The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-03-06
METAL MARKET REVIEW
COPPER, LEAD AND ZINC
LEAD IN BEST POSITION FROM
STATISTICAL STANDPOINT \
ZINC DULL.

for the week ending February rs, the
Engineering and Mining Journal has
the following comment:
Attitude Of Government.
During the last week there was a
further sharp decline in copper, while
at the same time lead advanced As
we have pointed out repeatedly, lead
is in the best statistical position of
the metals. Zinc was dull and unin-
teresting.
| The war department, under date of
February IS, 1919, published circular
issued by the director of purchase,
storage and traffic, which comprises
the following paragraph: 1T is believ-
ed to be of advantage to the govern
ment in the settlement of any con-
tract to have the contractor retain as
much as possible of the property in
volved provided he will take it at a
fair price. Any property that can not
be disposed of in this way becomes
surplus and should be turned over to
the director of sales for disposal. The
director CT sales is at all times ready
to take over and dispose of such pro-
perty if the contractor will not pay a
fair price for it, and it lis not the pol
icy Of the department to sell property
to contractors who are known to in
tend to market it, or contractors who
take it for speculative purposes and
not for their own use'
Copper.
About the same amount of business
was reported by producers as in the
previous week. the aggregate being a
little more than 100000 pounds, but
there was one lot of 100000 pounds
reported. These figures reflect fully
the character of the market Consum-
ers buy only in small lots and for their
immediate requirements everybody
being averse to making commitments
for more than few days ahead. The
business that is offered in this way is
competed for eagerly, wherefore there
We're sharp cuts in prices, but in the
latter part of the week that tendency
seemed to be checked Last Wednes-
day the market closed at 16c. Thursday
opened with Ice and closed at 15kc.
On Friday considerable business was
done at 15a @15$c. On Monday the
market went lower still. There has
been talk about copper having been
sold at 15c but no sales were made as
low as that by any of the producers,
and we have no direct information of
sales of prompt copper of 15c by any
body Today the market was dull,
with scarcely any business reported.
Copper was freely offered at 15A C
and 15c was reported bid.
Last week representatives of the
war department conferred with the
copper producers respecting the liqui-
dation of the stocks of copper held by
the government. While definite ar
engagements have not yet been scon-
summated, it is probable that the gov
ernment's stocks will drift back into
the hands of the producers. Although
this will not reduce the stocks, it will
remove a certain menace from the
market.
Lead.
The business of this week was the
largest of any week for a long time.
Right from the beginning a strong de-
mand developed from many quarters,
including manufacturers of white lead,
of blue lead products, and miscellane-
Gus consumers, strange to say, one
cartridge maker being among the
number. The sales during the week,
of which we have reports, aggregate
5000 tons The American Smelling &
Refining company advanced it's price
to 5.10c on February 20. The demand
was so strong that other sellers imme-
dately found that they could get bet
ter prices, and during February % the
smelling company advanced again, this
time to 5.25c. Sales have been made at
thdt plICe, Dut not III 50 large uudI1Ul-
ties as cartier. However, the market
closed strong
The office of the director of sales,
war department, makes public the fol-
lowing statement: "A meeting was
held Thursday afternoon in the Office
of the director of sales of the war de-
partment to discuss the lead situation
as affected by government surplus.
During the conference 1t developed |
that the surplus quantity Of lead in |
possession of the war department is |
a very small proportion Of a years |
production. While the governments |
figures are not absolutely correct at |
the moment, 1t developed that on the
basis Of present information the war |
department could not possibly have
more than a few thousand tons to be
disposed of ultimately. This quanti-
ty represents the surplus of lead in
possession Of the war department,
which was allocated by the lead pro-
1ucers' committee at the instruction of
The ordnance department to be used on
'ost-plus contracts. Although the de-
.adls of the arrangement have not yet
been worked out, it lis practically
agreed that some ARRANGEMENT can be