The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-03-12


The New York Mining Age makes &
speciality Of answering questions re.
|, garding the operations of mining com.
panies, and many of its answers indi.
cate that the editor has free access tc
inside sources of Information, or tina,
he Is a guesser who has the faculty OF
framing his answers into the form OF
established facts. But in any event
his replies make good reading and
much Of what he says Of Coeu,
id'Alene properties is known to be true
Following is question and answer
regarding the reported acquisition OF
the Stewart by the Guggenhems:
Wants Light on Ore Contract.
Question: noticed in Mining Age
Of Saturday some remarks on the
Stewart smelling contract with the
American Smelling and Refining com :
pany and on the efforts Of the Gug-
genheims to acquire Stewart. Will
you please give me some more light on
the Stewart smelling contract and ex-
plain more fully just why Stewart
would be so desirable a property for
Federal or "Smelters" to acquire?
What are the Federal's earnings?
/ Real Purpose Of Deal.
! Answer-Federal and Stewart Min
ing now hold the center of the stage
in the Occur d'Alenes through the
rumored efforts Of the Guggenheims to
acquire the Stewart Mining company
from the present Heinze regime. It
Is likely that the Stewart will be
Jumped into Federal, but it is believed
that the main purpose of the Guggen-
helms in acquiring Stewart is to foist
upon the Stewart, Bunker Hill & Sui
Ivan and other mining companies op-
Grating in the Occur d'Alenes the rath.
er onerous Federal smelling contract.
The Stewart contract was entered in
to April I, 1911, and runs for four
years and two months to June /, 1915.
The date Of the expiration of the
Stewart contract June /, 1915, is of
peculiar significance and will be re-
ferred to again shortly
Hercules Is Favored.
AS in all Of the Occur d'Alene prop
critics, with the exception Of the Her.
cules, the Stewart smelling contract
calls for settlement for lead on the
basis Of 80 per cent Of the lead con-
centrates to be paid for at the rate of
80 per cent of the New York market
rate. when said market price for lead
is 4.1Oc per pound or under, the
smelters and mines to divide profits
when the price Of lead is about ALAG
per pound. Stewart pays a treatment
charge Of $7.15 per ton, where Federal
pays So per ton The freight rate is
S. All the Occur d'Aene ores are
treated at the East Helena, Mont,
smelter of the American Smelling and
Refining company. There Is a freight
treatment charge for Hercules. the
privately owned property of President
Day Of the Federal. y
Contract Date Significant.
A peculiar feature of the date of ex-
piry of the Stewart smelling contract.
June l, 1915, lies in this: That every
contract which the American Smelling
and Refining company now has In the
Occur d'Alene district, excepting Fed
eral has been made for a period that
Will bring its expiration on or before
June l 1915. Under that date the pc
riodic five-year revision OF Shelters
with the giant Bunker Hill
comes for decision, and the present
Bunker Hill agreement contains
proviso to the effect that the next FIVE
years settlement with Bunker Hill,
from 1915 to 1920, shall be at the rate
under which majority OF Occur
1Alene ores are then being shipped to
he Smelling company. Bunker Hill ,
s the worlds largest lead producer.
According to the terms Of the Stew
'rt smelling contract the Smelling
reserves the right to extend
he contract for period Of five years !
o 1920, upon the exact terms and con- {
|itions upon which the Smelling COM