Arizona republican., 1920-06-06
NEW OIL FLOTkTION PROCESS BIC THING
 IN ARIZONA MINING
By F. w. Bower)

PRESCOTT, Ariz.. June 5-The oil notation process is to the miniig m- dustry of Yavapai county what the gln mill is to the great cotton business Of the Salt River valley in Maricopa county. Take away the gin mills anc there would be no cotton cleaned for market. The gin mill made 1t possible for the cotton farmer of the valley to grow d crop worth $25,000, 600 last year. The oil flotatiOn process in it's pres ent state of perfection, will make l, possible to win the values from the most complex ores of the many min ing districts of this county. There are literally hundreds of old mining properties in the county that are now open for deals that can be made prof itabIe ventures because of the new process.
 At the present time there are five of these oil Notation mills in successful operation on gold -silver-lead ores in Yavapai county, the l.. C. <. custom mill. located four miles south of Tur- key; the Black Diamond mill at Walk CT: the Pocahontas mill two miles southeast of Mayer; the Anderson Birch mill two miles west of Hum- boldt and the Monte Cristo mill. on Groom creek. eight miles south or Prescott. There are two mills using this process which handle 2 milling grade of copper ore: one at the Arl- zona Binghamptou mill, at Stoddard, east of Mayer and one at Humboldt. which is a part of the milling equip ment of the Consolidated Arizona Smelting company.
 One new mill with the flotation process. the Abe Lincoln north of l Wickenburg, with daily capacity of loo tons will soon be in commission. Plans are completed for an entirely new plant. with this process, at the Silver Belt mine two miles west of at Crown King. formerly operated by the Bradshaw Development company, i is being overhauled for early resump- tion and the Peak Silver Mining com pany, q new organization, will start, in the next few days. to remodel the old Midnight Test and the Emporia mills both located about ten miles south of Prescott.
 The character of the ore that is be- ! ing treated in these several Notation mills varies greatly, from a simple quicksilver product. as at the Monte ! Crjsto, to a complex ore of gold, silver, copper. lead and zinc. as at the Poca- ! hOntas mine. In the case of the Monte l Cristo mine the process formerly useG 1 dating back a quarter of a century. ! was amalgamatiOn. which saved the i free gold and silver nicely until the ore became base with depth when the old process no longer recovered enough ot the values to make the proposition Epay. The mill has been remodeled into ! a 40-ton oil fotation plant and it is found that not only k the value in . the base ore recovered but also the | free gold and silver. the total recovery ! being from % to Q per cent of the I assay value.
 The complex orc seems to be han dled as successfully as the more sim pie ores. The ore carrying a zine anc 1 lead content, with the copper. gold and silver, is easily handled by making a separate zinc and lead concentrate. as is being done at the Pocahontas mill.
 To convert an old stamp mill into 9 Notation mill is not costly, for con siderable of the old machinery can be utilized in the new flow sheet. X bal mill takes the place of the stamps usually. and the flotation machine sup plants the copper plates. The crush i CT bins, power plant. shafting. pulley. and the building itself, will often save more than one-half of the cost of 2 new plant.
 There are somewhere around 25 old stamp mills between Prescott ana Crown King that have passed the ags of usefulness because of the change 1T the character Of the ore, from an oXl- dized ore to base. The amalgamatioI process no longer makes q, recovery hiSh enough 10 pay. These mills are il most eases at mines that have beer profitable producers in which there '' yet much good milling ore that can l., handled profitably with the new floya
 tiou process.
 A prominent business man of Phoe
 nix, who had occasion recently to visi
 one of tine new Notation mills south o
 Prescott. was author of the statemen
 in the first paragraph of this letteS
 He was q man with 9 vision. I'm
 many square miles of mineral grouu,
 south of Prescott, in this mans mind
 could be developed and made to pro
 duce as much and more wealth direc
 from the ground. as the rich Salt Rive
 valley does from the cotton and alfalf
 crops.
 The oil Notation process is to tn . mining industry of Yavapai count.
 what the gin mill is to the cotto
 business of the Salt River valley , Maricopa county.
 NOT UP TO SCRATCH