Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-04-10
St. Joseph Lead

Further north down the Belt creek canyon
one arrives at Monarch, an old camp OF the
days Of the boom OF the placers in Logging
creek and Barker silver strike. From there
a branch line OF the Great Northern leads to
Barker and Hughesville. where a mile from
the town is located the large mine and mill Of
the st. Joseph Lead Mining Co. OF st.
Joseph, Mo.
This property was idle during the depres-
sion, but during the winter 1t has employed
- men cleaning up. and the mill is being
made ready to start operation with q crew
Of some 200 men. The plant handles around
1000 tons Of ore per day. It is a very up
to-date mill, using selective flotation process
in treating q complex ore carrying gold, Sill
yer. lead copper and zinc. This plant when
operating is one of the largest producers in
the state Of Montana similar to what the
Silver Dyke used to be.
In this district just described there Is
mineralized ore zone which has been given
very little attention, and to the observa-
ton Of the writer has all the indications to
hold the possibilities Of producing large ore
bodies Of silver lead, zinc ore, and also gold
ore.
This zone is opposite to the side on which
most Of the mines have been opened The rea-
son for this is that the geological formation
has not been disturbed by intrusons and
fault movements as that OF the north side
Of Belt creek.
some very encouraging finds have been made
on that side Of the creek such as the Fitz-
patrick, the extension Of the Queen ore
zone, the Florence ore zone, and also the
johannesburg mine which is located on that
side Of the canyon. am told that some rich
float was found on the slopes of that side
Of the canyon, which is a good indication.
The writer's idea will be diamond drill cam
paign, to determine the ore zone and value,
as well as their depth on that side Of the
mountain.
The present operations conducted by several
OF the companies need better understand
ing Of the ore mineral, more technical super
vision Of the operation, more skilled labor as
miners, and particularly mill operators
The microscopic examinations Of the va
rious ores in the district indicate that fine
grinding and much classification as well as
conditioning Of the pulp is needed TO obtain
better results, as far as extraction and con-
centration Most Of the mills there need more
crushing equipment in order to give finer
feed to the mills, and also need more flota-
tion machines to permit selective notation of
the lead, zinc and iron, which practically
all these ores carry. Efficiency Of the mills
could be greatly Increased If necessary equip
ment and technical supervision was available,
along with experienced personnel
The mines also need experienced miners,
used to cave retreating system. which must
be used in retaining old mine gobs from
slopes, otherwise danger OF caving Is often
disastrous and expensive in repairs
There are in this district many mines which
have not mentioned such as the Broad
water, Moulton, Peabody, Big Ben etc, They
are idle or not available because OF unsettled
estates, but have been good producers, such
as the Broadwater and Mouiton which pro-
duced millions, and milled many tons Of ore
by the old gravity system in the now burned
Cascade mill which used to stand at the en-
trance to Neihart until 1918.
All the mines have electric power at their
command from the Montana Power Co. line
which goes through Neihart. The new high
way is a great help TO these mines, and the
Great Northern railway handles the heavy
freighting such as machinery and supplies
and hauls raw ore and concentrates shipped
to the smelters from these mines