Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1919-12-20
From the Nevada Mining Press.

company to build reverberatory
furnace to replace the two blast fur
naces that now constitute its smelling
plant at Thompson, if consumated,
will be of great benefit to mining
camps in the west central part of the
state; and to eastern California mines,
if the freight rates that have been re-
auested of the Southern Pacific and
Wstern Pacific are granted.
Hitherto in its operations the
Thompson smelter has of necessity
drawn upon a certain class OF ores
that are suitable fort reatment in the
blast furnaces; and because of its
limitations, the company has been un-
able to buy custom ores as they might
be offered. The bulk of ores smelt-
ed have come from the copper mines
of Mason Valley. With depth the
oxidized and carbonated ores of that
section have been replaced by sui
phides of low grades but occurring
in large deposits. 1t has been found
more profitable to concentrate the
sulphide ores. Concentrates cannot
be successfully smelted in blast furn-
aces, and to secure this product it is
necessary to install a reverberatory
furnace.
At present the principal copper flo
tation mills from which the smelter
may draw a supply are those of the
Engels Copper company and the
Walker mine in Plumas county, east
ern California, both tributary to the
Western Pacific railroad, and the mill
of the Bluestone Mining & Smelling
company in Mason Valley. Freight
rates are based upon the value of the
product, and as the product of these
flotation mills contain from Is to 80
per cent copper metal, the rates are
proportionately high. 1t is to the
interest of the producer, therefore, to
smelt his concentrates as near the
point of production as possible.
The first unit of the Bluestone flo
tation mill was put III operation about
December l, 1918. 1t has been in con-
slant operation since, treating $50
tons of ore per day, and has been en-
larged to treat 800 tons. In reply to
a request for information concerning
the mine and mill, Mr.. Summerhays,
geeral manager writes as follows:
"The Bluestone mine now contains
from 100000 to 100000 tons of ore
of concentrating grade with copper
from 16 cents up. The present mill
equipment on the property, as soon as
our new mill comes, will have ca
pacity of 800 tons per day, and it is
proposed to mine and treat this
quantity as soon as possible.
"The present mill has treated about
$50 tons daily very satisfactorily
with an extraction oil about 81 per
cent The new mill expctd to in
crease this extraction to about 90 per
cent. The ratio of concentration is
nearly sixteen to one, giving con-
centrate running from Is to 26 per
cent in copper.
These concentrates are at the
present time shippedt Garfield, Utah
to the Garfield Smelling company for
smelling and refining. Should the
Thompson equip itself for handling
thes concentrates there will undoubt-
edly be greater margin OF profit by
having these concentrates treated
there.
The total number of employees is
expected to be about $50 men,"
An attempt to consolidate the Ma
on Valley, Nevada Douglas Consoli.
lated and the Bluestone mines, the
smelter and the Copper Belt railroad
into one company and under one man
agement was made recently but failed
of contamination. The smelter is at
Thompson, mile or more from the
town of Wabuska, on the Hazen- Nina
branch of the Southern Pacific. The
mines are in Mason Valley. from Is
to 20 miles from the smelter Ore is
transported by the Copper Belt, a
standard guage railroad that was
built by the Nevada Douglas. While
the proposed merger was not accom-.
plished, the thorough sampling of the
mines and estimates of the tonnage o1
ore available resulted in much good
The reports Of the engineers showed
considerably over one million tons O