Weekly journal-miner., 1915-01-06
BIG STRIKE MADE IN
 THE GREAT BELCHER
(From Sundays Daily. )

(trOm SunQay Odlly.)
 What is believed to be one of the most important mineral discoveries in this section for many years has been made on the old Great Belcher property in tk1 Big Bug district.
 Sixty days ago, w. w. Lewis, of Fl Paso took bond on the group of four patented claims and with F. w. Mcconnell, mining engineer, has been engaged in developing the same and testing the ores. The re- suit is that they have opened up a vein 60 feet in width, carrying gold, silver and copper, which crops up for the full length of the four claims, or a known length of 6000 feet. This vein is virtually a deposit, for al- though opened up sixty feet wide, no hanging wall has been encountered.
 What makes the mine particularly valuable is the fact that it is quar- rying proposition, and the ore can not only be mined cheaply but it can be treated inexpensively by means of crushers, concentrators and the oil flotation process. By numer- ous tests at Humboldt where the fa- cilities for such work are ample, Mir. Lewis figures that the ore can be mined and treated at a profit of $ a ton, and there IS enough ore block ed out to run a reduction plant of 1,5OO tons capacity daily for several years. For the present, however, the new company which was incorporat- ed as the Western Gold and Copper Company, will start with unit plant of 15O tons daily capacity.
 MT. Mcconnell, the engineer, iii describing the discovery says: "These four claims were worked some years ago and contain 5000 feet of devel- opment work, about half of which is now accessible and in working condi- ton. It consists of two tunnels, az gregating about 1000 feet in length, both connecting with a shaft about 700 feet deep, cross-cuts, winzes and an upraise connecting the lower and upper tunnels. This work is on a stringer somewhat greater in rich ness than the principal mass of the de- posit, and was heretofore supposed to be the vein. This stringer is from two to four feet in width. The new owners first turned their attention to the ground opened by the cross-cuts in the lower tunnel and that exposed by the shaft, which was said to be entirely without the vein. They were rewarded by making the discovery that the shaft was in pay rock and that the entire ground exposed by the cross-cuts was pay ore for its full length, much of it being equal in value to that in the tunnel.
 "On one of the claims there is a very large and prominent cropping, heretofore called the Big Blowout and supposed to be off the vein and valueless Sampling and assayins has proven that all of it is ore, and much of it pay rock. This so-called blowout" is near the center of the claims, and apparently the center ot the deposit It is an ideal concen- trating ore, and numerous tests show that recovery of % per cent of the values can be made by concentration and the oil flotation process. In ad- dition to the large body of ore in sight the probable tonnage is sim ply immense" said MT. Mcconnell, and to all appearances another Unit ed Verde has been discovered"
 E. s. Pennebaker of Fl Paso is associated with Mir. Lewis in the en- terprise and D. E. Dawes of Huron is also interested in the property, which lies six miles from Huron by rail and four miles by wagon road. In the near vicinity are the Glad- stone, McCabe and BluebeI mines. In addition to the four patented claims taken under contract from George Domaine, of Humboldt, six more claims have been located and placed in the group. Work is to be started soon on the first unit of the reduction plant.
 
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