The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-12-25

tdklHS It's place among lns important
zinc producing sections. and its growth
in this direction will be more rapid
with the solution Of the problems If
separating and saving the values ii
complex zinc ores. The Importance of
the Investigations IN zinc ore separa-
tion TO this district can be illustrated
by one example with which the writer
IS familiar, The Douglas Minis, on
Pine creek, has been extensively de-
veloped and has, according to conserv-
alive estimate, 100000 tons of zinc
lead ore in sight. in which zinc pre-
dominates and which also carries a.
fair silver value, Long continued ef-
forts to find successful method of
treatment for this ore have failed.
There are other properties IN this dis
trict in practically the same position
and for that reason the Following edi-
tortal from the Chicago Mining World
Is of special interest here;
For years the metallurgy Of zinc
has been the most backward of any Of
the important metals While some
progress has been made In cutting
down the excessive fuel consumption,
and while the laboriousness Of .he on-
Grafton has been somewhat reduced
at the same time that the life OF the
retorts snd their capacity has been IN
creased, there really has been no great
advance in tbs branch Of the indus
try for century or more. II has SIM
ply heen perfecting of old methods
that partake Of the backward state of
all metallurgy century ago--back-
ward, of course, compared to our pres
ent knowledge.
The most picturesque Of all smelt-
Ing operations, zinc smelling is really
the most expensive and most inef1l-
cient of them all A smelling plant
that will recover 81 per cent of the
zinc in the ore-and it must be a high
grade concentrate or ore to start with
carrying close to 50 per cent zinc for
sulphide ores and close to 40 per cent
for oxid!zed ores-is doing quite good
work. Then If there Is gold and silver
in the ore the miner will be lucky In
deed, If, upon shipping to a lead Or
copper smelter the res!dues that come
from the zinc retorts, he gets payment
on IS per cent Of the precious metals
originally in the ore when 1t left his
he
III any lime and iron IN the concen-
trates. while other impurities are al
most as detrimental; some even more
SO than the pyrite and ca!ctte that u.s.
ually accompanies zinc IN its occur.
renee.
This loneliness Of the process has
limited greatly the zinc ores that are
now available. Year by year they
have been getting scarcer The dis.
covery of the Butte deposits Of zinc
and the development Of zinc deposit.
in Tennessee have come to help on,
our present supplies Of zinc ore. Blu,
even then total sources Of zinc ars
meager indeed, if we are going to have
o depend for long on the laggard re.
tort process that now alone Is sue.
cessful commercially in handling zinc
ores.
For years metallurgists have beer
working on this problem Static and
magnetic separation methods at first
gave considerable promise of success
But the expense Of these methods, due
| to the fneness to which the ores gen.
orally have to be crushed to free the
minerals, the limited capacity of the
machines and their expensiveness, a:
vel! as the high attendance charge and
the drying of the ore that are intrinsic
With these processes, have greatly
limited their. field. Still, there are
several commercially successful in
stallations Of Huff electrostatic ma.
chimes throughout this country and
Mexico, while in many places the
Wetherll separator and the Dlngs and
Observation-Disclosures magnetic machines
have met with some success, mainly In
the Wisconsin district, at least as far
as the latter class Of low intensity
machines is concerned.
For while great things were ex-
pected Of the Sutton, Steele & Steele
dry table In the treatment Of COM
pick zinc ores. Mexico was the espe-
ctal field for these experiments But
none Of the several installations prov
ed commercially successful as far as
we know, and we believe that one 0!
the few places where this dry process.
has worked with success on a complex
z!nc-lead ore Is at PARK City. Utah
where zinc iron-!ea w!ddl!ngs from.
The Daly-Judgs mill are. or at least
were for years, treated with success
commercially in such mill; largely
though, because the plant was operated
by zinc smelling company that used
the sphalerite product in the making
Of sulphuric acid, If we are not mis-
taken.
AT present two main lines Of at.
tack are being followed IN the work.
ing cut Of this difficult metallurg!cal
problem of handling the complex sui
phides Of zinc. Some are working
along hydrometallurgical lines. while
many more are working on the electo-
smelling Of zinc ores. At Helena
Mont, considerable success is being