Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1908-01-08
GOLCONDA MILL
GREAT GOLD-SAVER

1t is declared that wonders are be-
| ing performed by the new concen-
trating process that has been INSTALL
ed at the Glasgow 4 Western Com
pany's mill at Golconda, New. 1t is
known as the McQuestion process,
and is the invention of a well known
Ely man. 1t is declared to be an
absolute reversal of the usual wet
methods of separating the metals
from the gangue in the ore. While
the process has been receiving a
thorough testing on number of
kinds of ore for some time past, there
has been nothing made public CON
corning H. locally at least. Yester-
day morning p C. Thompson. who
has been on trip to Gold Circle,
New, spent Sunday at the works of
the Glasgow G. Western Company at
Golconda. To the Salt Lake Herald
he had the following to say on his
return:
When | was at the plant" said
Mr. Thompson. "a test run was be-
ing made on copper ore from Yering-
ton, and | was told that it was prov
ing most successful. 1t is claimed
for the process, first, that it costs less
than others to INSTALL; second, that
nc Ia fnY nd AL
operate, and, third, that it affects a
saving in certain classes of ore that
no other known process can APP
proach With this process the light
Ell the ore and the heavier the gangue
the better, but it does remarkably
fine work on sulphides, as we'll II
am not mill man or metallurgist,
and ! am therefore unable to prop
erly explain the process to you.
However, the ore is crushed and
made into pulp by the usual meth
DDS, as / understand it. The finely
crushed wet ore is then drained till
it resembles damp cement. 1t isl
then run into a kneading box and
thoroughly mixed with certain per-
centage of oil and sulphuric acid,
this mixture the pulp goes on to an
other box arrangement in the bottom
of which is a series of holes. BY the
addition of little water and the ac-
tion of revolving blade, just so
much of the pulp is allowed to escape |
through these. where it is conveyed |
down to what you might term the
concentrators. These consist, not of
tables, but tubes in which worm |
screws are made to revolve very
slowly. Into these tubes, with the
pulp, water is admitted and the ma
terial is slowly worked through. I'll
seems the acid attacks the copper or
other metal in the ore (the process
is not designed for gold ores), while |
the oil acts as carrier. When it !
energies from the lower end of the
metallic contents of the rock is float |
ing as scum on the top, while the |
unaffected gangue, or quartz, is fall |
ing away with the undercurrent. |
Whatever metal can be saved here, |
and the rest of the material, goes
down to the second set of tubes, and |
the process is repeated. In all, the
material goes through five sets Of
tubes and the material that issues |
from the bottom set is practically |
free of metal. You dip your hand
down into the stream and all you
collect is a handful of sand that is |
as clean as any ocean beach you ever
saw"
Mr.. Thompson says that experts |
from all over the world have been, |
and some of them are now at Col
conda to watch the operations of the
new process. 4 professor from
Heidelberg is there, and representa-
tives of the Guggenheims and others |
are watching the performance of the
mill. which has a capacity Of 100 tons
day. very closely. II is claimed
that all the values in carbonate cop
per ores. such as abound near the
surface. both at Ely and Yerington.
yield splcndidly to the new process
1t is claimed that II will revolution
lie the practices of concentration. he
cause Il will not only do Just as we'll