GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, LEAD, AND ZINC IN THE

EASTERN STATES IN 1913.

(MINES REPORT.)

By H. D. MCCASKEY.

INTRODUCTION.

In the following pages is given a brief review of the gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc mining industries in the Eastern or Appalachian States for the calendar year 1913. The area covered lies, for the greater part, immediately east of the Blue Ridge and its extensions, and is mainly coincident with the broad belt of old metamorphic and associated igneous rocks extending southwestward from Canada to Alabama. The zinc-lead belt of southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee, however, whose rocks are mainly Cambrian and Ordovician limestone and conglomerate, lies to the west of this great belt.

References have been given in previous reports to the most important papers on these mines in the Eastern States, and the geologic relations have, in most cases, been briefly described. In the report for 1914, which may be of special interest to visitors interested in mining at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, a full treatment of the subject is planned. At the end of the present report are given lists of the most important Survey publications on gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc, of interest to those mining these metals in the Eastern States.

PRODUCTION.

The total value of the mine output of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the Eastern orAppalachian States in 1913 was $13,753,557, against a corresponding value of $13,470,276 in 1912 and of $11,787,942 in 1911-an increase over 1912 of $283,281 and over 1911 of $1,962,892.

The following table shows concisely the production of ore and recoverable metals of the Eastern or Appalachian States from 1906 to 1913, inclusive.

173

Tonnage of ore treated and mine production of metals in the Appalachian States, 1906–1913.

The total gold production was 8,017.33 fine ounces, valued at $165,733, a decrease of 2,745.91 ounces in quantity and of $56,763 in value for 1913. The placers yielded 733.65 ounces, against 774.83 ounces in 1912; the siliceous or gold-quartz ores 6,892.09 ounces, against 9,302.99 ounces in 1912; the copper ores 391.59 ounces, against 443.50 ounces in 1912; and the lead and lead-zinc ores produced no gold in 1913, against 241.92 ounces in 1912. The output of gold from all sources, therefore, decreased in 1913, notably that from deep gold mining, chiefly owing to decline in output from certain properties in North Carolina and South Carolina. From present information new developments in North Carolina bid fair to maintain an important production for some time to come. Nominal increases in gold output were made in Georgia and Virginia in 1913, but decline was reported from other producing States, notably from North Carolina and South Carolina.

SILVER.

The production of silver in the Eastern States in 1913 was 111,214 fine ounces, valued at $67,173, an increase of 14,691 fine ounces in quantity and of $7,812 in value over the corresponding production for 1912. The silver yield was a by-product from the refining of gold and copper produced in 1913, the bulk of it from the copper ores of the Ducktown district, Tenn., where there was an increase of 18,212 ounces over the output for 1912. There was no production reported of argentiferous lead-zinc ores from North Carolina in 1913, but over 1,700 ounces of silver were derived from the gold ores of that State.

Mine production of gold and silver in Eastern States in 1913, by States, in fine ounces.

Source of gold and silver in Eastern States in 1913, by States, in fine ounces.

The copper output of the Eastern States was 19,964,229 pounds in 1913, valued at $3,094,533, against a production in 1912 of 19,265,945 pounds, valued at $3,178,882. These figures show an increase for 1913 of 698,784 pounds in quantity and a decrease of $84,349 in value for the copper production of 1913. The great bulk of the output was, as usual, from the pyrite copper ores of the well-known Ducktown district of eastern Tennessee, the remainder coming chiefly from the copper-bearing magnetic iron ores of Cornwall, Pa., from copper ores of Vermont, and from the pyrite ores and mine waters of Virginia.

LEAD.

The production of lead in the Eastern States in 1913 was 1,632,000 pounds, valued at $71,808, an increase of 1,070,974 pounds in quantity and of $46,562 in value. The production was all from southwestern Virginia in 1913.

ZINC.

The zinc output of the Eastern States in 1913, figured as spelter, was 184,898,400 pounds, valued at $10,354,310, an increase of 40,198,537 pounds in quantity and of $370,019 in value over the corresponding production for 1912. The output was, as usual, mainly from New Jersey, but a constantly increasing production has been coming from eastern Tennessee in recent years and a steady output has been made from southwestern Virginia for many years. Small yields in 1913 were also reported from reduction of ore mined in New Hampshire and North Carolina in earlier years.

The value of the zinc output of the Eastern States was more than three times the value of the combined production of gold, silver, copper, and lead in 1913.

Mine production of copper, lead, and zinc in Eastern States in 1913, by States, in pounds.

NUMBER OF MINES AND ORE OUTPUT.

There were 90 producing mines reported to the Survey in 1913, of which 42 were deep and 48 were placer properties. The latter are mostly small, some of them really yielding only nominal and occasional outputs of gold. In 1912 there were 93 reported producers, of which 43 were deep mines. Of the 42 deep mines in 1913, those producing copper number 7, those producing zinc (and in one case lead also) numbered 9, and the remainder were gold mines. The largest number of operating properties were in Georgia in 1913, where there were 27 gold placers and 12 deep mines, or 39 in all. North Carolina led in number of producers in 1912 with 36, of which 22 were placers. In 1913 North Carolina had but 24 producers, of which 17 were placers. The total quantity of ore sold or treated in 1913 was 1,603,539 short tons, of which 18,883 tons were gold-quartz ores, 892,308 tons were copper and copper-bearing iron ores, and 692,348 tons were zinc ores (including a small quantity of lead-zinc material). In 1912 the total quantity of ores sold or treated was 1,361,734 short tons, of which 33,813 tons were gold-quartz, 830,089 were copper and copper-bearing iron, and 497,832 were zinc and lead-zinc ores. There was a considerable increase of total tonnage for 1913, therefore, of copper and particularly of zinc ores, but a marked decrease of gold-quartz_ores sold or treated. The gold-quartz ores were mainly from North Carolina and Alabama in 1913 (the output from South Carolina having materially decreased), and the bulk of the copper ores were from the Ducktown district of Tennessee, the remainder being chiefly the copper-bearing magnetites of the Cornwall mines in Pennsylvania. The bulk of the zinc ores is from New Jersey, but there was a large increase from Tennessee in 1913.

The gold-quartz ores yielded an average precious metal recovery per ton of $7.66 in 1913, against $5.73 in 1912. The average yield in North Carolina was $10.83 in 1913 and $10.62 in 1912. The copper ores averaged a recovery of $0.08 in precious metals in both years, and 22.37 pounds of copper per ton in 1913, against 23.1 pounds in 1912. The zinc ores yielded no precious metal recoveries, but 267.1 pounds of zinc per ton in 1913 against 290.7 pounds in 1912.

Total number of producing mines, ore production, and average value of gold and silver per ton in Eastern States in 1913, by States, in short tons.