The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-09-11
BUTTES COMPLEX ZINC ORES, TREATED
SUCCESSFULLY, WOULD YIELD MILLIONS
DUMPS THAT HAVE WORTHLESS OF TREMENDOUS
VALUE WITH RIGHT ExrRAcToN-susJecT OF WORLD
WIDE INTEREST AND EXPERIMENT
written for tn. Butte Miner BY Peter E. P.tsr.on)

Butte is one Of the worlds greatest
centers Of mineral wealth. Copper MIN
ing has been established. and while
! it is easy to predict greater copper
production in the future. due to the
Exploitation of new deposits sure to be
discovered, there must not be. over
looked or moderated the enormous
tonnage Of ores containing zinc. lead,
gold and silver.
/ Memorable strides have been made
in the production Of zinc. This prog
ress has been accomplished from the
metallurgical end, the mining process
SEES not differing from the establish
ed practice for other ores.
Butte T. Superior.
Among the notable examples is the
Butte d Superior Copper Company,
Limited. AS the name implies. this
company. organized by Capt. A. r..
Wolvin and associates, started the de-
velopment of the Black Rock and other
adjoining claims. with the fond hopes
Of opening up copper ores at depth,
and imagine the CONSERVATION when
development proved extensive ore
bodies of zinc. In the past attempts
had been made to treat the zinc ores
,of the Lexington, but without success,
and, naturally, zinc ores were looked
upon with disfavor.
% Nrnc re pt,tf r>,tn
differed materially from other zinc
ores, being practically composed of
quartz gangue and zinc sulphide and
metallurgically being simply the sepa-
ration Of the quartz from the zinc
mineral, but the problem was not as
simple as first appears large part
of the zinc occurring as minute crys-
tails, completely surrounded by the
hard quartz gangue.
Hard Problem.
The proposition of making these
ores of economic value was a hard
one, and much credit Is due Captain
Wolvin and his efficient manager, Max
Atwater 1t was during this period
that the wonderful ilotation process
was introduced. The development of
the original principals by the l.. c.
Jackling management is making pos
sible recoveries of 80 per cent, in the
form of high grade concentrates, and
has placed the Butte & Superior Cop
per Company, Limited, in the class or
the big money makers.
The Elm Orlu, one of the Clark
properties. was probably the first to
start mining exclusively for zinc. The
character of ores in the Elm Orlu and
Butte 4 Superior are quite similar.
They are adjoining claims on the ia
nous Rainbow vein.
Thus we have two large zinc pro-
ducers adding wealth and prosperity
to our community and directly the re-
suit Of metallurgical skill backed by
cash.
Copper Extraction.
Returning to the copper again, we
see in the eastern part Of our city the
metallurgcal plants of the Bull
whacker company and the Butte &
Duluth company. These plants are
working oxidized copper ores long
known to the residents of Butte. This
is another case of metallurgical know
ledge fighting for the prosperity of
Butte, and already assurances of sue
cess have been made, and you can bet
on it, for the result will not be any
different, and another metallurgical
victory can be looked for.
From Anaconda we get the assur-
ance from that eminent metallurgist, !
Frederick Laist formerly professor of |
at the Montana State
School of Mines), that the tailngs. |
the waste Of former years, containing
about IL pounds of copper to the ton,
is going to be treated by the teaching
process at cost Of only 10 cents to
the ton.
Higher Reeoveries.
The fiotation process Commonly
thought to apply only to zinc ores) is
fast proving itself an important adj
lunct for the treatment of copper 1
shines and tailings, thus bringing
higher recoveries and more revenue, !!
which means more prosperity.
The foregoing is important, but we
still have a problem in our midst that
S far more important because of the
money represented, and for the reason
hat no effort is made to realize any
If 1t. This is the so-called complex
zinc ores A complex zinc ore is one
hat contains zinc, copper, lead, gold.
liver. iron, Manganese and the gangue
quartz, etc. The following is
aid to be the average of some 900, 900 /
ons blocked out in one mine.
Complex Ore.
Zinc, 173 per cent; lead, 80 per cent ,
Upper. is per cent; gold, $500; silver, I
light ounces. q
Is Valuable. l
This ore has a gross value of $342S.
has been estimated by some au- r
horities In the past that there are z
ONE 100000 tons of this character
ores. While the gross value NAV e