The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-12-06

ioIes tdu not ne SHlelltu pTOlltdul
alone The amount of gold and sill
; YER especially Of gold, Is so small tina
1t would be lost in the process. Their
must. therefore, be collector tina
is, some metal of relatively large vol
ume In the charge which has chemi
cal affinity for gold and silver Lea
is such a collector. In the smeltin
furnace the lead gathers to itself tn
gold and silver and through it's great
Ter specific weight sinks to the bottom
of the furnace There it is drawn off
This product is known as lead bullion
being combination of lead. gold ant
silver, with some impurities, such, TO
example, as anthony and arsenic.
Any one mine, or the mines of an,
one district, rarely, II ever, have tn,
necessary proportions of lime, iron ant
silica to enable 1t to be smelted alone
1t follows. therefore, that the smeltel
must secure the deficient substance
from some other source. The MAR
basis of the business of every smelt
er will be certain ores--the ore of ths
district or the ore which naturally
goes to that smelter because of the
lower freight rate, and the largest ton.
mage it has under contract. Assume
for example, that this ore Is deficient
in iron. that is 1t requires the addition
of iron in some form to make the pro-
per proportion Of lime, iron and silica
in the Stag Now, If this iron can be
obtained in combination with pre-.
c,ous metals, it is much more econom
ical and commercially better for the
smelter than II iron alone (such as
scrap from Is added to the charge
Hence a smelter which Is short of iror
viii look around for an ore that car
ries an excess Of iron in combination
with precious metals. 1t will treat
such an ore for less amount than II
would an ore containing no iron, be-
cause everything it saves out of treat
ing is that much saved as against us
| ing barren iron ore or scrap iron
Therefore, every smelter has its own
lproblems which vary from time to
| time with the characteristics of the
larger part Of its ore. If the ores ma
turally tributary to IL have not enough
lead to form collector, but furnish a
large quantity of gold and silver ores
then that smeter Is short Of lead and
can pay more for lead ore to afford
the necessary collector. If short of a
silicious ore, II will pay more Chat is
| Ii will smelt for a lesser charged an
ore containing an excess of silica, and
so on for lime and iron. For this rea
lson, ii is difficult to compare the diff
Iferent rates of different smelters for
the same ore, since the necessity of
each smelter for some substances
dead iron, silica or lime) may compel
1t to be seeking that particular ore as
ia necessary component of it's smelling
charge and not alone as source of
profit, If smelter does not make the
right metallurgical combination of
lime iron and silica, or has INSULT
cess will be very great.
In order for smelter to plan it's
combinations, 1t is necessary for 1t to
have its ore supply known and con-
tracted for Hence, with the increased
size of smelters the custom grew up of
making long time contracts. Having a
long time contract, the smelter was
better able to supply its capacity,
could better arrange for it's metallur-
gical needs and for other supplies such
as coke, fuel, etc. When I assumed
charge of the operations of the plain
tiff company | worked persistently
along this line Of securing long time
contracts. I found that most mines
also found Ii to their advantage for
their own reasons of gauging their
etc. to make long time
contracts, particularly with respon-
sible smelter which would take its en-
tire production. Prior to the organi-
cation of the plaintiff company, there
We're no smelters In the country that
were capable of handling an output
from one mine in the Occur d'Alene as
high as 5000 to 1000 tons month
which is the average output of the de-
and as result the Occur
a'Alene mines had several contracts
with a number Of smelters. These
being of short duration. the
mine never knew when 1t would be
unable to dispose of its ore and hence
might have to curtail its output Hav-
ng a long time contract for an un-
limited amount, mine is always in
lined to increase production during
lines of high prices and to curtail the
production during periods of low
prices, much to their financial advan-
age.
The principle of long time contracts |
las worked out to the advantage of |
10Th mine and shelters. and 1t has
evolutionized the smelling business,
ince now instead of there being a
reat number of small smelters doing
oor metallurgical work in the vicinity
t each mining district, the smelling Il
usiness has been consolidated at ad-
analogous points selected largely 4
18th relation to freight rates and ore
npply These are large and expen-
I've plants and the plaintiff has be-
eyed itself justified in constructing S