The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-10-10
TUBE MILL DOING
IT'S WORK WELL
Macquisten Process Working
Upon Refractory Whitley
Zinc Tailings.
IS SALT LAKE CONCERN
Process Just the Opposite of
Ordinary Concentration
Methods.

From the Occur d'Alcnes come very
| fattcrine reports OF the work being done
upon the refractory zinc ores OF the
Morning property by the Macqulsten tube
concentrating process. which method OF
saving values Ia owned and directed by
the American Direct Concentrating com
pany, n Salt Lake proposition. While the
usual run of conentra tors are based upon
the gravity theory the MacQulsten mills
operate. as one engineer has put 1t. In
spite or gravity.
The mill at The Morning property is
now treating 10 tons daily OF the Whitley
table tailinss, the average value OF the
! heads being approximately 10 per cent
| zinc and 81 per cent sderitc.' or carbon
| ate OF iron. The product made by the
tube mill is 30 per cent zinc concen-
| trate, the secret OF this success being In
floating the zinc and causing the slderlte
TO drop and come out as tailngs.
In commercial way this is the first
instance where such product is made
from tho material at hand in the United
states, as the ordinary methods OF 40
tation employ acids and oil the con-
sumption OF which essentials 10 libcrate
the carbonic dloXldeS Is so great with an
ore running ~ per cent sideritc that their
use could not be commcrcially possible.
Low Operating Costs.
With the Macquisten tube process the
operation is along mechanical lines only
consisting of utilizing the fllm or surface
particles SO that the use of acids or oil
Is not a factor in the expense of opcr-
atlons The operating cost per ton, with
the present daily capacity at 30 tons, is
not 10 exceed 30 cents. and on l00-ton
basis the operating costs Will not exceed
81 cents per ton. Although tho ore treat
ed Is the most refractory in the north
west the grade Of zinc concentrate pro-
duccd Us higher than any other OF the
Occur d'Alencs.
The Salt Lake experts of the American
.a,a-V ,1,,,s
fed With this success The installation
OF the tube plant was the result OF COM
plete and exhaustive experiments con-
duutedr by tho Federal COMPANY and the
plant was the final effort made in arriv-
Ing at the solution OF the difficulty Of
making a marketable zinc product from
the refractory lailIngs. Previous efforts
10 reach the same end by utilizing the
magnetic. electrostatic and acids and oil
processes had resulted in vain. and the
tube process has been successfully oper-
atnr sinco last MAY Ia. There arc 119
machines installed. and tho treatment
consists in running the pulp into four
tubes in series.
Basis of Process.
In ordinary wet concentration, scpara-
tons are made by taking advantage OF
the difference in specific gravity Of the
gangue and mineral particles. In many
cases tho degree OF difference is small.
In many cases the shape of crushed par
tcles is such as To increase their weight
other cases the difference In the specific
gravity OF two minerals. some valuable,
or all valuable, il separated Into separate
and distinct products. is not sufficient TO
rcndes concentration by gravity cconomi
Cally practicable
Mineral particles in the form OF sui
phidcs are almost invariably close
grained. lustrous. metallic. water-rcpel
lent and will float on the surface OF
water, GanGue particles arc usually
porous. non-mo tallic. dim water absorb
ont and will not float on water. In a
very simple and ingenious manner the
tube affords the mineral particles an op
portunity OF being carried on the surface
OF u moving body OF water. In this way
the opposing properties, which they pos
scss arc successfully used in their sepa-
ration without respect TO the specific
gravity OF either.
The Installation OF such plants, there |
fore, promises To be extensive, FOR the |
field is broad and this branch Of the min |
Ing industry promises to become an i'm |
portant addition 10 the business circles |
OF Salt Lake City.