Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-12-09

address made At send annual convention Of
the Northwest MINING Association. spokane
Washington, afternoon Of Dee 8, 1887
In March and April of this year
the Butte Rotary club sponsored a
series Of talks by seven men, covering
the entire mining industry Of Montana
Although all the speakers were mining
/ engineers, they did not use technical
I language. but rather language any
1 body could readily understand A short
/ time ago. all of these talks were pub
! lished in a beautifully illustrated book
/ let which may be obtained free of
charge from the Butte chamber of
/ commerce Four of the talks covered
the operations Of the Anaconda Copper
Mining company, one talk covered the
history of Montana mining, and an
other talk covered the geological fea-
lures of Montana. I was one of the
seven speakers, my subject being, Min
ing in Montana, Exclusive of Butte. %
If I we're to cover in detail Mon
tana's mining progress, 1 would be only
repeating what I said at the Butte
Rotary club Therefore, will cover
few high points, most of which have
developed since I spoke in March.
From present indications the pro-
duction of silver, lead, zinc and copper
will be greater in 1889 than it was in
1888 The production Of gold should
equal or be greater than the 1888 pro-
duction. The two smelters In Montana
operated continuously in 1899. Accord
ing to a rough checkup, A milling
plants were either operating or plan
ming the resumption of operations In
Montana in 1899. and several mills
were in process of building. OF these,
% were flotation plants. While the
Anaconda Copper Mining company did
not operate its mines at full capacity
during the spring and summer, 1t ma
terially increased by fall In the dis
trictS outside of Butte there were about
1000 operations by companies and in
diyidualS, these operations employing
about 5000 men, and operating con-
tinuously. Included in these outside
operations were many placer ven
lures some of them large, and some
of them very small
There are a number of large float
ing and dry-land dredges operating in
this state, and these are described,
with the exception of one, in the Butte
Chamber of Commerce booklet. The
dredging operations of the Star Point
er Exploration company were not de-
scribed in the booklet as the Star
Pointer operations did not start until
late in the year. However, the opera
lions of that company have been ably
described today by Mr.. King G. Lay
lander. manager of the company The
gold dredging and other placer opera
tons in Montana are said to be hand
ling better than three million yards OF
gravel per month
While the war has evidently stimu
lated the production of copper, lead
and zinc in Montana, neither the war
nor the governments stock-pile buying
has stimulated the production of the
so-called strategic minerals in Mon
tana. However, 1t is believed these fac
tors will stimulate the production OF
and tungsten in Montana,
and will be the means of stimulating
a substantial amount of research work
on the chrome deposits in the east
ern end of this state.
The United States bureau Of mines Is
actively testing these chrome deposits,
and is said to be employing 80 men on
this work in Saltwater, SweetgraSS and
Carbon counties. The United States
Geological Survey has been checking
the manganese deposits at Butte ana
Philipsburg. Specifications for stock
pile manganese are higher than can
be economically filled by most OF the
manganese producers of Montana, with
the exception of one producer IN Butte,
which can probably produce the high
est grade concentrated manganese In
the world 1t is no incentive for the
producers of battery ore to bid for
government stock-pile manganese con-
tract, as they get a better price from
the battery producers. If the war con-
tinues for any length of time, there
may be an acute shortage of mangan-
csc in this country. In that case, the
producers of lower grade manganese
viii evidently find ready market for
their products at attractive prices. If
the research work on the Montana
chrome ores progresses satisfactorily,
there might be a market for such ores
before the close of the World War II.
Private research work and prospect
ing are being carried on at q number
of tungsten deposits in western Mon
tana, but the only sizeable present pro-
Queer Is the Jardine Mining company,
in Park county, which has developed
an unique. gravity, roasting and flota-