Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-12-17
BUTTE REACTS
T0C0PPERD DEAL
AS To AN ELIXIR
Business Doubles Fri
day When Ceaseless
Mining Looms as Fact.
Brass Merger IS Bigger
News Than Mere Mine
Resumption.
Special to The Tribune

Special to The Tribune
Butte. Dec 16.-Everywhere in
Butte Friday night the talk centcred
upon the announcement that the Ana
conda Copper Mining company had ac-
quired control of the American Brass
company. The general opinion among
the Butte business houses was that an
order to resume business in the mines
would have had less significance to
Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls than
the deal which was consummated in
New York. The news is taken to mean
that there must be a market for the
A. c, NJ. companys copper and zinc,
as the American Brass company uses
more of these metals annually than is
produced by the holding company.
Late Thursday night, John, Gillie,
general manager of the mines of the
Anaconda company, confirmed the As
sociated Press report of the deal and
announced. that he had received tele-
gram signed by John d. Ryan, C. F.
Kelley and Ben Thayer, stating that
the proposition of the Anaconda com
pany had been accepted. Mr.. Gillie
said:
Vast Output Required
''The American Brass company is the
largest concern of it's kind in the world
In normal times it uses in its manu-
featuring places more than 400, 100000
pounds of copper year and 10000
900 pounds Of zinc. The production of
copper in the Butte district in nor
NAL times is approximately 27J. .OOO, 600
pounds, although we have produced
upon extraordinary demands more than
lr Il =
this acquisition, it can be said that,
with any reasonable basis of business
conditions. the mines Of the Anaconda
Copper Mining company should never
be shut down. 1t is practical assur-
ance of continuance of operation and
the best news for Butte and Anaconda.
and indeed. for all Montana. that has
developed practically in the history of
the Anaconda company"
Viii Reap Double Profits
Mr.. Gillie. when asked for state
ment Friday, said that he had little to
add to his previous statement, except
to repeat that the deal meant a great
boom to this state.
'Of course" said Mr.. Gillie, "it
must not be assumed that the Ameri-
can Brass company will pay more for
metal produced in Butte than the mar
ket price of those products. However.
It does seem to assure q market for
our product under ordinary conditions
and also means that the Anaconda
company will reap a very substantial
benefit in the profits Of the Brass
company. These profits are large.
The deal. I take it. is equally advan-
tageous to the stockholders of the
Brass company, the biggest concern of
its kind in the world"
Butte and Superior to Resume
The news of the deal consummated
in New York had been discounted for
some time and for that reason the
stock market was not affected Friday.
Anaconda opened little lower than
ruling prices, of Thursday, indicating
which had been discussed very fre-
quently in financial circles for some
time.
The financial outlook for this city is
excellent today and not only the busi-
ness people, but persons in every walk
of life are jubilant over what they be-
lieve will mean an early resumption OF
the mining industry.
It was reported here that the Butte
and Superior company will open with
a full crew the first of the year and
the news of late Thursday night which
was confirmed Friday, relative to the
deal with the Brass company is indie
ative of an early opening of all the
mines of the A. G. NJ. company.
Butte is jubilant and the storekeep-
ers state that their business increased
almost double Friday when the news
IF the possibility of the mines reopen
ng soon had appeared in the press.
The average person here is firm in his
belief that Butte will again be the |
greatest mining camp in the world |
within q month.