Bisbee daily review., 1916-08-13
FLOTATION PROCESS EXPERIMENTS HELD
 IN MOHAVE COUNTY
Assayer Conducts Some Illu-
 minating Experiments with
 Molybdenum Ores Found
 Wallpai District.

KINGMAN. Aug. 12.-R. C. Jacob son, of the Mohave Assaying and En- eineering office, has, during the past week, been conducting a series of in teresting fiotation tests in labora- tory mill, and has succeeded in de- termining mixtures that perfectly separate and save the values of num- Der of different local ores. The prin- cipal tests have been made on ores from the molybdenum mines in the southeastern section of the Wallapais, although some of the Cerbats ores have also been effectively separated.
 The small mill installed in the company's office consists of one agitating cell, through which passes and repasses the mixture of oil, water and ore When the proper mixture of oil ha sbeen used, froth is created, which, rising to the sur face, carries with it the sulphide particles, which are removed from the cell by a small revolving fan-like ar rangement. This froth is dried and the mineral content alone remains. In the case of the molybdenum ores treated, the molybdenum is separ- ated from the copper. and drawn off, and then acid added which in turn saves" the copper. Thus far the tests have averaged saving of so per cent of the molybdenum, and prac- tically all of the copper.
 sAIo aNf is based upon the proper mixture of oils, and the matter of arriving at this mixture is achieved only by long study of the metal contents, and trials of the quantities and kinds of oils. Sometimes the chemist discov CTS a perfect admixture readily, but more frequently it requires many hours of patience and application. and in instances, days of attention. Of course when an ore has once been tested and its selective oils have been perfectly tested, the difficulty of all future selection has been removed, but fiotation is the newest departure in the science of mining and there are countless ores that have as yet received no tests whatever, thus of fering a vast field of discovery for the ambitious chemist
 In the tests being made by MT. Jacobson, about three and a quarter pounds of oil is used per ton although the tests handle readily only about three pound of ore, and the quantity of oil is of course reduced proportion ately. The tests are made in about thirty minutes, and the mining pub lie is welcome to witness them.
 A miniature whitley table will be added to the testing plant For the re- moval of lead and iron contents oi some of the local ores, and the re- maining metals then put through the fotation.
 In the big commercial plants, there are a series of cells through which the ores are forced by agitation, and some of the contents pass and repass from cell to cell, being in some in stances pumped back into the first set, and run through the system again.
 There are many ores that are too refractory for efficient treatment un. der the older processes, that are ex- pected to readily yield to the proper flotation mixture, and to even those that have hitherto been more or less successfully treated under concentra tion, under Notation will have an add ed saving" that will many times re- pay the cost of treatment.
 It will prove profitable experiment to practically every mine owner in this and neighboring mining districts who have no Notation feature installed to submit their ores for tests at the local laboratory.