The Sumpter miner. [volume] (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905, 1901-03-13
NOVEL ORE
TREATMENT.
Process That Melts Asbestos
and Reduces Ores.

the alleged discovery OF an ore reduction
process which operates on all ordinary
ores in less than an hour and requires
simply the mixture of various chemicals
with the broken ore. It Is even claimed
that the various metals are neatly de.
posted in separate layers, making a me.
chanical separation easy.
Experienced smelling men laugh at the
proposition and even laymen will find it
hard to give credence to such apparently
ridiculous claims. The story Is an enter.
tanning one, however, and 1t would be
rash to say that It could have no founda.
ton on fact. even though so extreme a
claim is made that asbestos is melted by
the chemical activity of the so called tluX
used. 1t Is given in the Pittsburg Post
as follows:
A large number of smelling and ore re.
tning companies throughout the country
have been interested in the discovery
made by physician and chemist which
promises to revolutionize the present
methods of reducing all high grade metal.
lie ores, and reducing the cost as well as
time required for this work down from
several days to a matter of minutes. The
process has been quietly tested In Pitts.
burg plants during the past few months,
and in each case has proved fully up to
all the claims made for 1t. IN the interim
number of Pttsburgers, whose names
are for the present withheld, have been
preparing to organize and secure charter
for the control OF the new process.
The process of smelling and refining
ores for copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver,
etc., has been almost entirely with the
use of great ore crushers, then with the
furnaces and various forms of refining
familiar to those engaged In the business.
The chemical discovery that has been
finally made public was developed by
some years OF study by DR.. Miller, a
man advanced In years, whose home Is
said to be in the vicinity Of Mt. Pleasant.
His experiments with his composition,
which is called "hux," developed the
fact that by mixing 1t with asbestos and
placing 1t in a crucible with raw ores, the
heat produced is so intense that the as.
bestos becomes Iiquefed. The action of
the tluX and asbestos upon the ore is al.
most instantaneous. In forty minutes
the removal of the dross from the top OF
the crucble shows the pure copper, lead,
silver or gold beneath.
Patents have been secured covering the
tlux and the process has been submitted
to a number of leading chemists IN the
principal steel mills of Pittsburg who have
given strong opinions regarding the pos.
slbilties of the process, providing the cost
makes its practical for commercial pur-
poses. Practical tests have been con-
Quoted with good deal OF secrecy at the
mills of the Fox Copper and Bronze com.
pany and the mill OF Macintosh, HemphIll
< Co. The results of these tests have
shown that the reduction Of the ores
placed in the crucbles has been almost
complete. IN its action the flux removes
over % per cent OF the metals from the
crude ores, without any prior crushing.
This has never been possible before in the
history of mining. The specimens OF cop.
per and other metals that have been taken
from the chemical baths are declared to be
absolutely pure and in need of no further
treatment.
Another feature of the experiments that
has developed is the peculiarly free action
Of the metals where the ores that are used
are of compound charactsr-containn