The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-01-27
FIotatIon Process Discovered in Washtub

new information. the location or enc
of this lady will remain a mystery.
One of the most prominent of thos'
later engaged in the development o.
oil fiototion is T. ]. Hoover. a grad
uate of Stanford university, who tool
a position with the people who werf
trying out Miss Everson's process
and later went to Australia. Severa
years ago some Australians, t is sur
missed but rot proved. upon a report Of
the Everson Criley attempt at Baker
City, took the additional steps and
made devices to froth the oil in the
ore pup and found thai they could ex-
.ra"t more metals at lower cost than
ever before.
What the Proce 50 Is.
An oil fiotation process Is, one where
a valuable mineral is induced to fioa;
from the pulverized ore mass conpos-
ed of valuable and worthless minerals
and the most successful type is that
where a froth of the right kind to car
ry with it the valuable minerals is
formed on the top of the water con-
tanning this ground ore pulp.
If the right kind of oil be stirred in
to such a pulp, it will attach itself
only to certain kinds of valuable min
erals and separate them from the
worthless.
Air bubbles will not lift large par
ticles of minerals so it Is necessary
to grind the ore exceedingly fine If all
the valuable minerals are to be ex-
tracted. This grinding is called slim
ing" the ore, because when ground like
flour and wet it feels Shiny" BY
older methods the milmen were able
to recover but little of the valuable
minerals from the shines which ac-
cumulate in grinding the ore for treat
ment, thus causing loss sufficient al
times to make the difference between
a paying and losing milling PROPOSE
ton. The fiotation treatment avoids
this loss.
Throughout all the mining sections
of the west are enormous deposits OF
ore of grade so low that 1t does moi
pay to work it, or so crystallized that
it must be slimed before the valuable
minerals can be separated from the
worthless. The dumps of mines con.
tain millions of tons of ore which may
IL slimed and treated by oil flotation
be made to pay.
In commercial practice the pulp, al
the mines call the ground ore carried
in water, flows through trough int
ties of oil treated with proper acid ar
injected. The contents of the vat ar
rapidly stirred or beaten, like eggs TO
custard, by a mechanical device, ant
air is forced in at the bottom of tn
tank forming an oily scum or "suds,
which is swept by a moving arm int
side trough.
The residuum of the ore pulp flow
into the next tank, where the oper
alton is repeated; and so on throug
the series of three or four tanks. A
the scum is collected, the oil extract
ed for further use, and the concen
trates sent to the smelter.
Upon the development in Australi
of the f1otation process, letters pater
thereon were secured in many coun
tries-the United States among them
covering it's use. They were assigne
to this company, which has been gai
nering a great part of the fabulou
fortune which Miss Everson, the pril
school mistress, did not receive, IL
nearly every one of the great copp'
mining companies has paid sums pl
rata with the one in Montana for tt
privilege of throwing a dash Of oil II
to it's ore digestor and scraping in II
froth from it's great holder.
In the Courts.
However the validity of these pa
ents has been questioned, and in a
action brought to determine 1t, tt
courts have held that the principle I
recovering metals by fiotation in O
was discovered and practiced by tt
Denver school mistress, Miss Carrie
Everson, and that since her paten
have expired, the public has right
use the process without limitation.
But the patentees claim that it We
their practice of agitating and aerat
ing the ore pulp which made the pre-
cess of real value, and they have tai
en- an appeal which is now pending
the United States supreme court. 1
result will be looked for with consider
able interest, not only on account
the great amounts involved to the col
per smelters, but also because all mil
ers of gold, silver, zinc and lead WI
be affected by the result.
: Any process which will save the III
extracted metals left in the tailini
which are now thrown away, or w
make it possible to work low-grat
ore at corresponding cost has va
ue almost incalculable, when one col
! siders that the mineral production
, the United States alone, in 1914, WI
; valued at over 81, OOO, 900, O0O,t he meta
> lie products being valued at $690,0OC
Y 600.
' In 1918 the production Of copper