The Elk Mountain pilot., 1881-08-25

lluf the nifty per cent. OF silica in Your
ore. Theoretically every fifty pounds
of silica would require about sixty
pounds of iron ere and ffty-three
polhds and half of lime stone. That
is i your iron ore were pure iron rust
or iron oxlde-which it never is-and
your lime stone were a pure car
boHate of lime or marble, which would
ver7 rarely be. the case. Practically
ltequires much additional iron and
lime TO the above. The iron ore and
line stene will each have some silica
Of taeir own and foreign substances
@fffc fclfntist be considered. ASA zen
eral thing it would require-consider-
ing that there was a residuum of sui
phur IN your ore after roasting, about
seventy pounds of iron ore and sixty
five pounds of lime stone to fifty
pounds of pure quartz Or it would
require to each ton Of your ore I,4oo
weight of iron ore and 1900 weight
of lime stone. Estimating the cost
per ton Of iron ore at $40, and the
cost of lime stone at S8-and this is
low for many vicinities-the cost of
the combined fuxes fer one ton of ore
would be s12.2o.
If the ore is not particularly wet
$50 pounds OF fuel composed of one
half coke and the other half charcoal.
IS sufficient to reduce one ton Of the
charging material, that is the ore with
It's tiuXes. Deductlng the nuxes from
the charge, that is the iron, lime an d
about fifteen per cent of reduced Stag,
we find that it requires 800 pounds of
fllel!to reduce ore ton of the ore un-
der consideration. This fuel at ordi-
nary rates will cost about one cent
per pound. Add this to the above and
we already have cost Of s211o per
each ton of ore. But this is not all.
YoiF ore may have considerable pyri-
tealwhich will reeasSitate roasting.
/ and stffifs VIII enhance tss@a55ee 80 q
$4,000 /; perhaps more if the procure
ment OF wood is a dear item. The
operating cost of running a furnace
that viii treat eighteen tons of ore per
day IS about 500 or S3.53 per ton.
This added 10 the above would give
total cost per ton Of ore of nearly
SIS. A smelter, in order to make
himself secure agalns: all loss, could
not afford to treat such ore for less
than $50 per ton. And even then it
would be hazardous, for | have con
sldered that he is running all the time,
whereas he would be shut down often,
when his expenses would continue at
from $40 to $50 per day If this sup
positional ore | have been talking OF
ran $50 silver per ton, the smelter
could not afford to give you over SIS
per ton for it. 1t would not be safe to
do so. And of the two parties you
will be more likely to make money
than he. He can not realize all the
lead and silver, nor can it be done by
any process. And mill men cannot af-
ford to pay for what they will never
see.
There are two factors of cost in
smelling that must always be closely
considered. The operative cost and
the consumptive cost. The operative
cost varies but little at different points,
and is quite stable at any one point.
so that it can be relied on as an un-
varying sum of expenditure in treat
INC each ton OF ore. 1t includes. the
employment Of all operatives connect
ed with the mill The consumptive
cost not only must vary greatly at diff:
terert points, but varies constantly
with each ton Of ore This cost In
cludes the Auxe5, fuel, and fuel for en-
CINE. and various small items. 1t viii
be seen from what | nave written how
much more costly it would be to treat
ton of ore by the smelling proces:
that ran seventy-five per cent. II
silica, although it might run high
in silver. A little increase in the
price Of huxes and fuel greatly en-
hances the cost in reducing each tor
Of ore. Suppose, as is often the case
that your ore contains thirty per cent
of pyrites. In buying this stiff tht