The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-12-13

the Metals Recovery company
and the announcement that its
purpose. was to erect plant on
Nine Mile for the recovery of the val
ues from the tailings in the creek has
attracted attention to the extent min
ing operations of this class are being
carried on in the district. The amount
of loss in the tailings from the mills
is now small compared with that of a
few years ago, and for this improved
condition the credit is chiefly due to
the introduction of flotation, although
outside of this wonderful process there
has been steady advancement in mill
ing methods which have helped to re-
duce the loss But after all has been
done in the way of devising and
adopting the most skillful and modern
methods of mineral recovery, there Is
still a considerable mineral loss that
goes down the creek and this will
probably always be the case in mill
ing the large tonnage Of this district.
tension of the field of mining opera
tions to the recovery of these losses
from the creek and from the accumu-
lation of tailings along the shores.
While this has been going on with
varying success for many years, it
was not until the discovery of flota-
tion that it was reduced to scienti-
fic operation, and that there is good
profit in the business is evidenced by
the organization OF this new company
by man who has made conspicu-
Gus success in the recovery of the
values in tailings.
The Nine Mile Plant.
This man is c. L. Hewett who with
associates has been treating tailings
at plant about half way between
this city and Mullan. 1t was the sue
cess of this plant that induced the
formation of a company to operate on
Nine Mile. Men are now at work on
the new plant, which will be located
just below the big tailings dump at
the Rex mill. Most of this dump was
built while the mill was running on
ore from the Tamarack & Custer
mine. A considerable addition was
made to ii while the Rex was run
ming, but the great mass of cit came
from the Tamarack and the chief min
eral value to be recovered from 1t is
lead. Mr.. Hewett estimates that the
dump contains 10000 TONS These
tailings will be reground in ball mills,
after which the values will be recover
ed on concentration tables and by flo
tation. The plant that is being built
will be able to handle 200 tons per
day. At the same time the water from
the creek, which carries all the
slime losses from the Success and
Interstate Callahan mills will also be
picked up and relieved of it's mineral
content Mr.. Hewett expects to have
this failing mill in operation by Janu-
airy IS.
Results Accomplished.
A very definite idea Of what may be
expected from the Nine Mile plant
may be gained from the results actu-
ally accomplished at the mill between
this city and Mullan. The profits from
this plant are taken from the losses of
the Morning and Hunter mills, where
the most modern and approved milling
methods are practiceds In the course
of a conversation with Mr.. Hewett he
gave some interesting facts regarding
operations at this plant. He took hold
of the proposition after many years OF
unsuccessful effort by other parties,
and his success marks the difference
between the work of a trained metal
lurgist in solving such problems and
that of one without such training. The
plant consists Of Concentrating tables
and flotation, the material treated UP
to this time being slime tailings and
required no grinding. The accumula-
tion in the pond or settling dam had
been there for four years or more and
had become considerably oxidized, ma
king 1t difficult to handle successfully
by flotation. During the summer and
up to the time of closing down a few
days ago on account Of cold weather
the plant handled 10000 tons and made
recovery Of so per cent. The lead
and zinc were separated, and the ship
ping products were 36 per cent lead
and 3S per cent zinc. Having now
disposed or the oxidized ore, Mr.. Hew-
EFT expects to raise the recovery
to 90 per cent. Since beginning work
on the first of March the monthly