Arizona republican., 1916-07-23

part of an address by MT. Turnbull be-
 The average prospector, small mine
 The average prospector small mine 1 owner or manager, and others interest 1 ed in mining on a small scale, have | usually very vague ideas in regard to the operations of a Smelter. Their | ideas in regard to the values of ore are !! as a rule, based on the gross values If the gross value of the ore, figured on full assay at market prices of metals, is, say $20. and the shelter treatment rates is say $5, one would at first sight expect to get a net of $15, and when, 1 instead, one gets $S or $10, it is natural to feel that there is something wrong, and that all the deductions made by the shelter, which account for the differ ence. cover large hidden profit for the smelter-n fact that one has prac- tically been robbed. If, howevr, one was familiar with how these deduc- tions were arrived at, and had an idea as to what deductions were reasonable and justified, and what ones not, he would be in a better position to see what kind of a deal he was getting, and judge it's fairness for himself. Shelters and the Public
 In answer first to the broad ques- tion; Do present day smelters of cus- tom ores make exorbitant charges or rob the miner? l have no hesitation whatever in answering No" to this question in general. In the great ma 1 jority of cases where charges seem ] excessive there is a good reason back | of them. This is partly due to com petition, and party, in common with other large business due to the fact that in the long run it pays to be reas- | onably honest. In exceptional cases exorbitant charges may be obtained, but eventually they discourage pro- | duction, on which the life of the smell ter depends, and the modern policy is to encourage the producer with fair rates. and so build up a permanent business, in return for the large cap | ital investment required. While not usually guilty of robbery and extortiop 1 smelters are in business to make profit, and endeavor to buy and sell to best advantage. The small miner can hardly expect as good rates as the large steady producer, but by knowing some thing about the business he can often market his ore to better advantage. and get the best contract
 Shelter Profits
 The American Smelling & Refining Co, in 1915, did a volume of business amounting to s225, ,O00, 900 on which their net profit was some $13,OOO 900 or 3 per cent of the turnover Of this. however. nearly $4 100000 was put back in the form of new construction for 1916. 1915 was good year, and the profits do not look very great con- pared with some of the War Baby stocks. The profits were very good. much better than many former years, but hardly look like extortion or rob-
 bery.
 On tonnage of over 4,00O. 900 tons the average net profit was about s2.25 per ton. In British Columbia our smell ters are largely engaged in smelling ores from their own mines, and their total profits are from both mines anC shelter, and the smelting profits arc not separately given in annual reports In the case of the Trail shelter whicr smelts the largest tonnage of custom
 ores in British Columbia, this ton. z mage is from F to 15 per cent of theii total only I happen to know positive ", from my past connection with thii
 smelter that their rates are not ex ] orbitant on custom ores.
 g Having given the smelters a fairl, = good character, l will now take up cer
 tain points in connection with thei I operations and charges in detail. = Settlements in General
 Il theoretically. smelter operates ol the idea that he takes your ore, ex
 tracts the pure metals from it. an,
 hands them back to you, charging yo
 a fair price for the work of doing se In practice this is found to be imnos !, sible however. Each lot of ore canno a be smelted separately, and it's content d kept separate. For economical smelt
 ing an average constant mixture mus e be maintained, so that before the or
 ever sees the furnace it is mixed II s with other ores, and since ores are re
 ceiVed irregularly some are smelte
 quickly and others may be delaye
 
 E some time. in order to keep the furnac
 mixture reasonably constant. A doze
 uiIierent ores may be in the furnac q at once and the metal produced If merely an average. The average losst V can be determined, but no one can te . what the exact loss is on any particl lar one of them. What the smelt,
 does is to put each lot separate
 through the sampling mill and asss
 the sample, determinging the met
 contents by this assay. The losses ca
 only be assumed in each case from u
 average loss on all the ores smelt, together.
 Penalties and Bonuses
 Lead furnace slags can carry abo or per cent zinc without much de rlment. Above this point the zinc h. two bads effects, first it tends to car silver into the slag, and second it ten 10 make the slag infusible and past which results in slow furnace runniu greater slag losses and difficulties running. which add materially to t costs and troubles, of which there a plenty in lead smelling in any ca. and cuts down capacity This rapid gets worse as the zinc gets high, Wlth over l2 to 15 per cent zinc it b comes next to impossible to run f | furnace at all A shelter which ge low zinc ores on the average can sta few lots of high zinc without mn