Daily inter mountain., 1900-11-14
WILL SAVE
THE ZINC
PROF. SADTLER DESCRIBES HIS
PROCESS FOR WORKING
ORES.
BELIEVES 1T TO BE AN
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
7rasshopper Greek Is Expecting a
Boom-Operations at rne
Watseka.

According to the claims of Prof. Sadt-
Ter. who is now visiting Butte, and with
whom the Inter Mountain had an inter-
view yesterday the time is near when the
Montana MINER who has an ore carrying
low values in gold, silver, copper and
lead and enough zinc to subject him to
a penalty in the ordinary precious metal
smelter, will reap a substantial profit
from the product of his mine, instead or
as now taking the chances Of losing his
labor with the alternative of allowing
his mine to lie idle or selling the ore for
conversion into zinc oxides at price
which is barely sufficient to pay the ex-
penses of mining.
There are in Montana millions of tons
of zinc ores which will not pay the ex-
pense of mining on account of the heavy
percentage of zinc contained therein.
These ores have been lying for years un-
utilized and only recently has there been
a market found for them. The zinc man
ufacturers of Europe have recently COM
menced purchasing zinc in large guam
titles for the manufacture of zinc oxides
for impure pigments, but this market is
surrounded with so many limitations
that it is of little value to the owner
of the ore. The trade is confined to ores
carrying 43 per cent zinc, for which 81
per ton is paid. A penalty of so cents per
unit is exacted for each unit under 43
per cent and paid for each unit above
that figure, but it is so seldom that the
ore runs higher that as rule the min
ing of zinc pays very small percent
age above the cost of mining and haul
mg.
Mr.. Sadtler, who was professor OF met
allurgy in the state school of mines of
Colorado believes that he can do away
with this condition of affairs by his pro-
cess. Miners can now obtain not only
the value of the precious metals con-
tained in the ores, but the value of the
zinc as well. What this means is shown
by the fact that ores carrying 80 per
cent zinc and $15 per ton in precious
metals and credits cannot now be treated
at a profit. With the Stadtler furnace,
he says, an additional value of $40 per
ton in zinc is extracted. The process is
not new one, the furnaces being exact
ly the same as the ones now in use in the
zinc districts of Missouri The zinc is
extracted by distMation s,ld the residue
containing the precious metals and iron
is practically a concentrate of two tons
into one, about one-half the weight being
eliminated in the extraction of the zinc
and sulphur.
Prof. S.dtler's Investigations have been
conducted with view to the produc-
tlon of retorts adapted to the distilla-
tion of ores containing such a per-
centage OF zinc as to prevent their
economical treatment in the ordinary
precious metal smelling furnaces. and
such percentage of oxide OIL iron or
other corrosive bases as to prevent
their economical treatment in the re-
torts of the ordinary zinc distilling
furnaces. Valuable quantities of pre-
cious metals, such as gold and silver,
are often contained in ores of this char
acter but the iron oxide, etc., excludes
their reduction by the means used in
zinc distillation, since the iron oxide
when exposed to the heat required for
such distillation slags with and cor
rodes the fire clay of which the retorts
are composed, destroying them. If, on
the other hand, an effort be made to
treat the zinc-bearing ore in the blast
furnaces used for the smelling of ores
carrying precious metals, the zinc be-
Ing vaporized and encountering the air
Dlast, is precipitated as a crust upon
the walls of the furnace, gradually
choking it, obstructing and finally
stopping the operation of the furnace.
Prof. Sadtler states that the presence
of no more than per cent of iron, or
3 per cent of lead, is fatal to the sue
cessful extraction of the zinc and it
was to the elimination of these diff
culties that he addressed himself. He
remembered that it had been custom
ary to line the. iron blast furnaces with
basic material to prevent corrosion, and
1t occurred to him that if it could be
done in iron furnaces, there appeared
to be nothing in the way of lining zinc
furnaces with some material that would
resist corrosion. This is what has been
done, and this is all there is to the pat
ent which Prof. Sadtler believes will
revolutionize the treatment of zinc
ores.
It is stated that IS per cent of the
zinc values can be extracted, while the
residue, which is desirable smelling
product, carries all the precious metal
values as well as the lead and copper,
except such of the lead as may escape
by Volatilization It is also asserted.
that mining engineers who have exam
dned the method regard it as one of the
most important metallurgical discover
les of the century, and believe that it is
destined to make a heavy increase in
the output of gold and silver from the
enormous bodies of zinc ores that are
now regarded as waste.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.