COPPER  MINES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES NORTH  CAROLINA.        115 
The  total  production  from  the  district  is  now  approximately  15,500  tons  a  day.  The 
Amalgamated  Company  is  treating  8,350  tons  a  day  at  the  Washoe  smelter,  of  which  1 ,000 
tons  is  North  Butte  ore  and  550  tons  from  the  W.  A.  Clark  mines.  This  is  the  largest  quan- 
tity treated  at  any  individual  copper  plant  in  the  world,  the  Calumet  and  Hecla  Company 
coming  next  in  point  of  production,  with  a  daily  treatment  of  6,000  to  7,000  tons  of  ore. 
The  Great  Falls  smelter,  also  belonging  to  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  treats 
3,700  tons  a  day.  The  properties  belonging  to  Senator  Clark  yielded  about  2,000  tons  a 
day,  treated  partly  in  his  own  works  and  partly  by  the  Amalgamated  Company. 
The  Butte  Copper  Exploration  Company,  controlling  eight  claims  east  of  the  city,  has 
begun  development.  The  Golden  Chief  is  reported  (in  the  Engineering  and  Mining  Journal) 
to  show  a  30-foot  vein  of  2\  per  cent  ore. 
Daily  and  gross  output  of  Butte  copper  mines,  December,  1905. a 
Mine. 
Boston  and  Montana 
Anaconda 
Butte  and  Boston . . . 
Trenton 
Washoe 
Parrot 
Clark's  Original 
Pittsburg 
North  Butte 
United  Copper 
East  Butte 
Miscellaneous 
Daily 
tonnage. 
3,100 
4,125 
530 
600 
420 
400 
1,250 
1G0 
025 
1,015 
180 
400 
13,  405 
Pounds 
of  copper 
per  ton 
73 
04 
63 
02 
68 
70 
72 
82 
138 
69 
160 
65 
Pounds 
daily. 
226,  300 
264,000 
33,  390 
37, 200 
28,  560 
28,000 
90,000 
13, 120 
86, 250 
111,435 
28, 800 
26,000 
973,055 
Tonnage 
for 
month. 
96, 100 
127,875 
16,430 
18,  (i00 
13, 020 
12,  400 
38, 750 
4,900 
19, 375 
50,065 
5,580 
12,  400 
Pounds  for 
month. 
415,555 
7,015,300 
8, 184, 000 
1,035,090 
1,153,200 
885,  360 
868,000 
2, 790, 000 
406, 720 
2, 673, 750 
3,  454,  485 
892,800 
806, 000 
30,164,705 
a  Mining  World,  Jan.  27,  1906,  p.  145. 
NORTH   CAROLINA. 
The  copper  production  of  North  Carolina  amounted  to  700,000  pounds  in  1905.  This 
comes  almost  entirely  from  the  mines  of  the  Virgilina  and  Gold  Hill  districts. 
In  the  Virgilina  district  the  ores  consist  of  bornite  and  copper  glance  in  a  gangue  of  white, 
coarsely  crystalline  quartz.  The  ore  is  sorted,  the  high-grade  material  being  shipped  and 
the  low-grade  ore  treated  in  a  concentrating  mill.  The  mines  owned  by  Person  Consolidated 
Copper  and  Gold  Mines  Company  were  the  only  ones  in  operation  in  1905. 
The  actual  value  of  the  Virgilina  properties  is  dependent  on  several  variable  factors,  the 
most  important  being,  of  course,  the  price  of  copper.  The  ores  occur  in  a  very  hard  quartz 
and  carry  from  70  to  80  per  cent  excess  silica,  while  the  copper  minerals,  though  free,  are 
extremely  brittle.  Wet  concentration  effects  a  saving  of  about  50  per  cent  of  the  value,  and 
on  a  2  per  cent  ore,  with  only  an  ounce  or  less  of  silver,  is  clearly  unprofitable.  Hand  picking 
has  been  practiced  at  several  mines,  but  is  hardly  profitable. 
The  cost  of  mining  in  this  district  is  estimated  at  SI. 75  to  $2.25  per  ton,  including  35  to  05 
cents  per  ton  for  development  work.  With  these  figures  the  problem  of  profitable  working 
is  one  of  freight  rates  to  a  smelter.  Assuming  a  2  per  cent  ore  and  copper  worth  15  cents  a 
pound,  the  gross  value,  including  silver  contents,  is  $6.50.  Deducting  $2  for  mining  costs 
leaves  $4.50  for  freight,  smelter  charges,  and  profit. 
In  Rowan  County  the  Gold  Hill  district  produced  840,000  pounds  of  copper  in  1905  from 
the  Union  Copper  Company  mine.  The  property  shows  a  number  of  well-defined  veins  of 
the  usual  Appalachian  "schist "  type,  with  gold  values  in  the  oxidized  ore.     The  copper  ore 
