The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1908-11-20
OF THE
TEST MILL GIVEN
Mark l.. seana. Former Mana
ner of Nevada Con. En-
plains Preliminary Tests.

Mark Lawrence Reqna. 10 whom Is
due much of he glory In bringing 10
the attention of the world the enor-
nous tonnage of copper ores in The
district. has written an article on the
test mill which was erected on the
property of the Nevada Consolidated
company for the purpose of seeing
what could be expected from the ores
OF this mine In view OF the fact
that the great concentrating plant OF
this and the Cumberland Ely eom=
nanY is now In operation. aud thai
the mammoth mill was constructed
along the lines demonstrated by the
test mill Mr. Requas account Is of
interest as we'll as his conclusions
regarding the mine in question The
article appears in the Mining and
Scientific Press. and ia part is as
follows.
The Two problems that We're neees-
sary of solution before the future OF
the Ely district could be assured
We're. first. tonnage and secondly, the
concentrating value OF the ore. The
district was remote from railroad
transportation. Eureka. then the
nearest railroad station. Is eighty
five miles to the west but railway
construction from that point was
never seriously considered. because
of the much more favorable though
! longer route from CObre. on the
Southern Pacific. 10 miles north of
Ely This road followed the Steptoe
Valley. has maximum grade of o.
iper cent maximum curves of & per
cent and practically neither cuts or
fills Against this the Eureka route
would have had four SUBMITS to cross
with a maximum grade OF four per
cent. The investment was of neees-
sitY large in order to put the property
on a producing basis, and il was not
conservatism 10 leave anything TO
chance. II ment at least 50 .00o, 600
in the railway. s2.500.o0o in plant
and $500. 600 for mine equipment. or
a total of 81 1000. 600.
To justify this investment for de-
post of low copper content. demand
ed millions OF tons of developed ore
and absolute knowledge as 10 its con-
eentrating value. The question OF
smelling was not one that needed
actual demonstration. as II was we'll
known what could be done with such
concentrate but while similar ore
was being concentrated i'm other
places and the results known. It was
deemed necessary. in order To make
possible the financing, that a small
experimental concentrating mill he
erected and actual tests made. The
ores of the Ely district. as is now
well known. are almost entirely con
centrating The amount of direct
smelling ore developed Is com
paritively small and insignificant.
The future of the camp is dependent
entirely upon success in eoneenlrat-
ing its ores 10 satisfactory saving.
A small experimental mill was
erected AT the collar of the Ruth
shaft This mill consisted of a
grizzly. on which the mine car was
dumped and the large Jumps OF ore
broke by hand. From the ore bin the
ore was fed by plunger feeder into
a trommel. For the purpose of ex-
perimenting screens of various sizes
were used. and il is probable that
some of these experiments were not
wisely made. and this is one of the
reasons for believing that in a large
mill, properly tuned up, the saving
VIII be in excess of that secured In
this small plant. The oversize from
the trommel Went into a three-foot
Huntington MILL the underside was
carried around the mill and Joined
the mill-diseharge just before enter
ing the first compartment of the
a. ri ~.
products of the classifier was fed 10 a
Wiley table. the failing from which
was elevated and returned into the
Huntington and reground The
second compartment product of the
classitier was fed To a corrugated
belt Frue yanner. the failing from
which was reiterated on a smooth
belt machine The third and fourth
compartment products of the CLASH
her went directly to either a smooth
belt Frue or Risdon-Johnson vanner
Round-tank slime was re-treated
upon a johnson or a Frue
! This gave practically a double treat
ment throughout the plant, and while
not constructed with any idea of
economy or expectation that profit
would result commercially, the mill
undoubtedly gave a fair test as TO
what could he expected from the ores
when treated on a large scale In a
mill fully equipped for handling the
ore in the most economical manner.
The test also resulted In a complete
resembling of the mine In sections
of practically thirty or forty feet.
The following general summary of
the test run is given:
Total pounds of dry crude
ore delivered to mill 1861. 600
Total pounds of concen-
trate produced .. t14.529 600
Ratio of concentration 6.5G1
Total pounds of copper in
crude ore as per shovel
sample .t......t.. 21,169.000
Total pounds of copper In
crude ore as per mill
SEE