Te Brit Heiating phe Ay Mery Kalrner. : SanIte mining operations at that place were i successful. Tn 1864 18 beceme possessor of the Morro Velho Mine, situated ebout 50 miles from the od Cavitel of Minas, the pure Wes mede for £ 56,404.12.7, the ore body 15 somewhat. unique, BF Will be seen from the map here attached. The ore is difficul treatment 19 will be gathered from the enalyeie which has been taken soverel tiuce during the history of the Mine, shewing Abie veriation. 4 : The tebdle below represents the enalysis of the 10d three occasions in the last twelve years. 1899-1900 1208-1909 Silice 24.10 24.10 Tron 31.47 31.47% - Arsenio : 2.38 2.88 Sulphur i Sasree 15.52 Aumine : 3.00 : 3.00 Mengenese : i8 : 1.3 Tine ; 3.08 : 3.08 = “Megnesia : 6.51 : 6.51 Soper iy 0sb1 ee onan 14349 14,49 Carbonic Acid & Oxygen 722 20850. MICROFILM AVAILABLE, eo oewere performed. Diagrem No.1 shews the results of the Company's operations from 1835 to 1912. It will be seen in the first five “years practica’ y no profits were made. The Mine, which was more or less worked down from surfa: in one huge excavation, the walls of which were supported by gigenti timber-work and pillers, was in the year 1867 destroyed, partly resulting from fire end collapse of timber-work end it wes not uate 6 years later that the lode was again laid open. This was accomplished at greet expenditure by the sinking of the Shafte A & Unfortunetely, however, the seme system of working, namely, removin the lode in more or less one excavation, was adopted with the re that gredually the pressure became so great on the enormous area of wells as the excavation was carried down into depth, that the _ consequence. fell and in 1865 - 1884 the Compeny’s operations resulted in & loss. Tm 1886 the Mine finally collapse only © few wen lost their Lives owing to the full shift not bein the Mine, he surrounding country wes then explored in the | importance were made in the noar vicinity, Pinelly it wes decd to re-open the lode. This was done by the sinking of 2 shefte C & D100 ft. to the north of the lode, insteed of infin the previous re-opening, end working the Mine on an entirely different system to that formerly adopted, In this new method of working all the main ways into depth sre to the north of the lode, entirely outside of it. The lode is ettacked at several horizons et once and es the mineral is removed the space is duly filled with earth lowered from surface in cars and tranumed to the point of filling. This is a somewhat expensive method, but old workings end other matters would not allow of the filling being run directly from surfece. The system hes the advantege of assisting the winding which is important where power is of such great consideration es at Morro Velho. The difficulties contended with in thie the lest re- opening were very great, not only due to the exceptionel depth, but to an enormous body of weter that had sccumlated up to surfece in the old excavation above the new shefts and workings. However, the shefte were sunk et the average rate of 78 feet per month; the weter wes partly drawn off from the old excavation by balers of large capacity working in the A & B shefts end finelly drained by © bore hole end hydraulic apparatus et the lowest point of the excavation where the pressure was 649 1bs to the sq.in. at the moment of the b hole entering the excavation. hole The water from the bore wes led to the pumps worked by en Hydraulic engine designed at Morro Velho, and mede in England. It is situated at Adit Level, end worked by the nebural head of weter brought in some 6 miles by weter course round the mounteins to a reservoir at the top of the sheft; the heed being 492 feet. The engine consists essentially of two 20" rems 11 fect stroke, with the necessary valves, pipes, safety gear, governor, |C4) cherger, ete. The rems are connected by cross-hesd from which the pump rods ere suspended, the pump rode are of forged steel, and connected by suitable cross-heads to 5 double plunger lifts, pleced at each 500 feet in depth. The Shafts were completed in Mey 1692, and as will be seen from the Diagrem No, 1 the profits rose, accompenied by # rapid rise in working cost, ~ the fluctuations in both being lergely de- pendent upon lebour and exchenge, and fluctuation in the value of the mineral es previously steted depending more on the mining operations of the moment then on the variations or continuance of the lode teelf. Diegram No.1 shews fluctuations of exchange from com- mencement of the Company. It will be seen from studying the map thet the vertical depth et present obtained is 4,926 feet from surfece, and as far as it can be determined, this represents the deepest gold mine in existence, although the Bendigo in Australia and some of the Rend Mines are closely approaching its present depth. However, the Company is ebout to continue the main road into depth by the "G" shaft, which will mean en increase of 1,200 feet. One of the great difficulties the Company hes to contend with is thet of increasing temperature. he Diagram No, 2 shews the inoresse of rock and air temperature as the Mine has deepened, but it will be seen that although the temperature of the rock is re- presented by the red line A.B, at the moment of penetrating it, the Mine cools down rapidly efter ebundent ventiletion is aveileble. y This ie effected by powerful fens on the surface end the present electrically driven instelletion, which has recently been erected,draws through the Mine a volume of fresh air of 70,000 cubic feet a minute, end this ventilating plant is capable, of precticelly mpinteining this volume when the Mine is fully developed to the vottom of the proposed "G" shaft, and to Horizon "22", 6,500 feet from surfece measured verticelly. The power for working the Mine is either direct hydraulic or hydreulio power transmitted electrically, whilst within the Mine both electricity and compressed sir are in use. In the case of the former sbout 26 miles of smell canels are in use to bring small mountein stresms to a spitable head at the Mine. There are no less then 8 smell hydro-electric stations et varying distences from one to twenty miles from the Mine, end the Company has been obliged to obtain a large reserve of power on 4 the Rio Peracpeba for the development of the Mine to a greater depth, and to meet the demends common in mining. The power hes been added progressively as the Mine has deepened. The totel horse-power at present being generated amounts a to e total of 3,258. Steam and Gas engines of about 900 horse-power are Kept in reserve. A large part of this power is used for air compressing. The totel capscity of the air compressing plent is about 11,360 oubic feet of free sir per minute. About 75 per cent of this is being used at present, the other 25 per cent being kept in reserve. The compressed air at 60 lbs pressure per sq. in. is used in the Mine for winding engines end rook drills, About 15,000 feet of 12" to 10" diar, steel pipe is required for the transmission of this from surface to the bottom of the Mine. The supply for engines end rock drills is taken from the 12" end 10" pipes by smaller pipes, of which great quantities are in use.The total annuel output of the Mine is given on the Diegram, from the commencement of the Compeny up to the present date. The output for year ending February 1912 was 196,310 tons, an average of 540 tons per day. To keep this up, 14 smell pneumatic rock drills, end 19 large rock drills, - all designed and made on the Mine - were constantly et work, in addition to 100 hand drillers. To get this stone to the "E", "F" & "Q@" Shefts, it is conveyed in cars pushed by hand on the horizons and driven in the main ways either by mules or electric locos; it is drawn finally to surface by the "D" Hydraulic Winding Engine; 22 winding engines using compressed air nust be kept at work. About 505 lbs of dynamite are required daily, and 2,097 steel drills ere sharpened. The filling sent into the Mine in place of the minerel taken out averaged 420 tons per dey, during 1912. 0 give an idea of the extent of the underground workings it might be mentioned thet e car of minerel from Horizon 17 has to travel 1.64 miles to reach the surface. The totel length of wire rope in use including guide ropes is 21 miles. Though there is no water in the new Mine itself, the hydraulic pumping engine has to be kept running through the greater part of the year, to pump water from the old mine excavations. The stone received from the Mine is landed at the Adit, is then heuled up to the Mill by chain haulege, passes over a weighing machine where the weight of minerel is recorded, to a picking table, where all the poor stone is thrown out. This now only 3 amounts to 2 or 3% when formerly the rejection was as high as 20%. 5 The remainder, after pessing through stonebreakers, is delivered byCor) elevetors and cars into the stamp bins. The amount rejected every yeer can be seen from the table, - being the difference between the” quantity raised and the quantity stamped. The stamping power consists of 120 head battery of 750 lbs average weight per head, and 2 20 head battery of 1200 lbs weight per head. ‘The mineral is erushed sufficiently fine to pese 50 mesh grates ( thet is, 2,500 holes per sq.in.), but previous to the introduction of the chemical treetment and Tube Mills, the gauze used was 60 or 3,600 holes to the sq.in. From the stamps the crushed mincral, or send, passes over the concentretion strakes - long strips of coarse canves, heving 2 totel ares of 25,542 sq.ft., on which the heaviest of the send end free gold is caught. These a&rekes are eutomaticelly washed to remove the heavy sand and gold, the concentrate undergoes re-consentration, and the small amount of send remeining is removed. From 60 to 65% of the gold is extrected by this method. The sand seperated is re-crushed 4n the Tube Mills, and treated with chemicals - cyanide chiefly - in the Oxygen Process Plent. By this second process about 25% of the gold is extracted. The remaining 10% which passes away in the tailings up to the present will not pay for recovery. For the year ending February 1912, the ° extraction was actually 92.4%, only 7.6% being lost, a satisfactory result seeing the high % of sulphides. (from $5 to 40). The gold from the 1st and 2nd processes is refined by electrolysis and cast into ingots. The ingots are about the size of sn ordinary brick, each being worth about £ 4,000. The quantity of bullion in a ton of mineral varies from year to year, but an average mey be taken as 6,64 vitavas.4n oitava equels 3,586 grammes, or 15.435 grains, or 8.68 oitavas equals one ounce. 4 lerge proportion of the machinery in use at Morro Velho has boon made on the Mine, and of course, practically all repairs necessary are carried out by the Shops Department, which is responsible for this work, a pattern shop, moulding shop and foundry, fitting shop and smiths' shop are kept fully ocoupied. During the pest year 554 tons of wrought iron work, and £94 tons of cast iron end brass were made, and 66,669 cubic feet of timber used. This Department has charge of the regos or water-courses whioh bring the water for direct hydraulic power and ore-dressing purposes, The total length of these regos in use is 26 miles, formerly the length was much greater, but since the introduction of electric power some of the smeller canals heve been done away with. A brickfield also comes unter the Shops Department, producing enmelly some hundreds of thousands of bricks, tiles, pipes, eto. The hydro-electric stations of which mentioned has been made, ere in the care of the Blectrical Department, as well as all other electrical plent on the Mine. In addition to the Depertments mentioned, there is the Store Department, which purchases all thé stores in the country, end requisitions whet 1s nocossary from England, distributing same to the Depertments as required. ‘The averege monthly consumption of @ few items only will give # rough idea of the work of this Depertment:-Sulphurigskose to icon 2168 Kilos Cyanide of Potassium seeeeee 13340 7m Ceustic Soda . 1528 i Dynamite Sen rir? 4170 = W.I.Pipes & Fittings ...... . 8200 e. Borer Steel eeaseedesssivine 2050 = Zine Ingots tigectshhe i feces 8401 = CeeeNG Ta Cree cae: oe 250 barrels Machine 011 +. 4024 litros Gronge Paolo o? oi eeres ee eter 928 kilos Big iieon See ++ 17300 a Timber ee BES Sco er tees 4722 Cu.ft. Charcoal Sees rec deseednan ake 13295" = It might slso be mentioned that the freights on the Central Reilway for materials brought to the Mine for the year ending February 1911, amounted to £ 11,964.12.8. Other Departments are the Medical, Estate, Drawing office, Survey, Cashier's & Trensport Departments. The Medicel Department is represented by two competent surgeons, end ® considerable steff who attend to all accidents or ceases admitted into the Company's Hospital. This building is more elaborate than might be expected in 6 mining camp. It has 7 wards, up-to-date end fully equipped; operating room, dispensary, research laboratory, X rays & photographic appliances. The Chief medical officer's - hhouse is attached to the Hospitel, and the whole forms @ very com- pact serviceable Depertment.Class Besides the treatment of all employes admitted to the Hospital, 11 work-people have the sdvantege of froe treatment. The Estate Department looks after the Compeny's property, emounting in ell to 90,885 acres, ‘This hes been gradually acquited for the exploration of gold and other minerals. 4s regards the former, the Cuisba & Raposos gold mines are the most importent, On both, @ considerable amount of work has been done by previous owners and by the Company. The more extensively worked is Cuiabe. The mineral areas in both are considerable. Operations heve been practically suspended and will probably continue so until sufficient choap labour can be found and the conditions for economical mining become more favourable. The Iron Lands are very extensive and are undergoing a thorough exploretion so thet when the conditions of the country are more promising as regerds trensport, lebour, ete., the ore can wither be exported on a large scele or converted into iron end steel on the spot. The Estate Department also looks efter the company's houses, representing 2663 rooms, and ell civil matters are dealt ; with by it. The Town population which hes grown up with the Mine amounts to about 10,000 souls. The Transport Department brings in ell machinery, stores, ete., for the Hstablishment from the Railway at a distance of 5 miles. The Coupeny hes for many years proposed to make a line from the Mine to the Central Railway, but partly due to the fluctuations in exchange, insufficient lebour and the large outley necessary for the rail due to the difficult nature of the country to be passedCane: over, necessitating considerable cepital outley, it was postponed until Merch of this year; at this date it wes commenced ena will probably be completed in the present year (1912). when this smell electric railway is in running order it will not only effect a considerable saving in transport of stores, ctc., but will factlitete the Company's operations in many ways. : At the moment of writing these notes, the Company employs about 3,000 people, and there are about 10,000 people in the Town directly or indirectly dependent on the Company. The force is somewhat above the normal at present, owing to the making of the light railway, referred to above. About £13,000 is peid monthly in Native weges. The Diegram gives the results of the Company's operations from 1835 to 1912. F The totals are as follows:- NQna-raised: 75 avests ta ceeeee 6,500,526 Tons crushed 5,140,028 Rejeotion «tests a tenes 6.5 % om Produce £ 10,251,534 equals £1.19.101/g per ton crushed. Dividends & Tax on the first working 1842-67 i.e. up to the time of the fire amounted to & 896,500 Ditto after the fire to Mine Crush ...... £ 556,600 Ditto from re-opening after Crush to present working ..........+5 . £ 658,113 Gotel Dividends & Pax! vt. ..si.s1de-. tees RR eee2,541,933 2,396,765 Rejection ...... ieee eee 5.7% Produce wk een da oie Sass + £ 5,085,942 Dividends & Tax paid ee ceecetecseccscsecees £ 658,115 ~ Bond Interest . £ 275,800 The present cepital equals £ 714,215, of which £ 67,950 is in nortgege bonds to be redeemed at different dates up to 1916. From the commencement ebout 1,000,000 hes been raised for capital. — The illustration below shews three cubes, the bottom representing the bullion extracted from the Wine since the commence. ment of the Compeny, the middle cube the cost, the greater part cf w hea been spent in Brasil, and the top oubde, the profit realised. : The enounts in mil-reis have beon csloulated et en exchange of 168.PROFIT cae e 49.508, 8 9 5$000! CBRE tale cae 104.264 115$000 tele PRODUCE Pate 153.773.010f000 Pe ake