Engineering & Mining Journal

MAR 2016

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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By the mid-1880s, Engineering & Mining Journal ( E&MJ; ) was hitting its stride as it approached its 20 th anniversary. Reader- ship was growing. The newspaper was still a 16-page weekly with engravings. Much of the coverage was dedicated to news items related to the American mining scene developing in the western frontier. Many of the reports were written by editors who were dispatched to document mining dis- tricts. They, however, also regularly pub- lished stories explaining what was happen- ing abroad. These reports often carried a detailed history of those regions as well. The editors also routinely offered opinions, providing an American perspective. The vast railroad network that would eventually bring more settlers to the West and return resources to the urban centers in the East was still being assembled. Power was provided by steam engines and compressors. Stamp mills, a means of crushing material by pounding it into pulp, were giving way to crushers, which grind the ore. The first gyra- tory crushers began to appear in the 1880s. Some of the more established mining camps were yielding to new districts. The California placer gold mines and the mines working the Comstock Lode near Virginia City, Virginia, were showing signs of deple- tion. Meanwhile, in Montana, miners were about to discover the richest hill on earth, but just hadn't realized it. The next gold rush was about to begin in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Copper Mines of Butte Montana April 28, 1877—The almost new district of Butte, in Montana, produced last year 800 tons of copper ore, carrying on an average 35 per cent of that metal and 15 ounces of silver per ton. When it is remem- bered that the district is but two years old, and that it lies 300 miles away from any railroad, this yield will not seem small…. The ores of the district are oxides (mainly the red oxide) and copper glance. On nearly all the veins carbonates are found on the surface which disappear as soon as depth is gained. In a few there is a preponderance of sulphide. The veins are quite numerous, and cut across the coun- try like huge dikes, in places traceable by their colored outcrops for hundreds of feet at a stretch. They average from 3 to 20 feet in width, and carry a very regular seam of pay, which rarely disappears entirely. Butte is, next to the Clifton district on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, the most prominent copper-producing camp in the West. Its growth has been very rapid, owing to the existence of very good silver mines in the same belt of veins…. Within the last few years the develop- ment of base metal districts in the West has been one of the most important fea- tures in its history. We have become quite accustomed to new and rich discoveries of the precious metals, and the excitement which attends these has, in a measure, hidden the less brilliant but equally valu- able discoveries of lead, copper, and iron deposits. In time it is not unlikely that the value of the latter metals produced on the coast will approximate to that of gold and silver, and already it amounts to a very respectable figure. Last year the value of pig-lead and argentiferous galenas shipped East amounted—exclusive of silver con- tained—to about $4,000,000, while the yield of copper was about $1,000,000. The production of the Butte mines this year promises to exceed 1,000 tons of 35 per cent ore. The proportion of silver car- ried in the ore is reported to be decreasing as greater depth is gained, which would be a rather favorable circumstance, unless it increased to a high figure. It is a pity, how- ever, that the Butte ores must be transport- ed more than 3,000 miles overland, at an expense of about $60 per ton, before they are smelted. This expense comes, of course, out of the pockets of the miners, and makes the profit of the producers so small that the mines are opened slowly and developed under great disadvantage. There is a most favorable opening in this camp for the erection of copper-smelting works…. September 8, 1883—The completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad will, we are convinced, mark the beginning of an era of prosperity to the mining interests, notably of Montana. The industry which will be most directly and immediately benefited is copper mining and smelting in the Butte District. With increased outlets to market and better facilities for procuring fuel, the cost of production and of market- ing ought to be materially reduced, and the Butte smelter be better than ever able to compete in the markets of the world. 62 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com E & M J 1 5 0 Y E A R S E&MJ; Documents Discovery and Early Development As more rich mineral discoveries are made in the 1880s, miners begin to improve their methods for recovery By Steve Fiscor, Editor-in-Chief An early rendition of a hoisting engine, designed by Edwin Reynolds (April 11, 1874).

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