Gunnison news-champion., 1924-08-01
What the Slnelter
Does to the Miner


natal mining industry u Of 20 much
moment to the whole industrial LIE Of
the country. il not Of the world. IL Is .
matter Of dep concern 70 the metal
miner to figure out how to ct out Ill
that i possible from his ore 70 which
he is justly entitled. In this connee-
tion. with tie scheming and jockey
ing that is going on relating to control
and manipulation Of the lead market,
il may be considered q most appro-
pirate time to give frank analysis of
the schedule Of prices offered by the
American Smelling and Refining Co.
for clean and good grade lead ores. so
the average ore producer can form a
fair idea Of just what he seems to be
getting and Of just what Is actually
taken from him in disposing Of his
output The smelter people confess"
that they are dealing very literally
with their patrons on the lead. but the
analysis falls far short Of sustaining
their Arguments"
Let US take up the schedule from be-
ginning to end: The ore basis upon
which the analysis will be made will
be q type carrying SO per cent lead,
10 OF. silver and 81 gold to the ton;
the zinc content being negligible
not more than two or three per cent.
The schedule says the market quo
tation will be given for the lead less
IL cents a pound. As there is a thou
sand pounds of lead in ton of SO per
cent ore this means an initial deduc-
ton of SIS on q market quotation of
z cents q pound-to protect on freight
to New York and for refining. But as
the freight and refining are charges
on lead bullion, this means an actual
deduction Of $50 on each ton Of lead.
Since the freight on ton of lead. by
the car, from Salt Lake City to the
refinery Mt Jersey City, N. j., is $l2
per ton it is reasonable to suppose
the rate from Leadville will not be
higher, leaving slS ton as a refin-
ing charge, which all familiar with
such work know is unreasonably high.
Hence, the assumption is fair that
while freight and refining are fixed
charges, the smelter people aim to
make a rake-off on both costs.
However, their system Of value re-
ductions has only just begun: They
now establish what they call n neu-
trail base as a fiat smelling charge Of
81 per ton on ore not exceeding in
gross value of SO per ton, with ten
per cent of the excess value added up
to a gross value not exceeding IS
per ton, then five per cent more added
of the excess above 500 per ton. They
do not say what is done to the shipper
on ore running between $50 and 500
per ton, but it was privately stated
to the writer that the scaling rate
on that range of values was the
same as on ore running between
$40 and $50 per ton, yet one
wonders why this isn't stated in the
schedule. The above plan means a
neutral smelling charge of $S on $50
ore, $40 on 500 ore and $20.5O on
$3.50 ore, this added to the SIS on SO
per cent ore deducted at the start.
But, hold on! They are not near
through yet with the juggle or sleight-
of-hand figuring! On so per cent ore
they'll get you for about $1.5O to Sc
a ton for excess sulphur. They will al
SO subtract about the same amount
for excess of silica over iron. They
call everything insoluble that isn't
lead. copper, zinc, iron and sulphur
and charge it up as silica, although
whatever per cent Of lime there may
be is as desirable as the iron, yet it is
charged up as silica, and no doubt
there are other elements in the insol-
uble as valuable as the lime and iron.
Likewise, there are other elements in
lead ore, like cadmium, that are val
liable to the smelter, but for which
the shipper is given no credit. They
also take five per cent Of the silver,
over seven per cent Of all low Colds,
all the copper under IN per cent, wet;
and heaven only knows what else they
get, that can be secretly added to
their dividend reserve.
It has come to pass that as rule
the game Of metal mining is pre-
earious venture, but the ore smelling
business is cinch, especially if It is
conducted 30 that the miner gets Just
enough out Of his ore that he has to
keep on digging that he may stay =
live. And still there are lots of people
who yet wonder why the metal mining
industry languishes, and that the far
famed prospector Of the old days Is
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