Show flotation FID tation process working forkl ng wonders BY F W BOWER prescott ariz june 10 the oil flotation process is to the mining industry of yavapai county what the gin mill is to the great cotton business of the salt river valley in Mara copa county take away the gin mills and there would be no cotton cleaned for market the gin mill made it possible for the cotton growers of the valley to grow a crop worth last year the oil flotation process in its present state of perfection fec tion will make it possible to win the values from the most complex ores of the many mining 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 profitable ventures because of the new process five mills in successful operation at the present time there are five ot of these oil flotation mills in successful operation on gold silver lead ores in yavapai county the L C S custom mill located four miles south of turkey the black diamond mill at walker the pocahontas mill two miles southeast of mayer the ander son sen birch mill two miles west of humboldt and the monte cristo mill on groom creek eight miles south of prescott there are two mills using this process which handle a milling grade of copper ore one at the arizona binghampton mill at stoddard east of mayer and one at humboldt which is a part of the milling equipment of the consolidated arizona smelting smelling Sm elting company new mills under way one new mill with the flotation process the abe lincoln north of wickenburg with a daily capacity of loo tons will soon be in ift commission plans are completed for an en ely new plant with this process at the silver iver belt mine two miles west of hum baldt adt the ton flotation mill at crown S formerly operated by the bradshaw company is being overhauled for r early resumption and the peak silver ng company a new organization will start a in m the next few days to remodel the Ett Eln poria mill located about ten miles south of prescott de range flange of ores being treated treated the character of the ore that is being ln in these several flotation ot aon mills varies varie greatly greata from as a simple gold silver product at the gold monte cristo to a complex ore ot of silver 8 1 r copper lead and zinc the p as at pocahontas mine in the monte case of the used cristo alsto mine the e process formerly amai lula dating a ans back a quarter of a century was ignation and anden silver er which saved the free gold with th nicely until the ore became came base depth cover when the old process no lingef propose pro posu enough of the tae values to make the lon oby day the mill has been aled into a forty ton oil flotation plant and it is found that not only is the value in the base ore recovered but also the free gold and silver the total recovery being from 90 to 95 per cent of the assay value the complex ore seems to be handled as successfully as the more simple ores the ore carrying a zinc content and 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 changing methods not difficult to convert an old stamp mill into a flotation mill is not costly for considerable of if the old machinery can be utilized in the new flow sheet A ball mill takes the place of the stamps usually and the flotation machine supplants the copper plates the crusher bins power plant shafting pulleys and the building itself will often save more than one half of the cost of a new plant there are somewhere around twenty five old stamp mills between prescott and crown X xing king ing that have passed the age of useful usefulness nes because of the change in the character of the ore from an oxidized ore to base the amalgamation process no longer makes a recovery high enough to pay these mills are in most cases at mines that have been profitable producers in which there is yet much good milling ore that can be handled profitably with the new flotation process A prominent business man of phoenix who had occasion recently to visit one of the new flotation mills south of prescott is authority for the statement in the first paragraph of this letter he is a man with a vision the many square miles of mineral ground south of prescott in this mans mind could be developed and made to produce as much and more wealth direct from that ground as the rich salt river valley does from the cotton and alfalfa crops |