The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-01-04
THE COPPER SHELTER.
A Mammoth Enterprise in Sue
cessful Operation.

1t was a question long undecided in
Butte whether or not the reduction of
copper ore in this district could be made
to pay, and among the first to undertake
its solution was the Montana Copper
Company of New York, a close corpora
ton having its headquarters in New
York City. Interpretations ofthe company
were first conducted under the superin-
tendency of Col. c. T. Meader who,
afterward relinquished his position to
Sally Raunheim, the present manager.
The property of the company consist
of the Mountain and Colusa mines,
described elsewhere, and the concen-
trating and reduction works built during
the past summer at Meaderville, two
miles in a northwesterly direction from
Butte. The business of the company
during the first several months of it's
existence was confined to the shipping
of copper ore, about 5000 tons in all
having been sent East for reduction.
That the experiment was successful in a
financial point of view, there can be n
doubt. If it was possible, therefore, to
ship ore in a crude state and realize a
profit, it was quite evident to the COM
pany that the reduction of ore where
produced would result in far greater
benefits. Besides this many hundred
tons of low grade ore, carrying less than
80 per cent. copper, We're of necessity
extracted in order to allow the sorting of
the shipping ore. Over ZOO tons of low
grade ore are now on the dump of the
Colusa mine, and whether or not this
quality of ore were susceptible of prof.
table treatment became an important
question, for if it could be worked at a
margin, it was known that the amount
which could be extracted vas pract cally
limitless, such is the width of til ore
bodies in the Mountain and &olusa
mines.
After practical tests and careful figur-
ing, therefore, it was DETERMINE to
build concentration and reduction ks.
These were erected under the pei nal
supervision of Mr.. Wartenweiler, an
eminent metallurgist, and a man of ex-
perience and Judgment, to whose
thorough knowledge of the business the
success of the company's enterprise is
mainly due. 1t was argued by a few
skeptical gentlemen that the proportion
of arsenic contained in the ore was too
great to be entirely eliminated, in which
case they asserted the matte when
produced would be comparatively worth
less, but Mr.. Wartenweiler's method of
reduction has demonstrated the possible
ity of rendering the production of the
smelter unobjectionable in this pals Gu
lar, and the operations of the company
have been successful to a marked degree.
The buildings v an area of IA, 1000
square feet. They are fitted up with
two 35-horse power boilers, and a 3O-horse
power engine, which are amply sufficient
to furnish the power required. The pro-
cess employed, though seemingly COM
plicated is in reality a simple one In
the concentration the ore is first fed into a
rock-breaker of the Blake pattern, from
L ~ lliu puSSCS GlllOuSl
large rollers. From these it is taken by
conveyors to four sizing screens. The
coarser particles which do not pass
through the screens, are then crushed
between a pair of small rollers, when
the ore is again elevated to the screens
through which it all passes before being
subjected to the next treatment. From
the screens the bulk of the ore descends
into several sets of jiggers, through
which there is a constant flow of water
and in which it is manipulated in such {
manner that the lighter particles ar,
thrown to the surface and washed
away, while the metallic portion
settles to the bottom and is saved. Tha
portion of the ore, however, which i
%pulverized in its passage through tn
rollers, and is consequently too fine t.
undergo the process of jigging, is con
centrated in a different way, being con
Quoted from the screens to a pair O
Frue II These consist of rubbe
bands about two feet wide, which turf
slowly on two rollers placed at eithe
end the of machine. In addition to tn
revolving motion the vanner have
jerky, lateral movement, the result G
= their operation being that when tn
! shines mixed with a proportion of waite
descend from the screens to the rubbe
tables (Which have a slight inclination
the non-mineral particles are carrie'
= downward and washed away, Will
:. those charged heavily with metal adher
: to the rubber and pass in the opposit
, direction, being dumped off into a II
ceiver at the other end. After tn
concentration of the ore, it is elevate
to the reverberatory furnaces-four i
number-where it is desulphurized an