Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-10-01
NO. 331.
Concentration of Ores.

The Salt Lake Tribune describes A new process of using lOw-grade ores.
 lt says: Where galena ores are mixed
 with quartz, and there is Bn abundaus
 supply of water, the ore can be cheaply
 concentrated and brought up to such
 standard as wlll give margin above
 costs of hauling and working. The usual
 plan with such ore is to run it through nggers, which get rid of the quartz
 as waste, and save the valuable ore al-
 most Tree from other substances such as l lessen its value. But in many localities
 there IS a difficulty in getting a supply
 of water tO operate such !igs, and the
 cost of concentrating ores IS too great
 t. give any profit to the miner. At the | Yosemite mine, Bingham, there are | thousands of tons of low grade ore,
 such as Is called black pyrites, besides ! Q large quantity of carbOnates. As this ore shows about p per cent. lead, seven
 or eight ounces of silver, and Sl in gold
 the balance being pyrites of iron and black quartz gangue requiring roasting and expensive process of reduction, it
 Is easily to be seen that 1t will not pay
 to ship. But if the valuable part of this
 ore can be concentrated. .s0 as e. reduce
 three or -four tons into one, and tn cost
 of this concentration Is not too great
 there IS money in doing 1t. The specific
 gravities of quartz being 2.5, pyrite ,.
 and gelena 7.5, 1t Is easy tO separate
 these three articles by using proper ma
 chineTy and plenty Of water. The com
 mon plan for doing this isiwith jigger
 being simply twO-cOmpsrtment box, in
 one of which IS plunger to agitate the
 water, while the other has an outlet for the water through sieves, over which passes the ore to the concentrated. Thls class of Jigger does good work where the ore IS galena and quartz, except that 1t requires much hard labor, and frequent delays, while taking out the concentra- tons. The owners of the Yosemite mine found that such IIggers were not what they should be for handling the pyrItes ore of their mlne, and they have lately devised and put IF operation jlggrr which embraces the same prInci- ples of all the others, but IS so arranged as to work almost constantly without interruption, and at the same time se- cure better results. The plunger com pertinent has hinged valve for the admission of water and an opening on the other side to let the water flow out when forced by the pIunger. Such an r4 the purpose of giving an intermittent flow through the machine instead of constant stream of water As the wa ter IS forced out 1t passes through a second compartment, thence up through a sieve, over which IS fed the ore to be operated upon. This ore reaches the sieve through hopper and spout. The sIeye IS placed on a slant, so that the ore passes across 1t lengthways. during which time 1t is agitRted and washed by ibe water being forced up at intervals. The fine ore, called hutchings, falls through the sieve and passes into the Dlunger compartment, while the first ,lass ore goes out of another place and ialls to the bottom of the second com DartmeDt or box, and the middlings inds its place in the third box, while Inc pyrites goes out through the tail ngs pipe. When the boxes get filled with the good ore, a plug Is drawn and he water washes the ore down upon floor, ready to be placed m bins for frying and shipping.
 Such a machine as We have attempted O describe IS capable of concentrating en or twelve tons of crude ore per day, nd one man will be able to operate rom one to five such.
 To estimate the value of the operation f concentrating ores We give the value f each class. Crude ore carrying ? tr cent lead, eight ounces silver and ! in gold, Is worthless for shipping When concentrated 1t gives for every hrse or four tons of crude one ton of .ood, carrying 75 per cent. lead, twenty me ounces silver and g in gold. Now his product of heretofore useless rticle is worth at present puces S44 fhen delivered at the smelters in the alley. ForIts production the company Ire at the following expense: For nm ng and concentrating, SlO; transpor- ation, S7.5O; samphng and handling Sl, making total cost of SlS.5O. which caves a margin of S29.50 to the owners.