The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1916-08-19
FLOTAT|ON MILL
ON BELMONT ORE
METALLURGIsT TELLS OF HOW,
BEST RESULTS HAVE
BEEN OBTAINED

"AAbAh6 ~
Scientific Press on the manner in
which difficulties were over come
in the treatment of silver ores at
Belmont. New, Lloyd G. Nelson
contributes the following:
Last fall we started up a 100
ton flotation plant on the Monitor
Belmont mines here, at Belmont,
in Nye county, Nevada. believe
this was the first oil-flotation plant
in Nevada for the treatment OF sill
yer ores. The ore is crushed through
7O-mesh screens and pumped to a
Dorr thickener. From there 1t
flows to the flotation-machine. A.
present we are using IL cells of
the Minerals Separation type with
sub-aeration, followed by a pneu-
matte machine somewhat on the
Callow order.
Our extraction and ratio of con-
centration are now quite satisfac-
tory. but we have had one exper-
fence that, | believe, you will like
to hear, particularly since we learn
that others are having the same
difficulty, and that is in the taking
care of the concentrate after it is
made.
We installed a continuous filter
to drain our concentrate. The
original installation provided for
taking the froth over the lip of the
mechanical machine without the in
--I-&A~- 20 -. Rro~1 n 1ouyx nd
then the filter handled the froth
nicely, and later when all the froth
came from the pneumatic ma
chine the filter had no difficulty,
but after we added the sub-aeration
feature we found it an impossibility
to utilize the filter.
1t had an ample capacity too
ali we asked of it-but the makers
only claimed that it was intended
to take a product that was at least
so per cen solid and preferably
so per cent, while ours with sub
aeration was about 10 per cen
solid. We put in two cones, hop
ing to thicken it sufficiently before
putting it into the filter, but a
considerable portion of the concen-
trate would stick to the sides of
the cones and later would come
down with a rush, plugging them
up.
Then it would take considerable
time to. start them flowing again,
and the cones were generally run
ming over the sides and also tax
ing back a very rich product
the Dorr thickener and on through
the system again, and we were los
ing a considerable quantity of con-
centrates on the floor, so we con-
ceived the following idea, in des-
peration:
We built six tanks, each 4 by 4 by
16 feet long, in the lower part of
the mill. These were built of the
lumber we had on hand, Pinch
planks, which we toungued and
groved and kept full of water for
a few days. We built these in two
series of three tanks each and we
and allowed the water and froth to
run over the top into tank No. 2
and from hat to tank No. 8.
We put the small IL inch pump,
which had been doing service on
the filter, to pumping the over
flow from tank No. 3 back into the
Door thickener. We ran on these
tanks until No. l was solid and No.
2 nearly so, No. 3 being only part
ly full. Then we changed the de-
livery to tank No. l of the second
series and repeated, and emptied the
first series. We made small doors
in the bottom of the end through
which we shoveled the concentrate
and from there to the drying-plate.
This concentrate contains 25 60
80 per cent moisture and if we
had the elevation we would awe
taken this product to the filter be-
fore putting it on the drying-plate,
as it was then in the proper con-
dition. We have discontinued the
use of the filter.
The light froth builds up several
feet above the heighth of these
tanks, but W. add boards to hold 1t
in, and in due time it settles oacx
into the tank. We are now having
no difficulty in taking care of our
product and the loss in so doing
is negligible.
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