Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-10-17
REBELLIoUs ORES.
An Invention that will Result in Reopen
ing Many Abandoned Mines.

An Invention that Will Result In Aeopen-
ing Many Abandoned Mines.
The following article on the Mofitt
process for the reduction Of rebellious
ores will be ofinterest to every practical
miner in this section of country. II is
taken from the Stockton, Cal, Inde-
pendent and describes a recent and
valuable invention for the treatment of
class Of ore that abounds in the Hills
as well as IN California. The old story
Of promising assays, high expectations
and then blasted hopes and mines de-
serted, because of the impossibllity to
separate the precious metals from the
baser ones. has been repeated over and
over again in the Black Hills, and every
stride of science toward the solution of
the perplexing problem, will be hailed
with Joy here, as well as on the Pacific
coast. ~
j. r. Moflitt. miner and inventor of
this city, after more than year of patti.
| ent labor and at great expense, has per-
fected his invention of a reducer for re-
! place the machine in mines The great
! importance TO miners of separating gold
and silver from what are known as re-
! beiiious ores need not be here reviewed.
! TO handle such ores by process that
will yield a fair return for the labor and
expense involved has for many years
been considered an insouble problem.
Millions Of dollars have been lost in the
/ pfi IN 1a 10
going on.
The Boise City Democrat few days
! ago contained description of a device
on which resident of that place receiv-
ed a patent. The process is substantially
the same as one abandoned by MIR.
Motlitt in 1880 az unsatisfactory. Similar
devices have been tried in several Cali
fornia mines and abandoned as leaving
no profit after the ores were reduced by
them and no means yet employed have
done the work. 1t is well known that
much Of the rebellious ores along the
Pacific coast are rich in precious metals,
but the difficulty and expense of work.
ing them caused large number Of
mines TO be abandoned. The ASSAYS
| show them to be rich in mineral. but
the practical result of reducing them is
never equal to the assay. A study of
these facts caused Mr.. Moffitt TO begin
his experiments, which he has carried
on for years, and now he has, he be-
lieses. solved the problem of reducing
those ores quickly while saving all Of
the precious metals.
One of the difficulties 10 be overcome
was the loss Of the metal by volatiIizing
at the high temperature necessary to de-
compose the bases with which it is mixed
in the ore. The agents he employs in
the reduction are intense heat and COM
pressed air His apparatus is compact,
| requiring very little room, can be set up
under temporary shed, and is readily
taken apart and set up again. Its con-
struction is such that, when taken apart,
the largest and heaviest parts can be
packed on animals and carried over
mountain trails. The fuel may be either
wood or coal, whichever is the most
convenient TO be had.
Experts who have examined the
Motiitt process have commended it AS
the most effective aud certain Elods %
treating ores ofany sind. One difficulty
in all other processes has been over
come in Motiilt's by the operation being
continuous, the puiverized ore being fed
at one end Of the apparatus and the re-
duced or decomposed materials with the
released metal being discharged at The
other. The principal agents in the de-
composition of the ores are jets or sheets
OF air at high pressure from blower
within closed and highly heated rotat-
ing cylinder. The pulverized ore is thus
held in the highly heated atmosphere
of the rotating cylinder until il is per-
iectly decomposed. While undergoing
this process Jets of fresh air are forced
into the cylinder from an inner cylinder
and drive the metal under water. The
heat produced in the cylinder may be
termed incandescent. This is sufficient
TO burn up and DESTROY the base metals,
etc. in the ores and volatile the preci-
Gus metals. In this condition all the
material ia forced under water, where
the gold and silver, being indestructible,
are precipitated while most OF the other
materials hold in solution pass off. The
gold and silver, assuming globular forms,
run together as they are discharged and
are readily separated from such of the
refuse as does not float away.
The Motiitt process is regarded as a
decided step toward the successful work
ing of many mines that are now idle.
The apparatus now at work in Mr.. Mof-
| fits experiment works has a capacity
Of about one ton an hour. 1t is not only
a reducer, but an amalgamator, because
the metals being so completely freed
| from all other materials are rendered
pure ana readily amalgamate. In most
cases the metals cah be separated by
washing, which greatly reduces the ex-
pense of mining as compared with the
ordinary processes.
Mr.. Motfitt has patents issued in 1885
and 1890, and has many claims now on
| file covering the process as well as the
| devices. This shows how long he has
labored and indicates the great expease
he has incurred in perfecting his inven-
| ton, which to many who see it looks
simple, though it has hitherto bafiled
the skill and experience of mining men
all over the world
The success of the reducer would not
have been so great had not Mr. Moffitt
constructed an auxiliary in the form of
pulyerizer to reduce the ores as much
as possible before being fed to the de-
composing cylinder. The pulverizer
and reducer will, he thinks, give great
impetus to mining in California, where
many Of the abandoned mines show as
says of from 50 to $40 per ton of gold in
the ores, which it will not pay to reduce
by anJ' Of the processes yet employed.