The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-07-11
Colonel Kennan De-
scribes Find on
Pony Gulch
|, HIGH GRADE SCHEELITE
Coeur d. Alene Ore Com
mands Premium Field
for Prospecting

nan came up from Spokane
Tuesday and went at once to
Pony gulch where he recently
made an important discovery of tung-
stem. So many inaccurate statements
have been made regarding this find
that Colonel Kennan, who is an ex-
pert on ores of tungsten and their
manner of occurrence, was asked to
make a statement regarding it and
tungsten ores in general. Colonel Ken
ran said:
Tungsten Unknown to Miners.
Tungsten ore scarcely came into
commercial Importance until about the
year 1900; and although the tungsten
quantity in all the gold veins of the
north side which were mined to any
extent the gold miners did not recog-
nize it, did not know what it was, in
considered it an abundant nuisance,
as it frequently 'scraped' their ANAL
gam plates carrying off the quick
silver, amalgam, gold and all along
with the tailings into the creek, there
by causing large losses in gold mill
ing. All the mills in the district were
seriously hampered in their operations
by scheelite, scraping' the plates this
showing conclusively that schee-
lite is widely distributed in the gold
veins of the northe side.
Scheelite in Golden Chest.
1.-THE mine muckers took pains to
cob out some of the coarse pieces of
scheelite and throw them in the waste
slopes; but as scheelte occurs right
in the gold ore, it was hard to separate
II by hand picking, as most often the
pieces containing scheelite would also
be rich in gold. Yet at several of the
mines, notably at the Golden Chest,
after the rise in the price of scheelite,
the old dumps and slopes were par
TALLY worked over and long -ago dis
carded scheelite picked up and ship
pc to market. The Golden Chest ship
ped about 100000 worth thus obtain
ed. A rich zone Of scheelite occurred
in the 'Klondike Shoot about 900 feet
long of this mine from which it Is
estimated that at present prices about
1,O0O, 900 worth of scheelite was
mined and wasted by the early oper-
ators. This shoot was also rich in
gold But the curious fact is here
noted that the scheelite itself does not
carry gold, the gold being in the
quartz and associated iron minerals.
Tungsten Minerals.
"Scheelite is the richest and most
valuable mineral of tungsten. When
pure it runs S06 tungstic trioxide, and
the scheelite from the Coeur d'Alene
district is the purest and freest from
deleterious substances yet found.
premium of $40 per unit has been paid
over current prices for this scheelite
On account of it's extreme purity.
There are four commercial minerals
Of tungsten-scheelite ferberite, hueb'
nerite and wolframite. The three lat
tungsten, containing iron and man
ganese in varying amounts and rang
ing in color from dark reddish brown
to black; while scheelite, the light
colored tungsten mineral, is a calcium
tangstate and may be any light color
even snow white. but 1t Is most usually
found cream color. as in the Coeul
d'Alenes.
Occurrence.
1.-The manner Of occurrence of tung-
stem minerals is quite peculiar, type
of occurrence all their own. They have
not been found to occur in large soli6
bodies of mineral, as iron minerals
for instance, occur; nor yet have the!
been found to occur as evenly distrip'
uted in connection with vein or de-
posit as gold, silver and copper They
may be found in any rock formation
but are primary minerals and originate
at depths in the igneous complex
They are not infrequently encountered
impregnating igneous rocks in a lis
sured or shattered zone, as ferberlt'
Is found in Colorado. Or they ma!
occur alone or associated with othe
minerals in veins or deposits. The.
occur in zones Of scattered disconnect
ed pieces or deposits, as bunches
pockets, chunks, kidneys, veinlets
chimneys, lenses and stringers.
Cood Eield for prospectjnu,
''The Coeur d'Alene district ha
never been prospected for tungstel
minerals, all the scheelite so far foun'
having been encountered incidental!