Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-04-15


pioneers is of great value to the
modern scientific miner. 1t gives
data to 90 by. Much study and
research in geology as well as
metallurgy is needed So far not
much research has been done, not
much mineralogic exploration for
the study of the various minerals
and their occurrence has been car
ried on.
Methods are different now. In
the early days only a few easy-to-
find rich deposits were exploited.
either on surface or at shallow
depths and the ores that presented
difficulties were soon denounced
as worthless and the mines closed
down.
The writer has started some pre-
liminary meteorological and metal
lurgical researches and has found
that there is large field for
such work Some new operations
have been started to open new
mining properties and rework old
mines. These operations bring
new problems for the mineralogist
and metallurgists. Only few
highlights of these new finds and
pICBAStuS HtbQ DC given mere.
For instance. minerals have been
encountered and identified by the
writer which are new to the dis
trict. These minerals are anti
mOny. cinnabar or mercury ore,
tellurides. siderite, nickel and Co
bait. Some of these minerals had
been known by few who had been
told of their presence in the dis
trict However, all the informa-
tion was vague and not precise as
to the values or extent as COM
mercial minerals The writer is
endeavoring to check these minerals
and find out their extent and COM
mercial possibilities and their re-
lation and influence in the mineral
deposits. also their metallurgical
character. in way OF ore dressing.
Some researches and analysis al
ready prove these minerals have
great bearing on the economic |
values.
For example, anthony has been
found by the observer and when
encouraged in gold ore veins, In the /
silver, as seems to be usually the
case, it is either in the highgrade
part of the vein or directly associ-
ated with the high grade sulphides !,
such as ruby silver. pyrargyrite
The anthony sulphide crystals are
noticed in the uppermost of the ore
shoots close to surface Lower
down the vein the anthony sui
phides closely associate with the
tellurides and silver arsenites,
forming very rich ore, as the anti
mnny sulphide seems to carry
rather greater gold values than
silver. On the other hand, when
the anthony is associated with the
silver sulphides and forms ruby
silver or pyrargyrite. it carries
high silver values.
Geological and mineralogical
study discloses new structures in
the ore deposits with all the in
dirations of deep seated veins.
However, more and deeper develop
ment is much needed which, from
all the indications, would be well
rewarded
Ore dressing and metallurgy has
so progressed and is still progress
sing and new fields of research
and production are being opened
all the time, with better recovery.
more efficient and economical op-
erations.
Gold production. for instance
under higher price of gold. has
made wonderful advances in the
technology of recovery and low
cost production, on low grade ores
These improvements i'm the metal
lurgical field have made worthless
mineral deposits of years ago val
liable mining properties in our
modern times. Concentration of
low grade sulphide ores. gold
silver pyrite ores. copper gold !
silver, lead ores is now a common
practice, using flotation process
BY this method of concentration
by flotation. higher and cleaner
grades of concentrate is produced:
maximum recovery and lowest cost
per ton of ore treated is obtained
Ores that are too greatly refrac-
tory or oxidized are treated by
the counter current decanting cv
anide process, using fine grinding.
Sometimes the ore is ground finer
than flour. With fine grinding IT /
has been found possible to cyanide
ore containing gold tellurides.
thing impossible in the past. Some
ores are treated by the cOmbina-
ton of the two processes. flotation
and cyanide Some of the com
binations are ID flotation concen-
trate is cyanide or (2) the cyanide
failing is floated or CD the flota-
ton failing is cyanided.
1t is customary practice in our
day to grind minus 200, $50, 275 |
and 800 mesh or even finer in some |
cases. This is metallurgy and ore
dressing OF 1889, which was un-
known 40 years ago when the