236 MINING INDUSTEY. 



of sucli work in mills where water-power only is employed, but it is said by man- 

 agers of such mills to be between $5 and $5 50 per ton, not including hauling. 



The hope for the future is to reduce these costs to a still lower figure ; 

 and it is not improbable that by increasing the capacity of the mills, and 

 using large pans, that low-grade ores, demanding less nicety in treatment than 

 is necessary for those of better quality, may be milled for $4 per ton. Indeed, 

 it is the expressed opinion of some of the most experienced mill-men in the 

 district, that such ores may be treated in steam-mills at the last-named figure, 

 by the aid of the advantages conferred by the new railroad, cheapening trans- 

 portation of both ore and fuel ; with the further benefit to be derived from 

 a reasonable reduction in costs of labor. 



In the account just given of the cost of operations for two years of the 

 Savage mill, it will be observed that the bullion produced from the tailings is 

 subtracted from the total cost of milling, apparently reducing the expense of 

 working by $3 63 per ton in 1868, and $1 67 per ton in 1869. This is, in 

 fact, no reduction of the costs ; it is simply an addition to the product that 

 had already been derived from the first treatment of the ore by the regular 

 process. In the case of a custom mill, receiving a fixed price for working 

 ore and returning to the customer a certain percentage of its assay value, pre- 

 viously agreed upon, the tailings become the property of the mill ; and what- 

 ever may subsequently be extracted from them, accruing to the mill owner, 

 actually diminishes, by the amount of such product, the expenses of his 

 business, and, so far, the costs of milling per ton. In the present case, while 

 the product of the tailings does not reduce the working costs actually, it does 

 so relatively ; that is, the cost, to the mining company, of working ore in its 

 own mill, as compared with the cost of having it worked in custom mills, is 

 not only lessened by the difference that exists between actual costs and the 

 miller's price, but still further diminished by whatever value may be obtained 

 from the treatment of the tailings, amounting, in the present instance, a& we 

 have just seen, to $3 63 per ton in 1868, and $1 67 per ton in 1869, for 

 every ton of ore worked. This will, perhaps, be more clearly understood 

 when the location of the mills, their relation to the mines, the methods of 

 sampling and determining the assay value of the ores, and the relation of 

 that value to the yield obtained by milling, have been more fully set forth. 



