The Arizona copper camp., 1920-03-13

that time this peculiar mineral has
been found at various places in the
Tramway and Mt. View. 1t has been
called colusite, bronze tetrahedite and
also stannite. But what is in a name?
Read what the assayer had to say
about this sample from the Mt. View
mine: Sulphur, 29.2 per cent; arsenic,
8.4 per cent; -antimony, O6 per cent;
zinc, 0.9 per cent; tin, 5.8 per cent;
tellurium, 0.4 per cent; silver, SIS
ounces; gold, $3.50, and bismuth, a
trace. Boarding house hash is chemi-
cally pure when compared with this
conglomeration.
Tungsten, an element which has re-
ceived wide advertisement in recent
years, is not a stranger in the Butte
district. The bladed crystals of hue
bernite, a mixture of manganese and
tungsten, have been found in the Gag
non, at the Tramway mine in associa-
tion with the peculiar tin mineral Just
described, and elsewhere. From care
full concentration on the Whitley ta-
bles in the mill at Great Falls of the
very heavy minerals in the ores, it
has been decided that wolframite ex-
lists in small amounts This mineral
contains tungsten, manganese and
iron in varying proportions. Tung-
stem finds it's value as filaments in
lamps, contact points in automobiles,
targets in, "X-ray" tubes, and as a
hardening metal in tool steel.
The sulphur which has been men
toned so frequently as an essential
part of the valuable ore minerals is
thought to be about five per cent of
the total vein material of the district
or from twelve per cent to fifteen per
cent of the ore shipped Some one
has said that the civilization of ma
ton may be measured by the amount
of sulphuric acid it consumes in it's
industries and arts. According to this
standard our country is top-notch and
at Anaconda much of the sulphur in
the Butte ores is converted into this
indispensable acid. It is this same
acid that we have to thank for the
sting in the copper water, and for the
sulphate crystals found in such pro-
fusion in old mine openings. We
would mention blue vitriol, the sui
phate Of which one-fourth is copper,
and which is often seen in the beau
tlful stalacites from the back or from
the mine timbers; the long-haired, !
silky-white sulphate of zinc; the cal
cium sulphate, gypsum, which is white
when pure, but is usually stained a
dirty yellow by iron in the water, and
the various green sulphates of iron.
Cadmium in considerable quantities
is obtained from the zinc ores at Great
Falls, although it has not been iden-
titled in the mines. Cadmium is not
in great demand However, it's sui
phide serves as yellow pigment, it's
alloys are used in dental supplies, in
low temperature fusing plugs for au-l
tomato sprinkling systems, and it's,
various salts are used in the arts, in
medicine, and in electroplating. 1t
sells for about $3.50 per pound.
The slime which accumualtes in the
electrolytic tanks at Great Falls con
tains final concentration on many
sparsely scattered elements. Care
full analyses show the presence of
nickel, cobalt, bismuth, selenium, tel
lurium and platinum Platinum now.
sells for about $155 an ounce and at
that rate it has been computed that
the Butte ore would produce on the
average an amount worth about one
third of cent per ton. Platinum Isl
hard to get and even that small
amount, perhaps one ounce for every
100000 pounds of copper, is worth
saving in the end.
Lack of space prevents more COM
plete discussion of the many minerals
found in the wonderful Anaconda Hill.
but enough has been suggested to con
vince the most skeptical of the great
variety, the untold wealth and the un-
known but promising future of the
district.