Cripple Creek, March 18. (Special Correspondence)—At the meeting of the stockholders of the Ajax mine, held at Denver last month, the proposition of the company building its own mill was brought up. It was favorably considered, and the construction of the plant should take place in the near future.

Ajax—The Clancy process will soon be in full operation, it is said. Crushing has commenced and the 500-ton tanks will be filled at once. A. M. Warwick is manager.

The Clancy Process.—In our issue of January last we gave a long abstract of a paper by J. C. Clancy describing his cyanide process, in which calcium cyanamide is used as the source of cyanide. In Mining Science for November 9, A. W. Warwick, chief metallurgist to the Moore Filter Co., which owns the process, describes the new plant erected at the Ajax mine, Cripple Creek, for the purpose of treating low-grade sulpho-telluride ores that have not so far been profitable.
Mr. Warwick prefaces his article by saying that the plural is necessary for describing the ores of this mine, as there is a great variety of them, and it has proved advantageous to keep them apart when treating
them by the Clancy process.
Readers of our former article will know that in this process the solution contains calcium cyanamide, potassium cyanide, sulpho-cyanide, and iodide, and that the solution is electrolysed with the object of obtaining the nascent oxygen required for the reaction. The sulpho-cyanide and iodide are not lost, and the solution can be used over again, the necessary cyanide being obtained by the continual addition of cyanamide.
During the experiments at the Ajax plant, the important discovery was made that much less electric current can be used than was at first supposed, and thus a cost that might have threatened the process has been removed. Here a current density of only 5 to 7 amperes per square foot of electrode is used, instead of 50 as originally figured.
This makes a great difference, and during a 24 hours agitation the energy required will only be from one-tenth to one-seventh of a kilowatt per ton of ore, instead of 4,5 kilowatts.
The plant has a capacity of 200 tons per day. The ore is crushed in rolls and then reduced to 150 mesh in tube-mills, the solution being introduced in the latter. Subsequently the pulp is sent to agitators having a capacity of 80 to 100 tons dry, the ratio of ore to solution being 1: 1½.
In each agitator is 20 electrode-baskets, each having an anode surface of 4 sq. ft. and a capacity of 35 amperes. After agitation the pulp goes to Moore filters and the solution zinc-dust precipitation-boxes. The movement of the pulp is effected throughout by air-lift. The results obtained at this plant will be awaited with unusual interest.

Denver Dec. 9—The Clancy plant, at the Ajax, is in operation and will have its tonnage to report for December.

Much of the low-grade ore is now being treated by mills at the mines. A recent acquisition to the list is the Ajax. This mill has just been completed and its most notable feature is the use of the Clancy process for treating raw telluride ore.
This involves the use of calcium cyanamide and the electric current. The process is little understood as yet, and as this is the first instance of its application upon a commercial scale, the results of an extended trial will be awaited with much interest.

According to local statistics, the following Cripple Creek mill gold production was:

Name
Tons.
Av. val.
Gross value.
Colburn Ajax
4,245
2.59
11,674

According to local statistics, the following Cripple Creek mill July output was:

Plant
Tons
Av. val.
Gross value.
Colburn-Ajax
4,400
2.84
12,496

During July, eight of the local mills, the Portland, Stratton's Independence, Colburn-Ajax, Kavanagh-Jo Dandy, Gaylord-Dante, Rex Mining & Milling Co., Wild Horse, and Isabella plants, treated 35,373 tons of ore with a gross value of $85,428.
This low-grade ore ranged in value from $1.10 to $2.84 per ton, with a general average value of $2.41 per ton.

According to local statistics, the following Cripple Creek mill August output was:

Plants
Ore treated tons
Av. val. per ton
Gross val.
Colburn-Ajax
5,580
$ 3.20
$ 17,856

The reported production of the following district mill during September was as follows:

Plants
Tonnage
Av. val.
Gross val.
Colburn-Ajax
5,285
3.25
$ 18,931

A new tube-mill and more powerful electric motor are to be added to the plant at the Colburn mill owned and operated by the Ajax Gold Mining Co.
The November production will be about 7100 tons of ore. The mine is shipping ore to both custom and its own mill for treatment.

The Estimated production of the following district mill during November is as follows:

Where treated
Tons
Av. value
Gross value
Colburn-Ajax
5,000
$ 4.00
$ 20,000