El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-01-28
EVERY ANIME To
HAVE ITSOuN.
SHELTER
No Longer Necessary to
Haul Ores Across Country.
A New Invention.
PLANT JUST SET
UP IN Ell PASO

A smelter that is expected to rev
oluticnize mining in The southwest has
just been given 2 thorough test in Ell
Paso. Metallurgists who have seen it
work declare that it is going to do
more to develop me mining interests
around Ell Paso than anything that
has been invented in years
It is a smelter and it is not. 1t is a
process by which the ore is heated only
70 such point as to convert all the
mineral in the ore into metal. Then
the ore is crushed and the metal
saved on the concentrating table.
The ole is put into heated, rotary
furnaces. five or six tons Of the crush
ed ore at a time. The charge is thor
oughly heated by oil or gas blasts, the
furnace Is then closed against the air,
and 20 pounds Of ground sulphur per
ton OF ore charged in. The furnace is
rotated for 20 minutes and the pro-
duct discharged into an inclined water
laundry.
All the mineral in the ore has been
reduced TO metal and nothing has been
fused The charge is ground more
finely and passed onto a concentrating
table
The product is metallic shots and
small particles
The tailings viii be found to be al
most barren of metal. all the value
being caught as metallic particles, the
inventor says.
The Plant end Inventor.
The process is the invention of Dr.
o. B. Dawson. and one Of the furnaces
has been set up and is in operation at
the FL Paso foundry. r. A Harris. city
park commissioner, writes a descrip-
ton OF the plant and what it will ac-
complish. He says:
Dr. Dawson has expended about $780,
900 right here in FL Paso building a
plant Of about loo ton capacity per
day. to demonstrate that he can do
what is claimed for 1t, and has done it.
He is anxious to install his plant at
mine that can produce a workable
quantity OF percent ore or better so
as 70 have a demonstration in actual
commercial work He has just fin
tShed his experimental work and prov
ed 1t by treating ore in commercial
quantity and at a cost, If installed at a
mine. that costs less than 1t would to
haul ore five miles; less than it or
dinarily costs a smelter for flux (Which
he does not have to have), less than
mines are sometimes charged for
moisture at a smelter, and about what
it ordinarily costs to simply unload
from wagon to car and car to bin.
May Manufacture Here.
He can beat the shelters at their
own game on any grade of ore and can
make ore profitable that they could not
touch Would this be worth anything
to be manufactured here in FL Paso?
Would it be worth anything to the
southwest for properties of 8 percent
copper and up and other ores of a
value Of Sc or IS per ton to be worked
At ? r-0fff9 ho or 70 inc
not be much. as 100 ton plant in most
coses should not be over $4,000 or
$4,000. completely fitted to any re-
Quirements.
Its Advantages.
summary of its advantages in
cludes:
First, plant can be cheaply installed
any place. preferably at the mouth of
mine. and it is adapted to many kinds
of ores.
Second. Minerals are reduced to met
ais at a cost Of about 81 or S1.20 per
ton. depending upon available fuel. oil,
coal or wood
Third, this cost is mere than made up
by the high percentage of saving which
should be almost complete, as there
can be no loss in shining, as all min
eraI is reduced to metal.
Fourth, plants Of any capacity can
be installed on the mining property,
thus eliminating all costs of transport
ing by wagon and railway hauling Of
all useless matter. This worthless
matter in almost all cases amounts TO
from 70 to 50 percent of the whole
Fifth, the product from this method
should be 81 TO 60 percent pure metal
and can be sacked or melted down to
bars and marketed. If melted to bars
the product is pure metal and the mine
would get paid for everything con-
tanned In other processes where ores
carrying the predominant value, such
as copper, and also containing small
values in gold and silver, or either. IN
quantities OF a dollar or less, is lost.
The saving Of either, or both, even in
this small quantity, viii pay expense
OF treatment
Sixth, the process is so simple that
no skilled help is required other than
q superintendent Of fair ability. No
high temperatures are needed. such as
are necessary in smelling are required.
AS no fusion of the rock takes place,
the heat required IS only that which is
Continued on Page Nine.)