The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-08
SMELT| Of ZINC
ORES IS DIFFICULT
Type of Smelter Important as Is
Selection of Competent
Labor.

The art OF zinc smelling is a peculiar
one, inasmuch aH there few metallur-
gica processes which for their success are
SO dependent upon the quality and train
ins of the la Dor that Is necessary In car
ryIng IT out says the Engineering and
Mining Journal. Given the best design
Of plant that the engineer can furnish.
his plans and those Of the manager may
be defeated, In fact probably will be de-
feeted. until the management has de
yeloped the right kind OF labor organaa-
tlon. In districts remote from those
wherein zinc smelling has been carried
on for many ycars. where experienced
zinc smelteTs are unavailable. the diff
cult!es are enormously enhanced. For
this reason projects for zinc smelling in
now countries. like Mexico for example.
should be approached very cautiously, In
this connection the following remarks
from the report of the Canadian Zinc
Commission may be quoted;
"While the labor cost in smelling n
ton Of ore is a fundamental consideration
In determining rentabiity, there is an
other important consideration which must
he reckoned upon In starting new plant
OF obtaining skilled men. The zinc smelt-
er Is made: not born There Is no
metauurgicd process In which so much
Is dependent upon the skill OF the work
man as in zinc smelling; nor Is II pos
sbln to eliminate manual labor by me-
chanica devices 10 so great q degree
matter how perfectly the zinc smeltery
be designed. how elaborate its construc-
lion. and how modern its methods-poor
Smcltcrmen Will neutralize all the adYan-
tagos planned by the engineers. This
Is one reason why zinc smelling has
been for 100 years confined largely TO
certain localities, where men skilled in
why European smelters are sometimes
slow to- extend their plants; and II is
reason why certain modern and very
,,Ia ,,hi ii-,nI In,
have proved disappointing for several
years while The worlmen have had TO
he trained, In spite of the proportion that
could be imported from older smelling
centers This is a consideration which
often is not taken into account In plan
ming a new plant but II must not be
lost sight Of
The recent experience Of the Broken
Hill Proprietary company has been appar-
emily somewhat on the above lines. Dur
ing 1906 this company was engaged In the
construction of a zinc-smelting plant at
Port Pirlc. South Australia, which was
competed before the end OF the year and
was given n trial. Evidently the latter
was not successful, because the chairman
Of the company remarked al its last semi
annual meeting: 81 may tell you at once
that the distillation OF zinc is very in
tricate problem. as all producers flnd out
at the commencement The Port Plrie
plant VIII soon have another trial In
the meanwhile we learn from the Aus
trallan papers that Mr.. Dclprat. the dis
tingIished general manager Of the Pro-
prietary company, has gone TO Europe
TO investigate the methods OF zinc smelt-
ing In use there. Nothing has been said
respecting the new type of distillation
furnace erected mt Port Pirie.
II is a rcuarka BILE fact that the pro-
moters OF new zinc smelling enterprises
in foreign lands. not content with the
difficulties by which they are naturally
confronted, as pointed out above, seem
always To find II necessary TO Increase
them by designing n new and special type
nf n lGri a on
for the excitement OF giving new form
of furnace a trial in a new works. with
new men The combination. which GER
tainly Is exciting, usually proves DIM
cult one and the outcome is O return
to some standard type which had been
evolved through long experience.