The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-08-28
lbble Force
Makes Billions

OF copper production. and therefore of
me electrical industry, is very largely
dependent on the same forces that are
at work in the soap bubble"
PROFESSOR Taggart declared that the
demand for specialists in ore dreSsin.
win expert knowledge of the design
ana operation of the bewidering array
vi machinery now employed has be-
come so insistent that school curricula
must be altered TO offer the necessary
preparatory courses.
ore dressing is an Indispensable
INK between mining and metaI1urgy in
present-day practice in the extraction
OF metals from the EARTH" said Pro
leSsor Iaggart. 1T consists in non
chemical concentration of the valuable
part Of an ore into a bulk much
smaller than that of the original ore,
| and at the same time rejection as
waste of the worthless portion.
Until about fifteen years ago most
| mills were small as compared with
| present-day standards and the ores
We're relatively high grade. The ore
treatment problem was simple one,
and as a result the technical as well
as the executive direction Of the ore
dressing plant could be and was incl
dental to the direction with which the
| concentration was built.
''The services Of specialist In con-
centratlon were considered unneces'
sary. With the development of the
large, low-grade, disseminated copper
deposits, the Importance of ore dress
ing took sudden jump. These depos
its contain only from twenty to forty
pounds Of copper per ton Of ore. The
ore bodies as originally discovered con
tanned from 2OOOO,OOO to 10O.OOO,0O(
tons each of such ore. For economical
working Of such deposits elaborate
concentrating plants, capable of han
ding from 5000 to 10000 tons Of orr
per day were necessary.
SkIlfuI Work for Profit.
"These plants required the mos
skillful direction possible If prof
was to be made from their operation
and a demand for specialists in con
, centration Immediately arose. Within
the last seven years the successful az
, plication of processes of froth fiotatio
to the treatment Of these lOw-grad
, ores has resulted in the saving of fou
, to six pounds more copper per ton thS
was formerly possible.
"The advent of fiotation called Tor
mill man Of much broader scientln
education than the old concentrate
!, processes required. A fiOtation mi
man needs a working knowledge
the newest branch of physical chemi
try. viz. cOlloid chemistry, and shoul
also have some acquaintance with 0
canic chemistry Coincident with II
advent Of flotation In milling there M
:. been revolution IN the methods
= grinding ores preparatory TO conce
tration. In the old concentrate
= processes 1t was impossible TO tre
. very finely ground ore economically.
"Hence all grinding was done wi
the end in view Of producing as HIT
:. slime as possible. Flotation, howevt
= works best on finely pulverized OF
Hence 1t was necessary. on the int
= duction of flotation. to devise metho
:, OF grinding different from those at tn
:, time in use, such methods being aim
:. at producing slime. This resulted
:, - the INTRODUCE pn Of grinding machine
Of an entirely different type. In &C
nection with the new grinding and
tation machinery there was nacessar