Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-09-11

used to do this mining. as they also reclaim
the old slopes from older parts OF the mines
which we're mined years ago. Then the slopes
are filled with waste from wall rock or filled
with old tailings. The ore from these slopes
often goes direct to the main haulage level
without hand tramming. From these main
drifts the ore is hauled by electric locomo-
tyes to the shaft pockets and from there
hoisted to the surface bins by skips From
large storage bins on the surface the ore is
transferred TO Cotton railway ore cars and
hauled to the Anaconda smelter over the
B A. g. P. railway The mills in Anaconda
have a capacity Of some 10000 to 40 600 tons
daily. which means the mines in Butte must
produce at least two and one-hah times that
tonnage to keep the storage bins to capacity
The company smelter produces some 28,00O,0o0
pounds of copper per month at the present,
and still could produce more If needed
Value Of Ore
The ore mined now runs from 2h percent
to percent copper and some high grade
goes as high as 81 percent copper, besides
gold, silver and platinum values, these prec-
ious metals are recovered in the refining
Of the copper. The mines use millions OF
feet Of mine timbers for posts, laggings and
square set timbers and chutes. All the tim
bers are framed and treated previous to going
underground. special large Plant at Rocker,
few miles west of Butte, is handling the
timbers Each mine shaft Is served by STAN
dard railway track. with large electric and
steam locomotives OF the Butte Anaconda and
Pacific railway, the Northern Pacific railway.
The company does most of It's own haulage
of supplies and ore, as 1t owns the B. A. g. P.
railway company.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Co.. besides
producing copper, is also producing a large
tonnage Of zinc. manganese, lead and phos-
phate Some Of the zinc mines are owned
by the A. c. M. and the Boston Montana
Copper and Zinc Mining Co., Of Butte. the
Emma mine being one Of the main producers
Of zinc manganese ore. The Orphan Girl
mine Of the A. G. M. is a producer OF lead,
ZiUc silver The yfnc Is ehiDucn n
the mill at Anaconda. The concentrate from
this plant goes to Great Falls, to one Of the
largest zinc refining plants in the world
and the largest copper refinery in the world
The A. C. NJ. produces around 10000
pounds OF zinc monthly. The production is
sometimes even higher depending on the
water and electricity power available.
Mine Fire Problem
There have been fires in the mines for
years, particularly in the workings Of the
old mines but in later years, these fires have
guished. The cause was due mostly to poor
timbering and friction Of the masses Of sui
phide low grade ore, also the poor back I'LL
used. In the early days of the
mining Of copper in Butte, anything was
used for back fiji; not only rock as it should
have been, but city garbage and manure were
used. This material did not hold we'll, let
rock wells slip and also caught fire under
neat and pressure. To stop the fire the COM
pany has used thousands of tons Of old mill
sailings to fill the old slopes. Concrete bulk
heads have been erected under ground and
water PUMPED into the old workings.
Water Receivers Copper
On the west side of Butte and below the
Leonard shaft, on the flat among the Stag
piles Of the old B. g. NJ smelter, are located
me tanks The mine waters are circulated
through the upper old workings Of the mines
through the fire zones Sometimes some old
arifts are bulkheaded and then water pumped
INTO them. so as to fill the old gobs fun Of
water and this water travels slowly downward
through the gob-filled Slopes When It drains
INTO some lower levels and sumps. it is re-
pumped up to the higher levels through the