840 MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
 Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. announced that a plant to produce %-inchdiameter
rod used for making electrical conduit wire was to be added to its Tacoma
complex. Intalco Aluminum Corp. also was to add rod mill facilities at its
Ferndale reduction plant, where electrical conduit wire would be made from
molten aluminum by a continuous casting process. Reynolds Metals Co. began
construction of a cable plant at the Longview complex scheduled for completion
in 1968. Included in the operation were to be two holding furnaces and a
Properzi unit, which continuously casts molten metal, by quick chilling,
into a millable shape for subsequent reduction to rod and wire. 
 A bulk alumina storage facility, a metal hemispheric dome with 55,000 tons
of capacity, owned by the Port of Tacoma but leased to Kaiser Aluminum &
Chemical Corp., was placed in operation in June with the arrival of 25,000
long tons of alun~dna from Queensland, Australia, destined for Kaiser Aluminum
& Chemical Corp.'s reduction works at Tacoma and Mead. Initially, 300,000
long tons of Queensland alumina was to be handled through the Port of Tacoma
annually for use at the Tacoma and Mead reduction plants. Plans include waterborne
deliveries by ore carriers with 55,000-long-ton capacity. 
 The Port of Everett announced that agreements had been made with Anaconda
Aluminum Co. to undertake the revenue bond financing of a planned $3.5 million
cargo handling and alumina unloading facility on the Everett waterfront.
Construction of the facility, which was to be used to transfer alumina from
ocean freighters to rail cars for movement to Anaconda's Columbia Falls,
Mont., reduction plant, was scheduled for completion in July 1969. Anaconda
Aluminum Co. planned to ship 350,000 long tons of Jamaican alumina per year
through the Port of Everett. The total construction project included a specially
designed, multipurpose crane, storage dome, and rail car loader. 
 A study of the potential growth of the Pacific Northwest aluminum industry
was published by BPA. A fivefold increase in the productive capacity of the
regional aluminum industry was anticipated by 1985, from 800,000 short tons
in 1965 to 
3.8 million in 1985.8 
 Copper.—Kennecott Copper Corp. continued to study the possibility
of developing a copper deposit in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area of the
North Cascade Mountains. The proposed mine was to be an open-pit operation
expected to yield 12,000 to 15,000 tons of copper per year. Kennecott owns
350 acres and has mining rights to 3,000 acres on Miners Ridge, 70 miles
northeast of Everett in the Mount Baker National Forest. 
 Chiwawa Mines, Inc., of Spokane, was organized to explore a copper prospect
staked in the late 1800's near Chiwawa Mountain in the Leavenworth mining
district, Cascade Range. Geological and mining engineering work was performed
during the year at the 1 7-claim property 5 miles east of the Glacier Peak
copper property of Kennecott Copper Corp. 
 At Tacoma, American Smelting and Refining Co. announced a plan that was
to cost several million dollars for expansion of refined copper capacity.
When completed, the expansion was to increase employment by 150 people. 
 
 Gold—Silver.—A continuing decrease in gold and silver production
resulted in declines in value from the 1966 figures of 14 and 9 percent,
respectively. Production of gold and byproduct silver continued to be from
established mines in Ferry County (Knob Hill and Gold Dollar mines). The
known gold-silver ore at the Gold King mine in Chelan County, operated by
L-D Mines, Inc. was exhausted in February, and mining and milling were terminated.
The Gold King mine, Washington's second largest gold producer, had been operated
continuously for 17 years. According to the annual report of Day Mines, Inc.,9
production during the first 2 months of 1967 at the Gold King mine before
the gold-silver mining and milling operation was shut down, amounted to 6,951
tons of ore averaging 0.21 ounce of gold and 0.26 ounce of silver per ton.
The property was placed on a standby basis, with the expectation that a higher
price for gold could make the low-grade material profitable in the future.
In the past because of a high silica content, some Gold King ore 
 
 8 Bloch, Ivan, and Samuel Moment. The Aluminum Industry of the Pacific Northwest.
Bonneville Power Administration Pacific Northwest Economic Base Study for
Power Markets, v. 2, pt. 7B, 1967, 287 pp. 
 Day Mine, Inc. Annual Report. 1967, 15 pp.