OCR Text |
Show con. MEncun's mo improvement. improve-ment. utah's great gold camp. What Others Have to Say of Mercur, From the Deseret News. (Continued From Our Last.) Tne filters consist of a series of parallel plates 4 Inches apart. I'-nch plate Is 10 feet long nnd feet high nnd Is slmplv a light framework with canvas on both sides. A suction pipe passes through the top at the center down tn within a half Inch of the bottom, while two blowing blow-ing pipes also enter at the top, each one-half one-half way between the center ends und extend bnrely through the top. Eighteen of thene parallel platra at tlrmiy attached at-tached to channel Iron crossing their tops, thus forming one 'basket' of niters, that Is, one unit We thus have In one machine a total niterlng surface of :SS0 square fret. On top of these plates nnd connected to their suction pipes by a 3-Inch 3-Inch cross header pipe, rests a Eli-Inch and 8-Inch by 7-Inch vacuum pump. The whole basket hanga by eight wire cables from an electric crane with ralsea and lowers the basket and carries It from one compartment of the tank to another. an-other. This tank has three compartments, compart-ments, containing slimes, weak cyanide solution, and wash water. Just bevond the wash-water compartment Is the discharge dis-charge point, simply an open square under un-der which the tailings cars stand to receive re-ceive their load. "In operation the filter basket Is lowered low-ered In the slimes compartment and the vacuum pump Is started. The slimes are agitated to prevent settling. After the suction has proceeded from one to tvvo hours. nrlng with the character of the slimes and with the thickness of the emulsion, there Is n coating of slimes on all parta of the illterlng surface of from three-fourths to one Inch In thickness, representing from 8 to 12 tons of slimes, dry weight. The motor on the crane Is then started and the basket with Ita load la lifted out of the slimes compartment, compart-ment, this operation requiring four seconds sec-onds The crime Is then moved alone Its track until over the weak r)anlde compartment nnd the basket Is lowered. Twenty minutes In this tank nnd ten minutes In the wnsh-water tank Is sutll-clcnt sutll-clcnt for a complete displacement of the valuable solutions. During ull this time the pump Is In operation nnd the vacuum produced prevents the enkes from dropping off during the transferring trans-ferring Having arrived at the discharge dis-charge point the vacuum pump Is stopped nnd a blast of air turned Into a pipe connecting with the blowing pipes of each plate The air passing through the cloth from within the plates dislodges dis-lodges the slime cakes nnd they drop nt once In the enrs below, so that from 9 to 1? tons are discharged and loaded In n lute. Each filter handles about 75 ' s per day, and one man operates the ruur niters, so the cost of labor Is atiout cents u ton. The wear on the cloth Is almost nothing, cloths In use six months In the experimental plant showing nn deterioration. The power required Is very small, n "H-horse imvver motor does the raising of the basket and la In operation only 4 minutes during the ejele of tvvo hours. The vacuum pumps are run by air and hold n vacuum of from 18 to 20 degrees of mercury The discharge solution la as clear as spring water. "The advantage of this sytrm arc-obvious; arc-obvious; nrst, n saving of from 40 to SO rents per tcth In labor; second, a saving of ft like amount In extraction, third, a saving of over CO per rent In the cost of Installation. The saving In extraction It due to the fuel that, while the niter la In the tllinea tank and the suction In operation nn equalising net Ion la taking place, rendering ull parts of the rake of equal resistance to the flow of solution and wash-water, su that when placed In the washing tanks n )erfect displacement displace-ment of solution Is accomplished. For example, we might consider that It would be possible for one spot on the 2S00 square feet of slime cake to have more of the courser slimes, or One sands, than the other parts; then there would be lest resistance to the flow at this point: therefore, the How would be accelerated ac-celerated here, the slimes would be brought up and would cover this point more rapidly than the other purls until, by this Increased coating, the resistance to the flow of solution and wash-water, so other points. This equalising Inrtu-ence Inrtu-ence Is. tn fact, hi continuously In operation oper-ation that at no tntant Is there any less resistance to the How at One joint than at all other o!nta. Thus, when lifted out from the slimes compartment, the entire basket of niters Is In perfect condition for washing and, In practice, all tho soluble gold Is extracted (Continued Ntit Week.) |