The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1914-04-04
TEACHING TESTS ARE
NEARLY COMPLETED
NEVADA-DOUGLAS FINDS WAY
TO CLARITY COPPER SUI
PLATE SOLUTIONS.

The teaching experiments of the
Nevada Douglas Copper company
which have been conducted at Dem
yer and at Ludwig, New, are ap-
preaching completion. Concerning
them the Boston office of the COM
pany has issued a circular letter, the
latest report from Ludwig, which is,
in part, as follows:
While We have demonstrated fully
in our experimental plant at Denver
that the method used there is a sue
cess on Nevada Douglas ores, and
that they can be treated by that
process at a very low cost, we are not
methods used here cannot be very
greatly improved upon. In fact, re-
CEN Investigations have brought to
light new and important discoveries
which, when applied II connection
with the work already accomplished,
will aid very materially in reducing
the initial cost of installation, as well
as giving us an increased efficiency
in the saving of our copper values,
and a material reduction in price per
pound of copper recovered.
For reasons best known to the
management, it would not be to the
interest of our company to divulge
all the information we have regard
ing our teaching plans. For the ben
eft of those interested, however, l
would say that the management feels
confident that they have found a
way to treat the sulEnide ores as we'll
as the oxides, without the necessity
of giving them a preliminary roast,
and that in the treatment of these
sulphide ores all the iron and sulphur
in the ore will be obtained as by
products in the form of ferric oxide
(red paint) and sulphuric acid. The
ferric oxide will have a ready mar
ket on the coast of at least 2 cents
a pound, while the sulphuric acid
generated in the operation will be
worth not less than 40 a ton to the
company, for the treatment of it's
oxidized ores. The value of the by
products obtained should be ample to
cover the entire treatment cost of the
sulphide ores, and should enable us
to work ores running extremely low
in copper content.
Another, and perhaps the most i'm.
pOrtant, result of our Investigations
is the fact hat we have found a way
of clarifying our copper sulphate SO,
1Itinnc which chnu11 nnoh10 nc r.
work with the usual methods ordl,
narily employed in the copper refin-
cries of the coast anG precipitate our
copper extraordinarily for a cost not
to exceed One-half cen per pound of
copper precipitated. To those who
are familiar with the eiectrolytic pre-
cipitation of copper, the difficulties
encountered in precipitation from So
lutiOns contaminated with iron salts
will be apparent, and the possibilities
of the new process readily appreciat-
ed when say that we will be enabled
to remove the iron entirely from the
copper solution, and that all of this
iron will be recovered as a market
able product. The presence of this
iron in the copper solution has al
ways been the greatest interfering ell
ement in electrOlyt4c precipitation,
and with this element removed there
is nothing left to prevent our precip-
itating the copper as cheaply as it
can be done any place. We are push
ing the matter just as fast as we can,
and the delays are because we wish
to have the very best possible plant
when it is completed. Our expert
mental work is nearing completion,
and there are only a few details yet
to be worked out.