The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-16
NEW THINGS At
THE j. S. SHELTER
Milling Plant Is Now to Be
Brought Up TO the Minute,
MetaIIurgiCaIIy.

--tr Ltl4-sQ states company SlnelLeE
al Bingham Junction. the first IN the
world TO control and successfully filter
Z al the fumes from its roasting as we'll
Z As smelling furnaces, emitting from
+ IT'S stacks only such gases as passed
through its mammoth playhouse. and
containing nothing Of an injurious ma
ture 70 vegetation, it IS nov learned,
! nas its plans matured for another step
{ forward. this time I'm the cOncentra-
I ton Of its Bingham ores
The United States concentration at
/ the Bingham Junction smelter site has
/ always been referred to in the mining
world as a model plant. with q per-
f eentage OF extraction Of the values in
/ the ore that compared fsvorabiy with
Z any similar plants on this continent
! Its recovery has beeen equal TO % per
/ cent Of the gold. s. per cent Of silver
81 per cent Of the lead, 50 per cent OF
I the zinc and p per cent Of iron. with
an elimination OF 90 per cent Of the
silica IN the crude ore. Plans have been
/ prepared for the addition Of a fine or
3 re-grinding mill, by which more zinc
I viii be thrown over from the tigs and
the general tailings regrOund in tube
I mill The finely ground material E-ill
I then be passed over Wiley tables, an
additional number Of which have al
{ ready been ordered II will make both
I lead and zinc concentrates. The for
mer VIII be roasted and sintered IN
/ the Compsnys new converter roasting
I plant preparatory TO blast furnace
/ smelling. and the iron and zinc in the
/ zinc concentrates viii be separated
I Enthusiastically. The iron will Be
{ available for fiux in its lead plant and
I the zinc product viii be shipped 70 the
I zinc shelters in Kansas. except such
/ portion a. viii be necessary IN the
| compsny's patented process OF making
zinc oxide for purposes OF neutralizing
the acid in its smelter fUme at Bing-
ham Junction.
How New Processes Work.
The scheme for regrinding Is briefly
stated as follows. The material to be
reground is elevated by means Of Ere
nier pumps 10 a shovel wheel. which re-
moves the excess water. From this
wheel it drops into bins, and from
there is automatically fed to pair OF
rolls. After being rolled the material
passes 10 a 5xi4 inch tube mill filled
with flint pebbles. where il is ground
to the hneness desired. Again pumps
take the product 70 travelling belts.
screens and classifiers. Here the ma
terial is divided into six products and
concentrated on Wiley tables into
lead and zinc concentrates. Even the
shines are carefully treated so that the
values carried in the Shiny water are
ultimately recovered.
Tie process. OF electrostatic sspara-
ton, which has been adopted by the
Tn ted States company, is new. at least +
in the west. The sO-caIled zinc con- /
centrates at present produced contain
so much iron and are so low in zinc
that they cannot be commercially han
died. BY utilizing the principle Of the
varying cOnductivity Of iron and zinc
for eiectrostatic charges a separation
Of one from the other can be accom- /
plished.
Preliminary TO treatment in the cleo
trostatic machines the zinc concen-
trates are fed into a dryer for the pur-
pose OF eliminating all moisture. The
dried product is classified into three
sizes and fed TO a battery of rouRhing /
machines, where the material IS divid- |
ed into two products rough iron and
rough zinc" Each Of these products [
is fed TO q second battery Of electro /
static machines called the 'hnishers."
Where Products Will Go.
Each machine makes two products, /
ths finished zinc" and middlings AMI 4
finished iron" and middlings, the zinc
going TO the Cansy (Kan.) smeiter and I
the iron to the Bingham Junction 4
plant where it undergOes trea tment TO /
sinter OF agglomerate it into suitable I
condition for the smelling charge. The l
niddlings from the finishing machines
is returned 70 the roughing machines
for a repetition Of the course.
The operation Of electrostat.c ma
chimes is based upon the fundamental /
laws o. static electricity. that is. l
bodies charged with similar kinds
Of electricity tend 10 repel one
another. while charged with dis
similar kinds they tend to attract one
another. Most gangUes, zinc blende
and some other minerals are not good
conductors, and no mineral is d per
feet conductor The difference in cleo
tr-cal conductivity is the property
taken advantage OF by the United
states company's process. By means
Of electric machines a mixture Of py-
rite and zinc blende falls upon the
rolls The pyrite being 2 good con
ductOr. is thrown away from the roll
while the blende. being a poor con-
ductor. leaves the roll before a charge
is obtained and drops into q separate
compartment. Thus the separation is |
complete.
The process is patented as the Huff
eleCtrOstatic zinc separating machine !
The cost Of installation will be ap-
proxius tely $4,000 but the savings are !
expected TO be large