The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-03-09
Conservation of Lead and Zinc

tricts where ore flotation is not used.
mines and the u. s. bureau of mines
are cooperating in experimental work
with ore flotation in the Joplin re-
gion, and, the state university of Kan
sas and some operators are working
independently to the same end. Ac-
cording to c. A. Wright of the U. s.
bureau Of mines, the mill recovery OF
zine in the Joplin district is at pres
ent so to IS per cent, the loss of 35 to
40 per cent being largely in the shines.
| The flotation experiments made by the
university of Kansas upon shines from
| the Joplin district yielded recovery
of 70 per cent. This recovery from the
| shines added to the ordinary recovery
would give a total Of at least rs to
80 per cent. A great many of the con-
centrating plants in the Joplin re-
gion are too ephemeral for anything
like a general adoption of flotation,
but it might be possible to employ
this process to such an extent as to
raise the average mill recovery to 70
or rs per cent This would increase
the recoverable zinc output Is per
cent, or $4,000 tons year, and would
make possible the mining Of much
lean sheet ground, thus adding to the
IRE reserves Of the region.
The field of ore flotation promises
to be widened materially by the treat
ment of oxidized ores so as to coat
them with a film of sulphide, thus rem
dering them amenable to flotation
There are large quantities of zinc car
Donate ore at Leadville, Colo, which
are too low in, zinc tenor to be avail.
able for use at the local zinc oxide
plant, though this plant can handle
ore containing as low as Is per cent of
zine. This low grade carbonate ore is
not susceptible to wet concentration
but it might be beneficiated by such
sulphide film flotation,
on the whole it seems not unrea-
Soldple W eApect lldl lHe iIioTe gen
eral employment of ore flotation may,
in a year or two, add $4,000 tons of
lead and from $4,000 to 100000 tons of
zinc to the yearly output of the coun-
try This does not mean necessarily
that the production will be that much
larger, for the output of course de-
No dc m 6n s.
larger, however, the districts with less
advantageous facilities for production
will have been eliminated to that ex-
tent
Conservation in Reduction.
w. r. ingalls, is authority for the
statement that the general use in the
United States of prolongs attached to
the condensers in zinc distillation, to
recover blue powder" zinc dust, as is
customary in Europe would add 2.5
per cent to the spelter output of the
country. AS the spelter output of the
United States was about 100000 tons
in 1915, this saving would amount to
over 10000 tons The consumption of
zinc dust in this country is little
over 5000 tons annually Prior to the
war; part of this zinc dust was made
in this country and since the war be-
gan all of it has been made here, chief
ly by the use of prolongs and Incl
dentally to ordinary zinc smelling.
This reduces the possible future saw
ing by the general use of prolongs to
about 5000 tons annually The in
stallation of systems of dust collecting
such as have recently been adopted in
some new zinc smelters in Germany
would recover some of the dissipated
zinc fumes which the prolongs are
designed to save, and would still per-
init the observat ton of the flame at
the end of the condenser as an index of
the working of the furnace.
Anothr source of waste zinc is
found in the slags made at smelters
treating zincky lead ores. In the early
days of operation at Broken Hill, Aus
tralia, the slags were run as high in
zinc as possible, with a maximum zinc
of about 16 per cent. The
slags made in smelling lead eoncen-
trates from southeastern Missouri con-
tain about or per cent of zinc but
the old Stag dumps resulting
from treating Colorado lead zinc ores
contains more zine Zinc in slags NAV
be reclaimed in several ways, as by
the Pape process, by the Truax pro-
cess, in the Johnson electric furnace
Tor zinc slags, or by the Divine process
loW being sue essfully employed at
he old National LEAD refinery ct South
Chicago, Ill. The slags at this refin-
Try, accumulated from the blast fur
lace treatment of residues from lead |
'eiining operations, including zinc de-
'ilverization, are reported by II. b.
'ulsifer to average IL per cent in zinc.
from a charge of IS tons day Is OBJ
aimed 3 tons of oxide containing "a
yer cent of zinc and per cent of lead,
probably a so per cent recovery. in
edition to which a ton or so of lead
'ullion and speiss is recovered.
The prominent feature of the NOM
mt in the field of metallurgy is the
apid development of teaching and
lectrolytie precipit; ton for the reduc-
ION of zinc ores. The high percentage