Arizona republican., 1917-06-17
BY r. w. Bower

one of the least advertised and yet
one of the most promising mining sec
tons of the state is in the vicinity of
Mayer, in Yavapai county 1t is sit
uated Immediately south of the big
mines at Jerome. the distance being
about sixteen miles. The formation is
practically the same as that of Jerome
and the character of the ore is the
same and in one mine at least, a grade
of copper ore is being developed which
will rival the famous United Verde
mine. What the camp needs is honest
publicity to bring it to the front
Mayer is one of the old camps of
Arizona 1t is named after the late
Joe Mayer, who settled on Big Bug
creek in the early days of the terri
tory. The estate owns the Mayer
townsite which has become valuable
due to the recent development of the
surrounding mining district 1t is un-
derstood that deal is now pending
with eastern people for the purchase
of the tOwnsite for a large sum. The
Mayer estate also owns several min
ing properties near town. Mayer is on
the Prescott and Eastern railroad and
is the center of a rich mining section
twenty miles square. A bank has re-
Gently been established in the town
and a hospital is soon to be built.
Twenty five Producers at Mayer
There are from 20 to % producing
mines in the Mayer district with an
individual daily 10 no oi+1- of fro,,o 20
so tons. The Blue Bell and the De-
Soto mines, owned and operated by
the Consolidated Arizona Smelling
company, lead in the production. These
are old properties which have been in
course of development for some time.
The Blue Bell outputs $50 tons a day
which comes principally from the soc
800 and 1000 levels The ore is
chalcopyrite and pyrite which is
broken from three separate ore shoots
ranging from / to 40 feet in width. The.
shaft is to be sunk to the 100 and
possibly the 1900 right away at which
levels drifts will be run to determine
the extent of the ore bodies above
The mine has over $500 feet of develop
ment and something like 100000 tons of
ore developed
The DeSOto mine is located three
miles south of the Blue Bell. 1t has
2000 feet of development and an ore
reserve of more than 100000 tons. It
is producing $50 tons daily The ore
from these two mines is shipped to the
companys own plants at Humboldt
where the high grade is sheltered and
the lower grade treated by the flota-
ton process.
Flotation Saves 20 Per Cent
In report of the company the gen.
eral manager. G. NJ. Colvocoresses,
states that. an increased saving of 20
per cent has been obtained in the flo
tatiOn mill against the old concentra-
ton methods. The cost per ton is a
little above $1.OO. The president of the
company, Chas. A. Kittle. states that
in a little over two years the company
has been able to accomplish the fol-
lowing: has paid off 100000 of float
ing Indebtedness; has spent 100000 on
improvements and extensions to the
plant; has accumulated a working
capital Of more than 100000; has
changed a deficit of $685. 900 to a sur
plus of s565,000; has paid s44.250 in
terest on the company's outstanding
bonds for the year 1916; has increased
the ore reserves from 10000 tons to
over 100000 tons and has increased
the production of copper from 500. 900
pounds to 100000 pounds per month,
as at present.
The company next to the Consolidat-
ed-Arizona in tonnage is the Big Ledge
company which owns the Henrietta
Butternut and Sterling mines four
miles northwest of Mayer. These are
also old properties from which con-
siderable ore has been shipped in the
past. The present owners have been
pursuing a thorough system of de-
velopment which has proven very sat-
isfactory The ore is sent to the