I recall that in the early 1970s after an increase in the price of copper,
Cleveland Cliffs had a joint venture at the Mountain City, Nevada, property with
DuPont, I believe, for production of copper by an in-situ leaching procedure.
As S-X had not yet become well accepted, I believe it was probably an
operation dependent upon precipitating the copper with scrap iron. I do not believe
that operation was very successful or long-lived.
I recall talking to someone about it at that time, and wondering about any
connection with RTZ, but don't believe there was or had been any. So I think
Peter is correct that there hadn't been any tie to London.
It is possible that someone who had been with Cliffs might have some
recollection on the above.
Noel
In a message dated 3/21/08 7:16:41 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:
> 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
>
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