171^ MONTANA 19 H 



has been reached and it is solid ore with a grade averaging i8 to 20 per 

 cent. The average width of the ore deposits is more than 60 feet. The 

 ore is very dark — indeed it is black, and gives the visitor the idea that he 

 is in a coal mine while inspecting the underground workings of the Butte 

 & Superior. 



It was but a comparatively short time ago that mining experts scoffed 

 at rich values in that part of the district, for it is considerable to the north 

 and east of the big copper mines that Marcus Daly owned and which he 

 sold to the Anaconda company. And yet nowhere in the Butte camp has 

 mineralization been found showing the precipitation of values to the extent 

 that obtains in the Black Rock mine. The ore has been blocked out from 

 the 1,200 level up to the 500-foot level and within this area alone 5.000.000 

 tons of ore have been revealed. 



Butte & Superior's advantage over the ^Missouri ores lies in the high 

 grade character of the ore as it comes from the mine — averaging between 

 18 and 20 per cent, as compared with from 4 to 8 per cent for the zinc dis- 

 trict of Joplin, Missouri. 



And if Butte's copper industry can be said to be in its infancy surely 

 the zinc industry can be descriped as newly born. Another year will see 

 an important addition to this great branch of the mining industry of Mon- 

 tana, for former Senator W. A. Clark has actively entered the 

 New-Born zinc producing field. He is constructing, on the side of Tim- 

 Industry bered Butte— less than two miles south and across the flats 

 Assures from Butte— a zinc concentrator and mill almost as large as 



Wealth and that of the Butte & Superior plant. This mill, it is said, will 

 Permanancy.have cost about $1,000,000 when finished and it will treat the 

 ores from the Elm Orlu mine, a rich property lying alongside 

 the Butte & Superior. It is expected the new Clark zinc mill will be in 

 operation about April 1st, when it is anticipated about 500 tons of ore will 

 be treated daily, all coming from the Clark mine— the Elm Oriu. 



It is known that there are great deposits of zinc ore north of the Ana- 

 conda hill and east of Walkerville. This ore is complex and will not yield 

 easily to the treatment used at the Butte & Superior plant and a similar 

 treatment to be used at the Clark plant, yet it is believed by 

 Seeking a engineers the time is not far distant AVhen every pound of com- 

 New Process plex zinc ore in the Butte district can and will be successfully 

 for Complex treated. Several able articles on electric zinc smelting have 

 Ores. been contributed to the mining journals by Peter E. Peterson, 



a young Butte engineer, and Mr. Peterson is now working out 

 plans for the construction of a small plant of this nature in Butte, when 

 he hopes to demonstrate that he has a successful process for the treatment 

 of the most stubborn zinc ores. Not only would such an evolution help 

 the Butte district, but a number of districts in Montana -vVhere complex 

 zinc ores lie exposed in large quantities. 



And so we have an important addition to this state's mining industry 

 — What has been accomplished in Montana is a mere index to future performance. 



