Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1902-03-19
A Visit to Yavapai County's Great Reduction Plant for the Treatment of Gus
 tom Ores.
In Successful Operation Under the Suderyision of Inventor Bretherton Unexpected Supply of Ore Being Furnished.

, pletion of the plant about two year : ago, he made visit to it and gave general description of the. mammotl institution. Since that time but lit tie changes have been made in tn r plant itself, or the automatic arrange ments for handling the ores and tn, r product of the smelter, aside from tn, : very important addition to the plan
 of a Bretherton hot blast or pyritit furnace. The big 200-ton furnac,
 originally placed in the plant is idle
 and this pyritic furnace is alone be
 ing used. It has capacity of fifty or sixty tons per day, and since start ing it up they have been able to SC cure sufficient quantity of ore to keep it in operation continuously It was thought, prior to starting, that their running would be necessarily intermittent through lack of ore to keep it constantly supplied, but to their agreeable surprise, such has not been the case so far, and the prospect is good not only to keep this furnace in operation, but in the course of a few months supply can be obtained to start the other furnace.
 While the Bretherton system is specially adapted to the treatment of sulphide ores, it can be successfully used in lead and other smelting. One of the features of the ore from some of the districts of this county is the presence of large quantities of ar senic. By the ordinary method of smelling this cannot be successfully eliminated and appears in the matte, much to its depreciation. The greater the percentage of arsenic the lower the price received for the product.
 By the use of the Bretherton hot blast stove, the arsenic is consumed entirely and passes off in fumes. None of the product shipped has had a penalty attached to it for arsenic. while under the former process the matte from some of the ore contained so much of this objectionable sub stance that it was difficult to find a market for it.
 The cost of running this hot blast stove is merely nominal only a cord or two of wood a day being used, while in addition to the elimination of the arsenic and sulphur, saving of about D per cent Is made in the use of coke, effecting a saving of many dollars. In other words this process not only eliminates the ob- jectionable substances. but actually consumes them and makes them take the place of coke.
 The use of a hot blast is not in itself new process, but heretofore the systems used were very expen- sive, making it impracticable. By means of the Bretherton process the cost of heating the air is practically removed, as the air Is heated largely from the waste heat of the upper portion of the furnace and of eAAC Ss'SoftAi0 ''S'
 Another feature of the furnace is the constant flow of slag from the furnace, the old fashioned method of tapping the slag being done away with. It is not only infinitely V more economical in its operation than the old time plants for smelling, but it can be installed at a much lower cost. The plant at Val Verde is the third or fourth one of the kind erected, but all are giving excellent satisfac- ton.
 S. E. Bretherton, the inventor of the process, is in charge of the fnr mace and showed the Journal Miner scribe the various stages through which the ore passes before appear ing as 8 high grade matte. While in some of the technical details one un- familiar with smelting generally, might not comprehend the beauties and advantages of the system in a general way, Mr. Bretherton's ex- planation can be readily understood. When one is shown the modicum of coke used in each charge and then remembers the wheelbarrow load he was wont to see dumped in the fur mace under the old system and is told that the diminished amount is caused by using the sulphur in the ore by means of his hot blast, the advan- tages of the latter are made apparent to any one. They are making ton of matte to from twelve to twenty tons of ore, and by resmelting this can be again reduced to one ton of product to about fifty tons of ore.
 At present the motive power is fur nished from two boilers and a power ful Corliss engine. Oil is used for fuel for generating steam in one of the boilers aud the other Is heated from a coal furnace.
 The smelling plant is well arranged for the convenient, speedy and eco homie handling of the ore, the smel ter being located on the bank of the Agua Fria river several feet below the railroad spur which runs from the P. x E. railroad to the company's ground.
 Large bins are provided for dump ing the ore into, and they are sufi- cient in number to permit of the use of a separate one for each particular lot of ore. There is also a complete sampling plant'in connection with the smelter. This has an autom Itic ar engagement which samples the ore automatically or the sampling process can be performed in the usual way by hand.
 Another of the recent improvements to the plant is briquetting plant which takes the concentrates and a percentage of lime in a moistened | condition and turns them out into bricks for smelling. This Is done to save the loss experienced from ln- ming the powdered concentrates through the furnace direct, as in the latter instance much of the values are carried away in the smoke and dust.
 The location of the works is on an ideal spot, as the slag dumping facili ties are practically unlimited. The water supply in the creek is abun- dant, not only for smelling purposes, but for domestic pxrposes as well, as it is pumped from the creek into an immense tank on ap eminence HuJse