THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF WASHINGTONwas shipped to the Tacoma smelter for
use in smelting copper concentrates. 
 The Day Mines, Inc., annual report also stated that production from the
Gold Dollar ore body continued throughout the year, under lease to the neighboring
mining company, Knob Hill Mines, Inc. The J.O. (Joint Operation) No. 3 vein
was developed from the 13th level, where drifting and crosscutting exposed
200 feet of commercial-grade ore, plus 665 feet of subcommercial veins. 
 Gold-mining operations in Chelan and Ferry Counties accounted for 93 percent
of silver output as a byproduct. Silver waS recovered at an average rate
of 3.4 ounces per ounce of recoverable gold. Lead-zinc operations were responsible
for most of the remainder, with an average content of 2.3 ounces of recovered
silver per ton of concentrate. 
 The prospects for finding new gold-silver ore deposits in the Republic district
of Ferry County were discussed in a published report.1° 
 Western Gold Mining, Inc., resumed exploration work at its Hart's Pass property
in the Cascade Mountains northwest of Wenatchee. 
 
 Lead-Zinc.----The value and quantity of lead produced, primarily from Pend
Oreille (Pend Oreille mine) and Stevens (Van Stone mine) Counties, were down
53 percent and 56 percent, respectively, from the 1966 totals. Zinc output,
mostly from the Pend Oreille mine and the Calhoun mine (Stevens County),
amounted to 21,540 tons valued at nearly $6 million, compared with 24,772
tons valued at $7 million in 1966. 
 According to the company annual report, the Pend Oreille mine yielded 292,628
tons of ore compared with 594,654 tons in 1966, and through 1967 the property
had processed a total of 12,380,712 tons of ore. Total costs per ton of ore
were $5.462 compared with $4.258 in 1966. The 
1967 cost figure included 0.973 cent per ton for strike costs. Because of
the decreased tonnage mined due to the strike, as well as reduced lead and
zinc prices, concentrate sales of Pend Oreille Mines & Metals Co. declined
to $1.2 million from $2.9 million of the previous year. 
841 
 
 American Smelting and Refining Company suspended operations indefinitely
at its Van Stone mine at Colville on May 1. Last year, the mine yielded 13
percent of Asarco's total national zinc output. 
 American Zinc Co.'s Calhoun concentrator near Leadpoint was operated throughout
the year at its rated capacity of 1,200 tons of lead-zinc ore per day. 
 
 Uranium.—Western Nuclear, Inc., began engineering studies on a mining
and milling system to develop uranium ore deposits on the Spokane Indian
Reservation, Stevens County. Metallurgical studies. of the ore were done
at the company's existing mill facility at Jeffrey City, Wyo. The 10 million
pounds of uranium oxide reserve outlined by Western Nuclear's exploratory
drilling was in a conglomerate 100 feet thick, capped by sandstone and shale.
The flat-lying deposit was to be mined by open-pit methods. A mill of 3,000-
to 4,000-ton-per-day capacity was being planned by the firm. Production of
an estimated 1.25 million pounds of uranium oxide annually was planned to
commence in January 1971. 
 Dawn Mining Co. (Midnite mine), 51 percent owned by Newmont Mining Corp.,
and 49 percent by Midnite Mines, Inc., contracted for sale of uranium oxide
to Jersey Central Power and Light Co., and Metropolitan Edison Co., subsidiaries
of General Public Utilities Corp. of New York. The uranium oxide was to be
produced from Dawn Mining Co.'s idle Spokane Indian Reservation open-pit
mine. The company suspended mining operations in 1965 after having produced
sufficient uranium oxide to complete a sales contract with the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission. Dawn Mining agreed to sell 2.5 million pounds of uranium
oxide in concentrates to the New York area power companies over a 3½-year
period starting in January 
1970. 
 
 Zirconium.—Construction of a $3 million zirconium tubing plant for
Sandvik Special Metals Corp., announced in 1966, was underway at Kennewick.
The plant was to be completed in January 1968. 
 
 10 Muessig, Siegfried. Geology of the Republie Quadrangle and Part of the
Aneas Quadrangle, Ferry County, Washington. U.S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 1216,
1967, pp. 38.