Arizona republican., 1900-10-02
ARIZONA COPPER
Description of the Exhibit of Phelps
 Dodge 6 Co at Paris.

The lates, issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal contains an illus tration cf Jhe exhibit of the Copper Queen, Detroit and Un5.ed Globe mines at the Paris Exposition. wfoh the fol- lowing description. which accompa- nles the exhibit and was made for the ! benefit of visitors to the exposition. and is therefore reliable;
 The Copper Queen Consolidate d.-The most prominent cf the three is the Bis | bee group. The cre occurs in irreg- uiar masse, of CarhOlif5rous limastHna. | The profitable Cres. as yet discovered. are confined to d series of beds. which do not exceed 500 feet in thickness. The l ore masses are not only very variable l in size, bU,, follow no appreciable order 1 in their deposition. Oxidation has con Verted all the surface ore into OXidiZed l compounds. Tn parts of the mine al 1 teration from sulphides to oXidized compounds have taken place to depth i of nearly 600 feet: but in other sections heavy Unaltered sulphides of iron and copper are met with a 900 feet from the surface
 The oxidized ores, in the only large ! oL. tIOD. Nuttu lt'Ntdltl lllS I-dI6ll
 wealth cf the mine Were associated ! with calcite but the deeper oxides of copper are generally associated with ! limonite. and occur sp1radicaHy in very large masses of ferrugineous clay, itself a product of alteration, known as ledge matter. The richest malacI:ita and azurte are found directly in con
 tact with or near the limestone. The i-,s li5+ hal l. ; tered sulphile and OXidized ore. is black oXy-sulphide. Th.s occurs in large quaEtities as a slsll. surrounding eX- tansive masses of almos, pure suiphide of iron and copper. But. some smaller bodies in which alteration is still pro gressinG, are wholly converted into it.
 The suite Cf ores exhibited on the second stage of the trophy illustrates the association of the oxidized copper with the oxides of iron and manganese
 and wiJh clay and calcte, and shows the progress of alteration from pure
 sulphides of iron and copper. through black oNy-sUlphidzs. to completely OK
 idized compounds.
 The ores which supply the furnaces
 with zoo tons daily. and yield 4C00O.-
 GOO pounds of copper annually. are
 drawn from over twenty claims and fr m a subterranean area of about one mile by 4 of a mile. The ores by jul ! dicious selection yield a self-huxing furnace charge, which by rough sorting is brought up to s per cent. copper:
 though the average run of the ore in
 the mine is less than ; per cent.
 By mixing in proper proportion oXII-
 izsd and sulphide ore matte of aOoUt 90 per cent. of copper can be obtained from the cupola furnaces without pre- liminary caIcination of yhe ores. This
 is the grade of matte which, consider ing the lowest cost cr converter lining. can be most economically concentrated
 in the Bessemer converter. The matte
 from each of the four cupola furnaces is collected in large til,ing wells, placed | in series of two to each furnace. from which it is poured into d IadeI operat- ed by an electric crane. This transfers the still molten matte from any one of l the four furnaces to any one of the four l Besemer cOnVerters. The charge of matte is blown under a pressure of & l Ills to the inch to metallic copper of 1 about go per cent. The operation is 1 conducted in two stages. During the , first the matte is concentrated to white metal of about 7S per cent. through the 1! oxidation of the iron and part of the l sulphur The converter is then tilted: the blast is turned off. the s!dg formed 1 from the oxidation of the ircn and the ! silicioCs lining. is skinned: the blast . is turned on. the converter is restored ! to p1SisiOn. and the charge is rapidly l and completely reduced co metal. The { lining material for the converter. usu- ! ally available. is ValueIess: but Mexico supplies a certain amount of aurifer- ous and argentiferoUs ore. with the re- l quisite proportions of silica and alu- nina.
 The samples on the third platform of 1 the trophy exhibit the valuable and l was-e products of these metallurgicaI | changes; and the analyses on the cards explain the progress of elimination of some of the metals and the concentra-
 ton of others at the critical periods of l the blow. The coarse copper as it ! comes from the converter contains about 99 per cent. of copper. 12'ounces
 of silver and 8 in gold value. The pre- l cious metals are recovered during the refining of the copper by electro 1 lysiS. The quantity of copper and of | gold and silver. recovered from T. tons
 of ore, concentrated injo one ton of ! N'l'l'N'' i7 7ti'N IT III I+4S lll'4ItS III tue l center cf the trophy.
 The wire bars and cakss out of which
 the trophy is built. were refnsd by the Nichols Chemical company The pur- ] ity and high conductivity of Ghe cop 1 Der thus refined are shown in the wire. ! tubes and other articles made from it ! by the Ansonia Copper company. which i are exhibited in cases in the gallery. 1 The Detroit Coppsr Company-FDr some years the supply of copper from the Clifton district of Arizona. in which the mines of the Detroit Copper com 1 pany arr situated, was derived--from
 cNidized ores in or in contact with I'me-
 stone; which were intercalatel between l beds of feldsTathic rock But these rich ores were long ago exhausted and | today the product of the district. ! drawn from the mines of the Arizona l Copper company and the Detrott Cop l per company. amounting to about 4O- 100000 pounds of copper annually. is