Improvements in the Treatment of Sulphide, Complex or other Ores or Mattes and the Recovery of Metals therefrom.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 25th May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 25th Mar., 1899-Accepted. 20th May. 1899
Improvements in the Treatment of Sulphide, Complex or other Ores
or Mattes and the Recovery of Metals therefrom.
JOHN ARMSTRONG, Metallurgical Chemist, 13, Sherborne Lane, London, E.C., da
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;-
In the metallurgy of copper and ore containing copper and precious metals and
with or without other metals in combination, considerable difficulty has been
experienced in their commercial treatment, involving long and expensive processes,
the object of this invention is to obtain by an expeditious and economical process
the reduction of the metals into the metallic state, this is accomplished by the
following method.
In my Letters Patent granted to me & No. 22,361 of 1896 I have described a
process for the treatment of sulphide ores containing zinc and this present inven-
tion is a modification of that method in the treatment of copper arsenic, antimony,
tellurides, iron nickel, bismuth and such like, which may or may not be com-
bined with ores or metals, but which require a slightly different treatment from
that described in the before mentioned patent.
In treating copper ore alone, if containing sulphur, I first roast the ore then I
mix it with the same ingredients, viz. carbonate or other salt of an alkali metal
(or the materials such as is combined to form black ash) with carbon, with or
without a calcareous flux; and then fuse the mixture in a suitable furnace, when
the metal is quickly reduced and can be tapped off.
If the copper ore is combined with precious metals, I prefer to mix an ore with
it containing lead and roasted or unroasted place them into a low temperature
furnace, first with the above described ingrédients, and reduce them, then tap off
the lead which will contain the precious metal. I then further heat the copper
slag remaining, in the same or another furnace and reduce to the metallic state
and tap off the copper.
In treating antimonial and other ores such as described, I use the same method
but in the case of a volatile metal like antimony I distill off the metal and leave
the precious metals behind in the retort.
Improvements in the Treatment of Sulphide, Complex or other Ores
or Mattes and the Recovery of Metals therefrom,
I, JOHN ARMSTRONG, of Eden Hall, Montpelier Road, Ealing, London, Consult-
ing Metallurgist, formerly of "Ramle," Springfield Park, Acton, London, and 13,
[Price 81

page_text: Sherborne Lane, London, E.C., do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement;-
In the metallurgy of copper and ores containing copper and precious metals and
with or without other metals in combination, considerable difficulty has been
experienced in their commercial treatment, involving long and expensive processes.
The object of the present invention is to obtain by an expeditious and economical
process, the reduction of the metals into the metallic state.
In my Patent No. 22,361 of 1896 I have described a process for the treatment of
sulphide ores of zinc and lead; in this present invention I treat ores of copper,
arsenic, tellurides, nickel, iron, bismuth, antimony and tin and such like, either
*combined or separately with these or other ores and as sulphides.
-
In treating such ores uncombined, or if worked say for copper alone, I first
roast the copper ore to reduce the sulphide to an oxide, or, if combined with
arsenic, to oxidise the arsenic and leave the copper in the state of oxide. I then
proceed to mix with the ore, about one third by weight of carbonate of soda or
potash, and carbon to about one ninth of the weight of the soda used. The ore,
soda or potash, and carbon, and if found necessary a little lime as flux, are all
finely ground and mixed; the finer the better the result. The mixture is then
fused in either a blast or reverberatory or other furnace using a strong heat.
When the reaction is finished the metal is tapped off.
If the ore contains gold or silver, the ore is first mixed with another ore containing
lead (preferably roasted if a sulphide) and then treated as before described when
it will be found that the lead will be ready to be tapped off in a short time before
the copper is reduced, it being carefully observed when introducing lead that a
furnace producing a reducing flame is used, and that until the lead is tapped off
the heat is kept not above an orange heat. After tapping off the lead which will
contain the precious metal, the heat may be raised in order to reduce the copper
to the metallic state, either in the same furnace or in another.
In treating ores of antimony and tin or such like, it is only necessary to use a
furnace with a reducing flame such as that shown in my Patent referred to
No. 22,361 of 1896. These ores may be treated unroasted or roasted and with the
same ingredients as that above described for copper. If gold or silver is in an
antimony ore I generally distil off the antimony and leave the precious metals
behind in the retort or furnace.
It will be readily understood that the invention is not limited to the precise
proportions of ingredients set forth, which are only given as an example, and
that instead of carbonate of soda or potash there may be employed a carbonate or
other salt of an alkali metal, or the materials such as are combined to form
black ash.
It must also be understood that I can wash out from the slag the greater part
of the alkali employed for the reduction and which can be prepared again for use
in a fresh charge.
I also find that I can employ the same crude ingredients which the alkali makers
use in the manufacture of their alkali in lieu of the more expensive carbonate of
the alkali as above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is-
1. The process of treating sulphide, complex or other ores or mattes, and
recovering metals therefrom, which consists in roasting the ore or matte (which
may however be omitted for ores containing antimony, tin and the like), mixing
with it a carbonate or other salt of an alkali metal, and carbon, with or without
the addition of a calcareous flux, and fusing the whole in a finely ground condition,
substantially as herein before described.
2. The process of treating sulphide, complex, and other ores or mattes, and
recovering metals therefrom, which consists in mixing the ore or matte (which

page_text: may or may not be preliminarily roasted according to its nature), in substantially
the proportions set forth, with carbonate of soda or potash, and carbon with or
without the addition of a little lime as flux, and fusing the whole in a finely
ground condition under a strong heat, substantially as described.
3. In the hereinbefore described process of treating sulphide, complex, or other
ores or mattes, and recovering metals therefrom, where the ore or matte contains
gold or silver, adding to the ore, alkali, and carbon, another ore containing lead
(preferably roasted if a sulphide) subjecting to an orange heat in a reducing
flame until lead is tapped off, and then raising the temperature to reduce the
copper, substantially as described.
4. In the hereinbefore described process of treating sulphide, complex, or other
ores or mattes, and recovering metals therefrom, where the ore or matte contains
gold or silver and a volatile metal like antimony, distilling off the antimony and
leaving the precious metals behind in the retort or furnace, substantially as
described.
A
1
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents, of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.