J. P. Kimball on the Silver Mines of Sta. Eulalia, Mexico. 178 
sold at the rate of one dollar (copper) per carga (80 sticks, 28 by 
4 in. i 1 i i es 
under a larger and more pressing demand, such as would be 
created by an extensive smelting industry dependin 
certain supply and limited price of fuel, without control over 
either.* 
With a cheaper mode of reduction, the cost of production 
would be very considerably lessened by rendering available 
_ores which, though cheaply and largely broken, are now rejected 
—ores ese as high as $84 to the ton. This condition, 
an the introduction of mechanical appliances, would ne- 
cessarily bring this cost below the cost of extraction of silver ores 
m 
that of most of the deep mines of the Comstock lode. But the 
cost of reduction is even more excessive and out of proportion 
to the value of the ores. Though the Mexican smelting prac- 
tice is attended with a smaller loss of silver, the fact that Nevada 
ores returning no more than $15 per ton can be worked by 
amaleamation with some profit, more than offsets the loss of 
to 25 per cent to which all are subjected, as a large and regu- 
lar business generally depends upon the availableness of the 
ores of low grade—always predominating in extensive deposits. 
Yet the Mexican furnace by no means extracts the whole of the 
silver as may be seen by picking up from any ancient or fresh 
heap fragments containing numerous globules of argentif- 
* Expressing in familiar units the above rates imparted to me by Don Jesus Ma- 
teos, we have in a form for comparison with working results elsewhere obtained by 
different modes of reduction the following exhibit: 
Cost of Production. 
Cost of ore at mouth of mine, per ton, at $1.50 per carga, $10.00. 
Transportation to furnace, Ce ne 2 624. ‘kim 
Cost of Reduction. : 
Charcoal in blast furnace, per ton of ore, at $1 per quintal, $10.625 
ood ce a “ “ $1 per carga, 2-665 
“ 
spies Sateen eee oot 
‘above exhibit bear inane furnace 7 ’ 
76 Of the 60 care vof ofe amelted weekly by one rnace to yield @ total of thir 
‘Silver, er, that is (taxes paid) $32 per ton, loss is in 
