Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-02-20


not to be condemned by US, but care.
fully looked into.
For this reason we have devoted
considerable time to preliminary ex.
animation of the process, and are now
prepared to state that it il, in our
opinion, the coming process for this
region, by means of " hich every con-
siderable mine may have Its own
works, aud reduce its ores at less than
one fourth the cost Of smelling.
The TIMES is not the only newspa>
per that has looked into this matter.
Many leading publications have dore
likewise, and not the least of these is
that old and reliable friend of the in
dustry, the San Francisco Mining and
Scientific Press. We copy the fol.
lowing from recent issue of that pub
lication:
&C.. it'll this issue Of the Mining and
Scientific Press appears the first of a
| series Of articles ON the Russell Pro-
cess in Its Practical Application and
Economic Results" AS the subject
will be- continued through several
numbers, it will be we'll to give here
a short description of the process, and
a summary Of the remarkable results
SO far at,niued by it.
"Ths chemicals used in the process
are any form of copper soluble in a
hyposulphite solution, an acid and
carbonate of an alkali-this term in
Guiding, as in works on chemistry,
both the mono car Donate and bi>car.
Donate. OF the above chemicals the
most important is the compound Of
copper from which is formed the Gu.
prous hyposuIphite generally known
AS the "extra solution" The object
o. the use OF the copper compound is
partly the naturalization of caustic
Impurities accommodating IN the stock
solution, but mainly the dissolving and
removing OF gold and silver cons
pounds by the action on them of Gu.
prous hyposulphite. Whether the
copper compound is added to the ore
during the teaching with hyposul-
phitc solution or before, in some other
solution, is immaterial. 10 the former
case compound Of copper soluble in
hyposulphite solution is dissolved in
it and the resulting compound sclu-
ton allowed to pass through the ore.
In the latter case q copper compound
ii an aqueous or any other solution is
Introduced into the ore before the use
of the hyposulphi'e solution. From
this ISOLATION the copper spreoipitated
in the ore by carbonates or other COM
pounds existing naturally in the ore
or mixed with it. The redisso!ving OF
the precipitated copper by the hypc-
sulphte solution subsequently used
forms the "extra soluuon'' IN the ore
The use of the acid for the purpose of
destroying caustic a.kali in the leach.
ing solution. 1t is not required in
the treatment o: raw ore, aud seldom
in the treatment of roasted ore, as the
"extra solution" also acts as neutral.
izer OF canstio impurities. AS the
solution dissolves 10 moro lime from
ores containing so per cent. than from
those having one.half Of one per cert,
the amount of acid required is indie
pendent of the lime contents Of the
ore. The soluble carbonate NAV be
used: First, for the purpose of re-
moving impurities other than caustic
alkali from the solution; or for pre-.
cipitating the lead in the ore. Second
for precipitating the lead by itself
from the solution containing the pre-
cious metals and lead. In the first
| CISC luC CdToOtutS Is 8Iueu 10 the
solution before using upon the ore,
and in the second case to the solution
already used.
APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS.
Mechanically in it's ability to treat
,he finest and coarsest material. as
well as chemically. the process has a
wide applicability. Except in one
case, that Of row s'aty tailings from
ore crushed originally for amalgama-
ton ard through 5O.mesh screen,
no difficulty has been experienced in
the mechanical. treatment of any ma