The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-04-18
Make No Profit Un-
der the Grasselli
Contract
DENY ORAL AGREEMENT
Sulphur in Ore a Big Source
of Revenue to Smelling
Company

at noon last Monday This ac
tion was the elimination of ne
gotiations which for many
weeks had been" carried on between
the officers of the Success Mining
company and the Grasselli Chemical
company with the view to modifying
the terms of the contract under which
the zinc product of Success Is shipped
to the Grasselli company These ne
gotations failed, the smelling COM
pany refusing to make any conces-
sions, and the Success directors were
thus confronted with a choice of two
courses, either to continue shipping
under the Grasseli contract and suf-
fer a loss of $64O per ton when zinc
Is Z cents per pound, or to suspend
operations until such time as the pro-
perty can be operated at profit. The
directors chose the latter as the one
that would best serve the interests of
the stockholders. The normal work.
ing force under the present manage
ment is about so men, but this number
has probably been reduced through Ia
Dor shortage, making the actual num-
ber of men laid off about 65 or 70
men. The mine will be kept unwater-
ed down to the 400 level
Verbal Agreement Ignored.
Soon after the present management
took over control of the company,
President Franklin Pfrman went to
Cleveland to confer with the Grasselli
Chemical company with the view to
securing concessions or modification
of the contract which would enable
the company to derive profit from
its zinc shipments. In this he was un-
successful. However, in response to
his request Mr.. Pfrman understood
the representative of the smelling
company with whom he conferred to
consent to the shipment to other
plants if more favorable terms could
be secured. Acting upon this under
standing, the Success company made
zinc shipments to the Western Metals
company, of Salt Lake, receiving
higher price than had been obtained
under the Grasselli contract and
which returned a substantial profit.
Through the representative of the
Grasselli company, who arrived here
few weeks ago to confer with the
Success company. the smelling COM
pany denied that permission had been
given to ship to other smetlers and
demanded that the entire zinc product
be shipped in accordance with the
written contract. Under these cir
cumstances the directors decided to
close down rather than to exhaust the
resources of the mine without
chance for profit.
Government May Be Interested.
1t appears that Success zinc ore
contains about 80 per cent sulphur
and that the Grasselli company util-
ICES this in the manufacture of sui
phuric acid, for which there is an ur-
gent demand on the part of the gov
ernment for war purposes. The min
ing company gets no return for this
sulphur, which is turned to a consid-
erable profit by the smelling company.
This was not contemplated when the
contract was made. The war de-
mand for sulphuric acid has increased
the price and has greatly enhanced
the profit of the Grasselli company in
handling Success ore without giving
the mining company any correspond
| ing benefit In view of the fact that
the government is having difficulty in
securing sufficient sulphuric acid and
is preparing to give direct encourage
ment to the discovery and develop
ment of pyrite mines, the chief source
of sulphuric acid. the directors of the
Success company propose to present
that through the arbitrary action Of
the Grasselli company, the mine has
been forced to suspend and thereby
cutting off an important source of
government badly needs it.
Statement From Officers.
For the information of stockholders
the officers and directors of the Sue
cess Mining company have issued the
following letter:
wallace, Idaho, April Is, 1918.
ITO the Stockholders:
when our report of March IA, 1918
was made to you, shipments of zinc
ore were being made Gas we under
stood with the consent of the Gras-