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Show New Utah Plant Adds Needed War Metal A worthless slag dump has been converted into a source of a much needed metal of war at the Tooele, Utah, plant of the International Smelting & Refining company, where a new $450,000 slag treatment treat-ment plant was recently placed in operation. The new addition to International's Internation-al's vast smelting works at Tooele, was put into operation in September, Septem-ber, a month ahead of schedule. Most of the bugs in the inital two months' operation have been ironed out and about 400 tons daily heretofore here-tofore worthless slag is being treated treat-ed at the plant for the extraction of the small xinc content that was passed up In previous smelting operations. As a result between one and two million pounds of zinc per month are being made from the zinc oxide the plant is now turning out zinc that is warmly welcomed in the Industries that manufacture brass, bror.z, steel, wire, chemicals and other materials that are rapidly being consumed in war. Until recent years, zinc was the problem child of Utah mining and smelting. Prior to the early 1920s, zinc was lost to the slag dump and miners were penalized for Its presence pre-sence in their ores. With the application ap-plication of selective flotation in about 1922, mills began saving the troublesome metal in the low grade sulphide ores of Utah; a develop-, ment that came at a time when the' underground mining Industry of the state was threatened with extinction ex-tinction as most of the higher grade carbonate ores had been mined. Now, International has combined its resources, initiative and sci-. entiflc research in an effort to help solve one of the nation's "knot-' tiest" problems in the present crisis zinc production. And here has been added a huge reserve of a vital product. Another crowning achievement to add to Utah's progressive smelting smelt-ing Industry, which combined forms the greatest non-ferrous smelting center in the world. Another mighty addition to Utah's contribution in the war. Another contribution toward perpetuating and building permanent Industry for Utah, one of the first objectives of the mining Industry. |