The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-01-26

u o RAAAARAAAbf AA1ANeAoNQ AAON VI water
e rental of Hecia equipment. construc-
- ton OF mill and interest on invest
e nlent. He estimated that it would re-
n Quire a little more than four years to
e place the mine on a productive basis.
! which would also involve 2OOO feet OF
I drifting in star ground. He said the
a raise to the 500 would have to be made
( at once to secure ventilation, and evil
E IDENTIFY did not consider that connec-
I ton with the Morning workings at
= depth would be TO the advantage Of
both companies. His estimate of mill
/ ing costs he said were based on re-
suits at the Morning MILL the figures
being obtained from Thos Owens. as
sistant manager of the Federal He
compared the haul in the star crosscut
with the Morning tunnel, but said that
the Star would have to hoist all its
ores from the crosscut but it was not
brought out that the Morning has the
same hosting operation TO its tunnel
Mr. Bruce was not strong on the flow
OF water from the crOsscut saying he
estimated il at 1000 gallons a minute
but admitted that it might be less and
that there was only 22O now. Another
cost to which the Star would be sub
jected was loss of time by men going
to and from work. although this does
not appear materially different from
/ the situation at the Morning. Alto
gether Mr.. Bruce estimated cost OF
Star ore. including capital redemption. !
at 1919 per ton. He based the value
of Star ore on metallurgical recoveries |
at the Morning mill and normal prices |
for lead and zinc. The lead was based |
on the Hecla contract with the Bun
ker Hill smelter and zinc shipped to
Great Falls Mr.. Bruce contended that /
costs of operating the Star mine would |
be excessive and that the Heca shaft !
was not sufficient for Joint operation:
that the loss of time by men going to
and from work would amount to u
cents per ton, and in various ways
pointed ont what he contended would .
he other higher costs in operating the
Star. He finally reached the cOnclu-
sion that based upon normal metal
prices before the war. and shipping
under the Hecla lead contract to the
Bunker Hill and the best contract to
Great Falls. ore carrying &c ounces
silver. 1888 per cent lead and 900 per
cent zinc would result in a net loss TO
the star of S2.O7ia cents per ton. Con-
trary to most authorities on the silver
market Mr. Bruce did not take hope
fnl view. He said the amount of silver
authorized to be purchased at 81 per
ounce under the Pittman act would
probably be bought by the government
within two years. before the Star
would be productive when the price Of
silver would be fixed in competition
with the foreign product and that the
nrice would then be about the level OF
the present price of foreign silver.
After All a Matter of Judgment.
Upon cross examination by Mr..
Gray MIR. Bruce admitted that after
all the value of mining property is
matter of judgment upon which min
ing men disagree, and this applies also
to cost of operation and geological
features as to the life of the mine He
said he knew Oscar Hershey. that he
was capable, had a high professional
standing and had been employed as
geoIogist by the Davis Daily mine. of
which Mr.. Bruce is manager; and fur
Their admitted that Mr.. Hershey had Il
broad experience. good judgment and
could be relied upon. To test his quail
ifications to pass upon the value of the
Star. Mr.. Gray asked the witness to
give the time of each visit to the Occur
d'Alene district purpose of the visit
and the time he remained here. Mr..
Bruce first visited the district in 1914
for general information and remained
four or five days In 1915 or '16 he
examined the Success mine and was
here two or three days. In 1916 he
made two trips to the Callahan of two
davs each. On these trips he inves-
tigated no other mines except those
In 1917 he spent two days
at the Black Horse above Murray In
October 1921, he visited the district
TO investigate the Star for the purpose
of testifying in this case, remaining
two or three days, and two or three =
DAYS again in November. His last
visit was on January IL, two days. Mr.
Bruce told of visiting various mills of
The district. few of which at the time
we're equipped with flotation; made
Inquiries about recoveries, but exam
ned no books to determine costs and
profits. In 1914 he obtained state
nents of costs from most companies.
He told of his Investigations of var 2
GUS faces in the Star and also in the
Morning. and of spending considera-
Die time in the Morning mill. He said
,is figures and facts regarding recov-
sr-v and value of concentrates were
obtained from Mr.. Owens, although he q
said he was an experienced metallur-
yist himself and could form his own ~
conclusions. but nevertheless accepted n
Mr.. Owens report and opinion. ~
Mr.. Bruce admitted that opinions OF -
differ regarding the re- -
.overy of mineral from ores, and that :,