In the late 1920s and early 1930s there was a Salt Lake City company started
by S. Frank Hunt called Rio Tinto Copper Company (RTCC). RTCC was a penny
stock float, that initially, unsuccessfully tried to raise money to explore
for copper beneath a rather barren gossan near Mountain City, Nevada.
Finally, Ogden Chase, a stock broker/promoter hit upon the idea of giving
away shares of RTCC stock, then assessing stock holders a few cents a share
and using that money to drive an exploratory decline beneath the gossan
outcrop. In 1932, RTMC's decline hit a significant copper ore body that
became the basis for the highly profitable the Mountain City Copper mine,
which soon became controlled by Anaconda. Afterward Ogden Chase became
president of several new mining companies including one that leached copper
at Chloride, Arizona. I don't know the name of the Chase company that
operated at Chloride. Larry James recently wrote an excellent paper,
"Exploration of the Rio Tinto Gosan, North-Eastern Nevada: How Prospector S.
Frank Hunt Discovered the Mountain City Copper Mine" from which the above
comments were derived. I'll look for the name of the publication in which
Larry James's article appeared and put you in touch with Larry. I'd bet your
Rio Tinto in Arizona ends up connected with Ogden Chase not London.
Peter
>From: Jim Besleme <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: "The mining-history list." <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Request
>Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:18:24 EDT
>
>Hello All,
>
>Currently working on some mining history in Arizona.
>
>Can someone direct me to the Rio Tinto group in the UK, hopefully to one
>of
>their historians, to make an inquiry about a base metal mine that they may
>have had in western Arizona during the 1938-1942 time frame. What I am
>looking
>for is the mine's name and general location.
>
>Any help will be greatly appreciated.
>
>Jim Besleme
>USA
>
>
>
>**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
>Home.
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