THE MINES 173 



pounds of copper that all the copper properties of the entire Butte district 

 combined, produce. 



And this is a production worked up to within the year. The miine, with 

 its g^reat zinc treasure, was there a year ag-o, but the method of treatment 

 had not been worked out. The Butte & Superior company, at its mine, has 

 one of the finest zinc mills in the world. There was considerable experi- 

 menting- in the matter of treatment of the ores, but finally the management 

 adopted the oil flotation process and the results have been most g-ratifying. 

 For more than a year the recovery from the Butte «& Superior ores had 

 been unsatisfactory. But with the adoption of the oil flotation process and 

 the improvement of the plant the recoveries slowly climbed to above 90 

 per cent, thus allowing- the mining- and milling of Butte's zinc ores at 

 large profits. 



The zinc or spelter market (spelter is the market term for zinc product) 

 is more valuable than the copper market. It is influenced by different 

 factors. But even with the price of spelter at its lowest point of the year 

 the Butte & Superior company can place its product on the market and 

 miake good money. 



Let us take a more intimate view of the Butte & Superior operations 

 that we may better understand this new industry. The months of Septem- 

 ber and October, 1913, saAv the mine and mill making a wonderful record. 

 Shipments of concentrates during those months approached 

 Trainloads close to an average of 15 cars a day, these cars ranging in 

 of Zinc Ores weight from 40 to 50 tons, approximating 700 tons daily with 

 Shipped a zinc content approaching 50 per cent. 



Daily. In addition the Butte & Superior company is said to have 



so perfected its recovery of values that the silver and lead saving 

 now is about at a figure that represents half of the milling costs of the 

 company. TTie silver and lead concentrates, which are shipped apart from 

 the zinc, average 35 ounces of silver, which practicaly is "velvet", as the lead 

 content nearly pays the cost of smelting of the silver-lead product to the 

 reduction works. 



Butte & Superior earned $140,000 during the month of August, milling 

 30,000 tons of ore, producing about 11,000.000 pounds of spelter. There 

 was an improvement in .September. There was aJso an advance in the 

 price of spelter, which helped the profits to swell. 



During the month of September about 1,250 tons of ore were handled 

 daily by the company and the saving of the spelter was above 90 per cent. 

 Between 13,000,000 and 14,000,000 pounds of zinc were produced in Sep- 

 tember, which is half as much zinc as the Butte district produces in copper. 



The enormiity of this output may not be grasped unless we show by 

 comparison what it means. There are more than 100 properties producing 

 copper and they aggregate about 26,000,000 pounds monthly. The Butte & 



Superior places its big production on the market from its 

 An Astound- single property — The Black Rock mine. 



ing Tale This production is made possible by the extraordinary 



of Zinc richness of the crude zinc ores and the mammoth deposits of 



Production, the high grade ore. Miners from the Black Rock say that the 



ore in places is "twenty posts wide," giving it a width of 100 

 feeit. It is even said that the extreme width of 150 feet of the ore bodies 



-Montana is the Mecca of the homesteader. 



