Weekly journal-miner., 1918-08-14
USING DIAMOND DR|[LS|NMAYER
 DISTRICT
INTERESTING AND UP-TO- DATE WORK IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED; MOD- ERN METHOD IS PRO- DUCTIVE OF RESULTS.
(By F. w. Bower)

tercsting work Is being accomplish cd in the Blue Bell and Binghamton mines in the Mayer district through 1 the use of the diamond drill in ex- ploration for new bodies of ore. The prevailing schist formation in which | the orc occurs in vertical or near
 vertical and the ore itself is found in ! lenses which conform to the angle of
 the formation. In the flat porphyry
 deposits of copper ore, the prospect | ing with drills IS done with perpen- i dicular holes while in the schist
 mincralizcd zones in this Mayer dis trict, the holes are all run horizontally
 which cut across the formation east
 and west, the work being done in a
 deep level of the mine.
 The Arizona Binghamton company ! leads in the amount of diamond drill
 ing done thus far in this district. The work is being done by the Cannon Brothers Exploration company, for
 merly of Butte. F. c. Cannon mana ges the work at the Binghamton
 mine and brother Fred has num-
 Der of contracts in the Oatman dis trict
 A government permit is now neces-
 sary before diamonds can be purchas- ed. The buyer must satisfy the gov ernment that the stones arc to be
 used for the purpose of drilling in the United States Since a great deal de- bends upon the quality of the stones, the Cannon Brothers usually make
 .t of I,o,,anIc from, l. lotments sent from the east to bank
 where the selections are made. For
 merly. black diamonds weighing one and a quarter carats were used m
 the bit, six to the set. It has been found that diamond chips" about l2
 to the set, do better work. The dia- monds in drill set are worth about
 Sl,000, the cost of the black diamonds being about the same as the brilliant
 \ bit will drill from 40 to 60 feet without being reset. The cost per foot for diamond wear is about 50
 cents. The cost per foot of drilling is from S250 to $500 it being ncces-
 sary to employ two men, the runner
 and the helper. The runner receives 5000 per day and must be eXpericnc- cd in the use of diamonds in drilling. The kind of drill machine used in thc Binghamton is known as the Sul- livan Type F. which is small single cylinder machine using one and a quarter inch bit. The core is seven cights inch in size and the length of the core is , feet. The holes in both
 the Blue Bell and the Binghamton
 are run from 100 to 200 feet in
 length and are not spaced any rcgu- lar distance but are usually around
 100 to l50 feet apart One S-hour shift can drill about Is feet of hole. As m@h air is used to run the diamond drnl as is required for two Leyners and as much water as for one Leyner.
 A total of 7,000 feet has been drill ed at the Binghamton cut up into 45 holes. It is the plan of the company to do twice as much drilling in the
 next few months The Blue Bell work amounts to B holes from 100 to 200 feet long and abut l20 feet apart. Most of the drilling in the Blue Bell has been done on the S00-foot level while in the Binghamton. several lev els have been exploited The average core recovery is 100 pr cent in the quartz and ore formation and about S5 per cent in the softer schist.
 The main object of diamond drill ing in this fashion in the Mayer dis trict, is to discover unknown bodies of ore which are supposed to exist in a mineralized zone. The core shows the formation through which it passes and both the drillings and the core can be assayed to show the value of the findings. Cost is about one-quartcr that of running tunnels. After a level has been diamond drilled the net results can be summed up |