Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-30
BUFFERS OIL EXPERIMENTS.
Wen Known Metallurgist Discusses
the Latest Discoveries.

Prof. Charles Buffers the famous me.
tallurgist, left Salt Lake today for
cripple Creek, Colo. IN company with
D. ;, Leaver, who IL In charge OF the
wen known Buffers laboratory in this
city. Mr.. Buffers. who came In from
the west ON Sunday, has spent the In.
term investigating the work at the
laboratory the most interesting feature
OF which Is the experiments in the
concentration of ores by the Gilmore oil
process.
In conversation with News" re-
porter today, Mr. Buffers expressed the
greatest confidence in the future of the
OIL process, At Cripple Greek the tests
on tellurum ores have been very salts.
factory On s. ore at Strattons In
dependence, which was considered
valueless, saving Of 1911 per cent was
made by oil concentration on ore CO.
mesh fine. on 3O-mesh ore a saving Of
70 per cent was effected. The process
hinges on the affinity of oils for metals
but It Is not adapted to all ores. On
Butte ores, for instance. Mr.. Buffers
says ne Is not able to report any sue
cess The process is adapted TO GER
tain ores, and on these ores II performs
It's work very successfully. Mr.. But
tiers has ordered a new oil concentra-
ton plant for his laboratory In this
city. The plant is coming direct from
London and is capable OF handling
about 30 tons OF ore at once. II is expect
ed that II will De ready for business
In less than three weeks.
Some tests are also being made Mt
California Universities with the view
OF determining the best kind Of oil for
the process. SO far certain California
professors who are working with Mr..
Buffers on the scheme have found that
oils having a petroleum basis are best
adapted 10 the process. As California
OILS have not this basis 20 any extent,
some OF the chemists have hopes that
some physical change can be made in
the California oils to make them ef.
fectiye,
The process IS IN use at the Glasdir
Copper mines al Dolgelly, North Wales.
where its operation Is described as fol.
lows.
The rock from the mine. after pass
Ing through the usual stone breakers.
Is crushed In a pair OF Cornish Rolls.
ana run thence to two Huntington
Mills wherein II Is reduced 10 pass
through SO-hole screen, and Issues
therefrom with just sufficient water 10
make u into a freely flowing pulp.
From the Huntington Mills the pulp
passes directly into the open end OF
horizontal rotating drum, inside Of
which Is fixed q helix with cross blades
or buckets. which lift up the pulp to a
certain height and drop 1t again, az the
same time propelling 1t forward 10 the
opposite end Of the drum, thus Keeping
the pulp In constant agitation for the
few seconds which are occupied I'm its
progress through the drum. With
the pulp Is also admitted
q small quantity Of a thick. sticky oil
1.-THE residue left In the stills In the re-
inlng OF paratline Old This oil IL. 81
eourse, subjected to the same agitation
~ the pulp, and Ia consequently tum-
bed about with 81. and exercises the
remarkable property Of sticking to and
huoying up the particles Of mineral that
are floating about or suspended in the
pulp; but Il does not stick TO or have
any effect whatever upon the parti-
cles Of rock which are present In much
greater number. The oil and pulp au-
tomaucally discharge from the opposite
cnd ~ the drum into q pointed box or
spitzkastcn. in which the talllngs or
rock at once settle down and flow of
with The water at the bottom, Wills;
the oil, by reason OF its huoyancy. floats
TO the top and carries up with Il prac.
tically all the values which the ore
contained. Frcm the pointed box th'