Arizona state miner., 1926-01-16
MINE DEVELOPMENT Of 1925 SHOWS
EXPANSION FOR THE NEW YEAR

vestigation. At least two gold min
ing companies of the Oatman dis
tric$ have taken up the development
of mines of romplex ore-The United
Eastern in Yayapai and the North
Star in Pima.
Late in the past year market for
tungsten ore was developed in Ari-
zona and a number of small ship
ments we're made to New York. Sew
eral plants for the production of
tungsten ore are in course of erec-
tion in the Stake and this industry
should show substantial growth in
the New Year.
The past year saw the installation
of sampling works at Kingman,
which purchased, sorted and shipped
a considerable tonnage of ore that
probably would not have moved other
wise. The Chamber of Mines of Tue
son also assisted in marketing sew
eral carloads of ore from the mines
of Southern Arizona, advancing the
small operators a portion of their
money after sampling and assays had
been completed.
Anoher feat ture that shows the
trend of modern mining is the pur-
chase Of the old Benson Smelter and
Stag dump by the American Smelt-
ing and Refining Company. The Stag
from this smelter, which was thrown
away as worthless 38 years ago, is
now being moved to the Ell Paso
smelling works and again put thru
the furnaces at substantial profit,
thus recovering the small amount of
silver, copper and lead that was left
In the field of non-metallic min
erals one property in Mohave County
has been shipping felspar to the Cal
ifornia market. The cement plant at
Phoenix and the gypsum plaster
plant at Douglas have been supply
ing their products to the building
industry, while the Gypsum Products
Company at Tucson has installed an
enlarged plant and should come into
production early in the new year.
An area north of Winkleman and
another area east Of Tucson have
been diamond drilled by established
Genet manufacturers which add other
possibilities of new non-metallic in
dustries in Arizona. The brick and
tile manufacturers of the State are
finding material suitable for most of
their requirements in the building
trades and are making special eff
fort to find Arizona clays to supply
the building interests.
Oil development has been carried
on in the State during the past year.
Work in the Holbrook field was car
ried on Internationally, and the find
ing of oil at Wilcox "a few feet be-
low the surface proved an incentive
for further exploitation. AS a result.
two wells are going down-one at
Wilcox and the other at Bowie. Peo-
pie who have followed the oil de-
velopments closely are optimistic at
the prospects of opening up large
fields in Arizona.
The metal market is the logical
guide to new mine developments, and
for 1926 this compass points to lead
and zinc. Copper for five years has
stood at a price level SO low that
only the richest and most favored
small properties could earn a profit.
The great copper mining companies
of Arizona with millions of dollars
invested capital are facing a real
problem in finding market for their
production. Does it look like good
business policy to increase invest
ment in copper development which
would still further augment the cop
prices? Gold, while always good, is
suffering from increased production
costs and decreased purchasing pow
er. Silver is a fair price with ample
production to cover demand.
Lead and zinc have both enjoyed
prices during the past year only
slightly below abe high war time