) to the FL Paso smelter
and are treated in the new copper ad-