The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1918-04-27
COPPER BELT IS
OF GREAT SIZE
MANY BIG COMPANIES ARE OP-
GRATING IN COPPERFIELD
REGION

That the coming summer will wit
ness unprecedented activity in that
great copper mining territory which
begins Immediately north of Reno
and extends t, and beyond the En-
gels mines in Plumas county, CAL,
is proved not only by the fact that
increased forces are working at the
developed mines and prospects, and
that new reduction plants have re-
Gently been finished or are project
ed for the immediate future, but it
is further proved by the fact that
scouts for three big mining corpora
tions-who have hitherto been un-
represented in this section-are now
trying to get a copper proposition
along the belt while the getting is
good.
The aristocrats of the mining and
financial world are already we'll rep
resented-the biggest of all, the An
aconda Copper company, controlling
the Walker mine through a subsidi-
airy company-but the past several
weeks representatives of the Ameri-
can Smelling and Refining company.
a Guggenheim corporation; the
Cranky Consolidated company of
British Columbia, one of the most
prominent of Canadian mining cor
p%orations, as well as the representa-
tive of a powerful London syndi-
cate, have been on the ground study
ing the geological conditions and
investigating investment opportuni-
ties. The Mason Valley Mines COM
pany, of which Colonel William B.
Thompson is the head, has already
landed and is developing a promis-
ing property.
The confidence which these big
fellows have in a copper country of
which little was known until recent
ly is illustrated by the instructions
given by one of them to a %represen-
tative. He said:
1--WE know we cannot buy any
of the mines = they are not for
sale = but get us the best prospect
you can find. We prefer to buy
mines and pay the price, but here
we will buy a good-looking pros
pect and take chances that we can
develop a NINE"
While nothing authoritative has
been given out. it is said that the
representative of the London syndi-
cate above referred to has taken over
a property a few miles north OF
Reno and that work on an extensive
scale will begin in 80 days.
Whether or not it is technically
correct to call it a continuous cop
per belt from Reno to h Engels
mine-a distance of owe rs miles
may possibly be open to argument.
No one, so far as is known, has been
so foolish as to claim that there
was a continuous vein Or vein sys-
tenn for the entire distance, but two
of the best copper miners In the
west who have no axes to grind say
that for all practical purposes 1t
may be considered a continuous
copper belt, with proven mines or
promising prospects at frequent in
tervals along it's course.
One calls attention to the fact
that Peavine mountain, whose south
ern slope is almost within the city
limits of Reno, has a number of
fine prospects, with the best show
ings in the deeper workings; next
comes the Nixon-Nevada, which
shipped a carload of ore during the
week, the better grade of which
will run 40 per cent copper, and
what Is called the second-class ore
averaging 20 per cent copper. with
substantial gold and silver values
in both; the Washoe Copper and the
State Line, also in the Copperfield
district, are developing veins with
h~igh-grade ore; near Ch1lcoot is a
property which one of the most o n
servative mining men of Reno deems
worthy of putting thousands of dol
lars into; Is miles from Doyle is
the Plinco mine. which is being de-
veloped by a mining man h has
spent years in careful study of this
copper belt; out from Portola is the
Walker mine, controlled by the Ana
conda company. which has a shoot of
fine ore from 40 to 70 feet wide
proved for over 1000 feet in length.
Still farther north are the two
mines of the Engels Copper COM
pany. which not only practically paid
for their own development - some