The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-03-21
RARE METALS IN IDAHO
NEEDED BY GOVERNMENT
QUICKSILVER, TUNGSTEN, MAN.
GANESE, ANTHONY AND
COBALT.

tungsten, nOIyDueIllte, Hichci, tilL oh-
timony and quicksilver, says Robert
N. Bell, state mine inspector, in his
report for 1917.
A small production of tungsten con-
centrates was made from the proper
ty of the Idaho Tungsten company at
Pattison creek in Lemhi county For
the first time In the history of the
state small production. amounting to
five TASKS OF quicksilver was made
from Idaho ore by the Fern Quick
silver Mining company, situated In
Idaho county, about Is miles southeast
Of Yellow Pine postoffice and about a
mile north Of the old Thunder noun
tain wagon road where 1t crosses the
Monumental creek summit. This Is a
new discovery, made less than two
years ago and Is the result of the eff
forts of the veteran prospector of that
region, A. T.. VanMeter. 1t consists
of zone Of highly altered quartzose
gongue at contact with a blue lime
stone formation, which is probably a
remnant pendent of ancient sediment
airy formation, as the surrounding re-
glon Is noted for igneous rock expos
ures and granite formations.
The deposit Is said to carry from
to 2 per cent mercury in the form of
cinnabar across width of 80 feet,
and includes several lenzy shoots as
much as six feet thick that average
to per cent mercury. The property
was equipped during the summer with
small Johnson Mckay 12-cell retort
furnace, capable of treating IL tons in
"a hours, which was installed at cost
of $4,000 at the mine. The plant was
finished late in the fall and a test run
Of five tons made from which FIVE
TASKS Of quicksilver were produced
and shipped to the San Francisco mar
ket where 1t was sold for 500 per
flask. The furnace was handled with
out previous experience by it's opera
tors. one of whom has gone to Cali
fornia to study the subject of mercury
ore treatment and in the meantime a
small crew Is pushing development on
the deposit with a view to putting it
In shape for continued operation dur
Ing the coming summer.
This interesting mercury bearing
contact Is traceable across the noun
tains for several miles, extending to
Sugar creek, where the Pringle- Smith
mercury deposit occurs under very
similar conditions, and exhibits sur
face outcrops of cinnabar strngers
that 1t Is believed will safely average
20 pounds of quicksilver per ton across
a width of 20 feet. The debris on the
steep mountain side below these out
crops is literally sprinkled with fine
cinnabar sand and 1t is not unlikely
that other discoveries will be made in
this region of commercial Importance
In this desirable liquid metal, which is
Ia big demand in the manufacture Of
fulmanlte cap mixtures, now in such
world.
Anthony Mine.
In the same region, at Yellow basin,
some splendid deposits of clean stib-
mite, or antimony sulphide, have been
developed and consist of a banded vein
In soft granite formation that Is ten
feet wide and is said to include an ag-
gregate Of fully five feet of clean so
per cent ore bands. Unfortunately for
the marketing of this mineral, 1t has
to be transported over a rough noun
tain country by wagon 60 miles to the
nearest railway shipping point to Cas-
cade, In Long Valley, but negotiations
are now in progress for the nstalla-
ton OF a plant to concentrate this ore
on the ground by sublmating fur
mace.
Cobalt Ore.
Another new mineral resource that
Is likely to be added to the Idaho list
In metals during the coming year
should result from the operations of
The Haynes-Stellite company Of Ko-
komo, Ind, who have acquired the be-
liel group of cobalt sulphide claims in
the Blackbird copper district in Lemhi
county.
The enterprise is being handled I'M
der the management of well known
Idaho engineer. James Caples, who has
worked considerable force of men in |
the development of the property and
fas recently completed the erection of |
a concentrating mill of 10 stamps ca
pacity and an aerial tramway 500 feet |
long. The mill Is equipped with Will
fey slime tables and other devices, to |
which flotation cells will probably be
added later, and also other methods of
closely concentrating the product to
cobalt oxide for final shipments, as it
IL essential to reduce the wagon
freight charge on the product as low
as possible.
This mill is of an experimental ma
ture and intended to serve in working
out the necessary process for the pro-
per celaning of the mineral for final b
shipment east, and the successful SOL +,
ution of the metallurgy of the ore,
am advised, will result in the erection II
Of a much larger plant as the ore de-
posits on the property are extensive
and promise large tonnage of this
mineral which is now finding .
mute extensive use as an ALLOW and in 6