Page 113 - The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico - Bulletin 10

112 GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF SIERRA CO., N. M. operations in the Carpenter district was told to the writer while in the field with Mr. D. M. Miller of Lake Valley.
In the northern part of the Carpenter district, around what is generally known as the Grand View camp, are a number of small properties, including the Spates or Mineral Mountain, the Teel and others. Near the southern end, in the Grand Cen- tral area and along the shear zone between the two camps, are the Perault and the McGee claims, with several smaller holdings surrounding them.
Many of these properties are still prospects, and no ore has been shipped from them except that which has been removed from shallow surface workings to be closely hand sorted and shipped in lots of a few tons each. The properties coming under this classification as to size are the McGee, Perault, Spates, Mitch-Gray and others. In all of these workings some ore was found in irregular bunches and stringers within the shear zone, and further development work would doubtless serve to uncover additional ore of a like nature. It is not known, however, whether excessive development would be required to continue locating new ore pockets to supplant those being worked out. The camp is so isolated that profitable mining on an average grade of ore seems out of the question without large tonnages of this ore being
adequately proven prior to operation.
ROYAL JOHN MINE
The Royal John mine, formerly the Grand Central, has been known for many years and has been extensively developed under the management of several different financial groups. It is re- ported that the late Mr. J. M. Sully and associates obtained an option on the property in 1914, and some drilling was done which served to block out 75,000 tons of lead-zinc ore of milling grade, but the ground was very hard, and comparisons of the estimates of expense and recovery did not warrant a continuance of the option.
A mill was installed on the property by the Monarch Mining & Milling Co. in 1906 and 1907, but it did not operate successfully and was soon shut down. The plant was later taken over by the Black Range Mining Corp., who remodeled and operated it in 1927, but with no better results. In 1928 the Royal John mill and mine were acquired by the Asarco Mining Co., a subsidiary of the American Smelting & Refining Co., and the mill was re- modeled into a modern flotation plant of about 200 tons daily capacity. Much development work was done, and a moderate tonnage of ore was milled, but operations were discontinued in 1929. In 1930, A. L. Owen operated the mill for a short time, and he is reported to have produced several hundred tons each of lead and zinc concentrates. It is roughly estimated that this district has produced around 15,000 tons of ore, which has yielded, by various methods of treatment, 30 tons of high-grade