The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1917-01-20
new PROCESS At
NEVADA
SUCCESS ATTAINED IN TREAT
MENT OF COPPER ORE
BY TEACHING

One of the greatest advances in
metallurgy during the year has been
the perfection of a reaching plant
which uses the fumes from roasted
Sulphide ore to leach the same ores,
as well as a larger tonnage OF car
Donate ores. This has been accomp-
lished by the Nevada-Douglas Con-
solidated Copper company in the
Yerington mining district, Lyon
county. Besides this the company
has shipped considerable ore during
the year, and did a large amount of
development work. In many ways
the year closes as one of the most
successful in the history of the
company, it is expected that the
cost when operating the plant on
Nevada-Douglas low-grade ores will
be six cents a pound for copper.
During the past year a new leach
ing process has been tested and per
fected at the property of the Neva-
da-Douglas company. Special equip
ment has been developed to ade-
quately fill the requirements of the
process and the usual difficulties
incident to the treatment have been
met and overcome.
Both sulphide and oxidized ores
are treated at the plant. The sui
phide ore, however, has a double
value, for after roasting it is leach
ed to extract it's copper contents,
and while roasting it supplies the
essential teaching reagent necessary
in the extraction of copper from all
products or oxidized ores treated in
the plant.
The oxidized ore crushed to pass
through a half-inch screen and
screened SO that the ore is separat-
ed into coarse material and fines,
which pass through a 10 mesh
screen.
The sulphide ore is crushed and
ground TO 60 mesh. This is convey
ed to Wedge furnaces. Ten to Is
per cent of the ore is busted by the
stirring of the rabbles and carried
through CONSTRUCTED flues directly
into the fines treatment chambers.
The rest of the roast is worked
down through the furnaces, dis
charges to a pan conveyor and de-
livers that material into a stir tank
supplied with water. A sand pump
is connected with the tank and
pumps the mixture of pulp and wa
ter to the fines treatment, or absorp-
ton chambers.
On0 TOW f 1,l:1A ~,0
ing 10 per cent of sulphur will treat
three tons of oxidized ore, besides
the roasted material, with the
pump mixture pumped from the air
tank.
The whole of the wetted mass is
hot roasted fumes, which are drawn
from the furnace and passed through
the absorption chambers.
The leached material discharged
from the absorption chambers pass
es to a classifier, which separates
and washes the sands and discharg-
es the shines to Trent displacement
tanks. The sands discharge to the
tails ace and the shines, after dis
placement of the accompanying rich
solution, are also discharged.
The coarse oXidized ore is deliv-
cred from the mill to conveyor
which discharges by means Of a trip
per to the s~ulpharizing tanks. The
ore is then leached in place by
means of fumes discharged from the
absorption tanks, or by fumes di-
verified from the roasters, by a pro-
cess similar in chemical action to
that occurring in the fines cham
Der.
The copper solutions arising from
the ore treatment are collected in
a large stock tank, filtered and
pumped to the precipitation system,
where the copper is precipitated on
iron and finally recovered as a pro-
duct containing about so per cent
: annnAr VAri, -, T.-oO