Bisbee daily review., 1916-07-09
GREAT EXPOSED BODY OF COPPER ORE FOUND
 IN C0C0NINO COUNTY
Engineers Claim To Have Found Ground Showing Immense Deposits Of Ex- posed Copper Rock


 States, and probably the largest in
 the world, is located on the White
 Mesa about 120 miles northeast of
 Flagstaff, in Coconino county, accord
 ing to the report of Robert Mitchell. a mining engineer and one of the best known and most successful copper
 smelting experts in Arizona, and Nel- son Douglass, of California, mining
 engineer of national repute.
 T What Oatman is to the gold indus
 try. this promises to be to the copper
 producing industry, only with this
 difference in it's favor: At Oatman the high values in the ore are found at considerable depth, while here rich grade ore is already exposed on the surface.
 Mitchell and Douglass recen.<. re- turned from a six days examination of the property, and state that words can ' scarcely convey the real magnitude of , the copper deposit. This opinion is expressed by Mitchell, in face of the
 fact that he was one of a party of mining engineers who examined the famous deposits on Copper river in Alaska now owned by the Guggenheim ! interests and which the United States Geological Survey pronounced the | greatest copper deposit ever discov- cred.
 He describes this Arizona deposit as being unique and from the descrip- ton. that seems to be the proper | word. as there has been no other de posit yet discovered which can bc compared to this, not only in magni- i tude but in the character of the de posit itself and he places it in class entirely by itself.
 | Appearances indicate that, some time in the remote past there was ! veritable mountain of copper there and nature has eroded it and leached out the metal and impregnated the underlying sandstone with copper un- til. at the present time there are not only thousands, but hundreds of thousands of tons of this material varying from five to 40 per cent in copper. mixed in with the loose sand formation of the Mesa.
 He says that with an ordinary plas- terers sand screen one could screen these copper laden sandstones, pay freight to the railroad, ship to smelter and make big, or what ever me might name them, wages. While most of the nuggets vary in size from chestnut or Q hickory nut to 10 Dounds or more, a few of them are found weighing from three to five tons each. assaying from 25 to 4O per cent in copper. number of shafts have been sunk on the property which demonstrates that the teaching process spoken or has carried the copper far down os- meath the surface-how far cannot no determined. but the copper values increase with every foot Of depth at- 1 tained. ,,,
 What extensive development will accomplish with depth, Michel says he would not undertake to predict but from a study of the formation and the results obtained from the surface teaching process, he says II cannot fail to prove more remarkable even than conditions found on the surface. Has the copper been precipitated at some depth and formed deposit of pure or nearly pure copper? UT is there is subterranean lake or pa sin somewhere in the bowels of the earth. where this. copper Is stlll hela in a solution and only awaits precl pitation. to be placed on the market
 These are questions which suggest themselves to one making study ol conditions as far as exposed by na- ture and the sinking of these shafts, | tvrff answer at present
 If the question were asked, no" much of this material is already eN- posed and in sight-developed Dy ha' ture. during the ages of. tune, tle answer might lot Ee given In dennlte terms. nor even approximately lh snecided tonnage, but it could be ans Tered by the statement that there Is anouch to keep a teaching plant sliii liar to the one operating HOW a' AJo :, ,,naration for several years on the tower grade of ore, and to keep smelting plant in operation on the hipber grade of ore for almost a. 1oual per,1d. the respective grades oi ,re varying from five to forty per cent in the rad metal.
 Mitchell says: Tt is my belel that
 
 these copper bearing solutions nave continued downward for the most part | until the underlying limestone ms been reached, and at this point ue real mine will be found m larse hodies of replaced ore in the lime.
 "From the dip of the sandstone and underlying limestone 1t appears that the area in which these copper ores are found is in form of a natural | basin and I should not be surprised that drilling operations will demon strate the existence of natural lake or basin of copper ore pr copper pear | ing solutions" .'The isolation of the property anu the absence of any practical method of working the ores has been the cause of delay in its development III The mast. but it is my belief that within a few months, enough ore can he ploven at depth to warrant build ing a railroad to the property. Another unique feature about 'his nroperty is that while it is surround I cd by mineral bearing ground none of if is subject to location, on account of being within the limits oi the Nav aio Indian reservation. The claims
 T.