The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-02-20
REFINING THE COPPER.
New %Electrolytic Plant Of the Bos-
ton and Montana Mining
Company.
It Will Turn Out Over q Million
Pounds of the Metal Each
Month.
Tho ~Sclantiic Young New Highlander Who
Wont to Wales to Got His
Knowledge.

Few persons, sven In Great Falls, have
auy notion of the v~astness of the Boston u
Montana plant at Black Eagle falls. FEWER
still are keeping pace with its growth.
Roughly speaking. citizens know that there
10 a great smelter there, but the gigantic
dimensions Of the industry itself and the
results obtained are like unknown lands to
the majority Of citizens here, though they
live but a few miles from the plant itself.
Mr.. h. r. Caulfeld. the shrewd and scisn-
tito young New EnelandsH who has just
completed the electrolytio works for refining
the pig copper produced At the smelter. will
leave for the east to-day over the Great
Northern, and kindly showed a Tribune
rsportsr over the new works yesterday. Nj.
Csulteld 10 not more thar % years old, but
he Is, perhaps. possessed OF some OF the
most important secrets OF copper senning-
secrets which enable him to save all the
gold and silver from these base ores in
stead Of having these precious metals 90
into the Golfers of the Welsh refners 1t 10
said that he learned some of the secrets
from working a. a boy in the Welsh REIN
cries. whittier he went for the express pur-
pose Of mastering this important art. He
has certainly established here a rennlng
plant that is q marvel Of simplicity, soon
omy and effectiveness.
Many things had to be done before such
a plant was possible. There must be q
practically inexhnustible supply of ore
available to begin with, and then must
come the work of the concentrator and
shelter, the casting of tho copper in pigs
containing all the other metals carried In
the ores, and q certain percentage OF i'm
p~urities. The refining process alone will
Be touched on in this article.
Al 10 generally known, tho Montana
eopper ores are among the richest in the
world, the ores running up to III per cent
or more in copper, while the natural copper
of the Lake Superior region 10 considered
yery rich when it reaches three per cent.
But the Montana ores also contain paying
ouautities of silver and gold-that is to
say. quantities that are worth saving al
though not sufficient to pay for mining
them for their own Rakes alone. The other
metals which must be removed before the
conner can be turned out chemically pure
are traces of arsenic. antimony. tin, iron
and bismuth.
Ths electrolytio process 10 q combination
of chemicals and electricity. So to speak,
tho arst ID the medium and the last the
agent. To the lsyman it is a mystery and
y marvel, and even the scientific man who
plans the whole thing and puts It into
operation has only \ theory as to WHY tho
things done are done BY i. The
Brought up from the smelser, each
Weighing about 200 pounds. These
arc hung in acid baths which are kept al
ways at q certain temperature, Some OF
the important secrets exist in the composi-
ton of these baths. Each tank contains
about twenty anodes, which are thick sheets
feet, being held II place BY projecting ears
which rest on tho sides of the tanks. They
are hung close together and between them
in regular succession come thin sheets OF
pure copper. which hang in the bath in like
manner. A thing which strikes one as
peculiar is that while the acid and electric
current. acting together, disintegrate the
copper of the anode, eating IL away until
nothing remains but the rim that is above
the surface of the bath, they deposit the
chemically pure copper on the adjoining
plates and disregard the slime containing
all the other metals that are in the ores.
With the naked eye the fine particles Of
copper that have been released from the
nnode can be seen taking their places on
the thin sheet. and the marvel ia that they
there Join and adhere to each other like the
particles in a sheet of rolled copper.
MIR. Caulfeld had a sheetthus made taken
out and bent backwards and forwards on
the floor. and after all that rough usage
there was not a crack or a flaw perceptlble
in it, The surface at the sides and edges
are not as smooth as rolled copper, in fact,
they are R.anulated to some extent, and at
the edges look as if decorated with bead
work Of bright copper. The sheets are per-
fectly bright in color, and part OF the
texture has the coloring of gold crystals.
NIL 4 - Al a-N h1NHnOk 40
supply an ample current OF electricity can
he always maintained at a minimum of
cost. AS now running the current is sup
piled from three Thompson Houston null
tipolar dynamos, and is carried q distanc CO
of 2,1O0 feet from the power house to the
refinery by nine half-inch copper wires. the
return being over q similar number. Those
wires contain twensv-fouF tons of COPPER.
This capacity will be more h doubled
when the plant is completed, as there will
then be 2s8 tanks in place of ninety-six as
at present. The services of about thirty
men will be required permanently for the
day and night shifts of the refinery.
When the other tanks are in place it will
require !, 500. 600 pounds of anodes to sup
ply them and they will produce about
loo, 900 pounds of refined copper per
month, each ton of which will yield the
additional profit of from forty to fifty
ounces Of silver, to say nothing of the
minor metals.
Adjoining the refinery isthe menufaotory
of sulphate OF copper. This com oound is
used in the electrolytic process at the rate
of from 800 to 1000 pounds per day, and
by making it here the company will save
about Eve cents per pound on it. The pro-
cess of making the sulphate is very different
from the one above described and scarcely
less complicated. To prepare it a fine
brick building has been erected, and to lin,
the tanks and watts for this and the refinery
has taken 650,0 900 pounds of sheet lead. Th.
plans thus far contemplate the making O
only enough sulphate of copper for the us'
of the company, but there is no reason VIII,
this industry should not in the future be
come one of the productive ones of thi
city.