The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-11-11


pal value was silver. the copper being
used mainly for a carrier. In 1880 the
Parrot and Colorado mines were maxi
ing argentiferous copper matte, and in
1881 the great Anaconda mine was
Iopened, treating ore at first that aver
Jagged about 30 ounces of silver per ton,
the silver bullion being very base and
containing about half copper. In 1882
lat depth of about 300 feet, the Ana
conda found massive chalcocite in a
Icrosscut and from this find consid-
cradle shipment of so per cent copper
lore was made to Swansea. From
that date copper production increased
rapidly, while the output Of the silver
mines has declined, though Butte be-
came a much larger silver producer
than ever before, owing to the metal
secured as a by-product from the cop
per mines.
The Butte camp is known officially
Jas the Summit Valley district, but
this name is rarely used. The town
is in the heart OF the Rocky noun
tains, and in addition to being the
largest mining camp in the world,
ranking Immediately after Johannes
burg, while II white population only
were counted Butte probably would
lead its South African competitor. In
addition to the city of Butte, with
nearly $4,000 people that have grown
up around the shafts, the copper in
dustry in this camp largely supports
the towns of Great Falls and Anacon-
da, with nearly 10000 people.
Butte & Superior is the largest zinc
producing mine in the world, located
In the extreme northern end Of the
Butte district, in locality which was
said by the know-it-all brand of min
ing engineers several years ago to lie
outside the mineralized zone of the
camp. Butte & Superior has ca
pacity of 115,OOOOO0 pounds of spelter
annually The total zinc production
in this country is about 100000 900
pounds of spelter annually. The pro-
duction from abroad, prior to the out
break of the war and the paralysis of
the big smelters of Belgium and Ger
many, was over half of the worlds
supply. When the war cut off the
spelter production in the zone of hos
tilities 1t had q more direct bearing
on Butte & Superior than upon any
other mine in the world. This ire
mendous turn in the zinc market also
brought out in bold relief the enter
prises Of Senator Clark, the Elm Orlu
mine and the Timber Butte concen-
traitor.
To digress a bit at this point, that
was a funny mistake made by the
writer on the spelter situation con-
nected with the United States geolog-
Zeal survey a year ago, just after the
war began, when he said: "The larg-
est increase (of zinc production) in
sight comes as a result of the appll-
cation of ore flotation concentration
N Montana, but an increase due to
he same cause is to be looked for in
Idaho and possibly in Utah. In Mon
ANA the Butte & Superior mill is now
producing at the rate of $4,000 tons
If zinc year, and the new Pilot
Butte 90 mill, which has just gone
nto operation, should raise the state
output to 10000 tons a year, or it, as
another unit is added to this
Mill the state output may rise to co.
100 tons and more by 1915" The
writer means Timber Butte" instead
II Pilot Butte" of course, Senator
Clark is an unusually far-sighted man
md good fortune usually attends his
'entures. Time was when the outlook
n the spelter market was discourage
ng to all producers except those hav-
ng large bodies Of zinc ores and the |
bility to overcome the refractory |
lements in zincky ores and get a |
lrge recovery. But the success of |
he Butte & Superior was so exem-
larry that attention was drawn to 1
lutte zinc production as favorably as
D that of copper and Senator Clor'
as entered the field of mining and
zinc ore.
Reference has been made to the |,
tinerals Separation process of recov-
ring values. The method is briefly
lis: The ore is agitated in tanks
18th a mixture of red oil in such q
ay that the sulphide particles are
'vered with thin, oily film Heat is
reduced and a certain prportion of