Show andry observations abse ovations in utah and colorado by M W von bernewitz possibly there is nothing very new in these notes which were jotted down during an instructive and enjoyable three weeks trip through utah and colorado in late august and early september but probably sonic some readers of this journal will find them worth the effort the courteous reception given the writer at the various plants enables these general observations to ibe set down time did not permit visits to eureka park city or or to leadville and the san juan RECENT JOINT MEETING OF A I 1 M M E AND MINING CONGRESS the general opinion concerning the regional conference held at salt lake city on august 2226 22 26 is that it was technically and socially worthwhile worth while by socially is meant the personal contact of the many mining and metallurgical engineers who attended the technical sessions were well attended listened to and discussed by men mainly from the western states including british columbia to sonora visits were easily made to mines concentrating plants and shelters smelters sm sni elters all of which have something novel and instructive to offer so have the splendid state capitol and the university of utah which command a wonderful view of the whole valley salt lake city is a splendid center in which to have a meeting of any group of engineers whether they be agricultural chemical electrical highway metallurgical mining water power or smelter men utah has problems to suit all of these men As to metals the state in 1926 produced five kinds worth and a total mineral production of it was the first among the states in silver second in lead third in copper fifth in zinc and sixth in gold and is the second largest dividend paying state in add utah has large deposits of coal and iron ore which are worked and further has extensive untouched areas of oil shale and other minerals mining supplies 85 per cent oi of the frei freight traffic originating within the state and the industry stry gives employment to men who receive 2 a month in wages the flotation process which has solved the difficulty of separating lead zinc and copper and has super superseded ceded gravity concentration and attempts at electrostatic tro static concentration has revived all forms of mining in utah and even if metal prices are on the low side the improved practice has reduced costs to meet lower prices with its s coal and metal mines mills smelters shelters sm elters and accessories power plants flour mills sugar mills chemical works and great agricultural development utah is almost a self con bained state an and d some day will be when refineries rolling alls ills and other plants are erected to produce the materials required locally and in adjacent states smoke at salt take ake I city salt it lake city is a nice town well situated prices reasonable easily accessible has excellent water but it still has BS a smoke problem the smoke comes from the burning of soft coal mainly in homes on the morning of the writers arrival there at 8 and at about the same hour on another morning when taking an auto stage trip westerly on oil lookin looking b back a cloud or sea sea of smoke la lay y low over the city evidently the coal is preferred to coke or gas for cooking or heating but the two latter are available in quantity and quality and should be used as A C fieldner told the chamber of commerce of salt lake city on august 25 1927 the columbia steel corporation for instance near provo makes b good 0 O od domestic coke and has plenty of excess byproduct by product gas reference might also be made to bulletin 1926 of the U S bureau of mines by osborn monnett G st J perrott and H W dark clark on smoke abatement at salt lake city the chamber of commerce is now taking steps to instruct citizens what fuels to use and how to burn them MINING operations AT BINGHAM bingham is a 1 prolific district not only in quantity but in the variety of the ores mined for instance the niagara mine mine yields mainly lead zinc ore the ohio mine yields cement copper the utah apex yields lead zinc and lead cop per ores and some direct smelting smelling Z ore the utah copper mine yields copper ore the utah delaware yields lead zinc ore and direct smelling smelting lead and nd copper ores the total gold and silver content of these ores is considerable in a normal year of operation the district produces between 14 and 15 million tons of ore most of which is shipped to mills and smelters shelters sm elters in the valley at the ohio mine the ore is being leached beached in place and the copper precipitated on scrap iron as described by G L in mining and metallurgy for october 1923 the utah apex plant up tip carr fork gulch is an example of making a plant fit the steep topography also one where remarkable selective flotation is practised practiced ns as seen by the writer and as told by ernest gayford in the mining congress journal for february 1927 As many as seven reagents are used and the filters produce high grade lead zinc and iron concentrates high up tip on the ridge can be seen an aerial tram carrying or efrom ore from the utah delaware mine m ine to the mill and smelter at tooele thoele which in 1926 amoun amounted ted to tons the utah copper enterprise the caption to th this is section is borrowed from the excellent series of articles covering all operations of the utah copper company by T A rickard in the mining and scientific press late in 1918 great changes have taken place since then but the early history geology and system of minin mining stand the approach to the companas comp anys mine office is by a steep incline tramcar tram car and to level G of the open cubby cut by walking up tip steps from elevation to nearly feet the apex of the ore deposit is at feet on oil the way the writer was shown the machine shops where locomotives are repaired and rebuilt re rc built and the air compressors on level G a number of interesting operations were under waya way a steam locomotive hauling away loaded cars a diesel electric locomotive and a combination trolley and storage bat tery locomotive on various errands toe holes being drilled for blasting and an electric shovel loading 80 ton cars with ore churn drilling was under way on the level below if suitable the oil electric or the troll trolley eyel ey el electric hectric locomotive may supersede the present steam locomotives in this connection reference may be suitably made here to what was said by N W storer consulting railway engineer ineer of the westinghouse electric manufacturing company at a joint meeting of the pittsburgh branch american institute of electrical engineers and the electric section engineers society of western pennsylvania in the westinghouse auditorium east pittsburgh on september 13 1927 in part he said the diesel oil electric engine burns ordinary fuel oil and is remarkably mar kably efficient experiments conducted with this type of locomotive on the canadian national railway gave an efficiency of 1000 ton miles to 2114 imperial gallons of fuel oil corresponding to ton miles per united states gallon the initial cost of the diesel engine makes it most desirable for long hauls although the maintenance cost is half that of gasoline engines there is a great field for gasoline electric cars for short mileage branch line runs and switching service offer the best fields for the diesel engine on the other levels at bingham can be seen other shovels and trainloads train loads afore of ore and trainloads train loads of waste the opera taken as for the steam shovel that for the electric electr ic sh s vel 1 at present is 37 hopperton copperton Cop a new town just below the mouth of bingham canyon the utah copper company has laid out and partly built the new town of copperton hopperton Cop which was described by H E munn in the A mining congress journal for july 1927 at bingham company has erected a number of houses for its staff but the situation is becoming so congested that the new town two miles from the mine was decided upon it has been provided with streets water supply and sewage system a park and comfortable homes in which copper is used where pos sible the front view is unrestricted over salt lake valley with the wasatch range in the distance FLOTATION OF COPPER ORE As the general operation of the arthur and magna plants of the utah copper company is is so well known little can be added during 1926 according to the annual report they dressed and tons respectively of ore which averaged pounds of copper a ton of which 1758 pounds was saved equal to p per i er cent the average cost of milling was cents a ton these plants can now handle tons a day in both the massive construction the great capacity of the crushers the 3 stag e cryslen iby by rolls and many great abelt conveyors ohp rake type cype classifiers feeding the ball mills v art f edve wave type liners and F all S M Z 4 r 4 41 j 14 ij T 1 electric shovel in operation at bingham BIn sham utah 3 2 interior of rotary dump at magna mill of utah copper co with one 80 ton est in place 3 belt conveyors in roll crushing lection of magna plant of utah copper company aaion is largely one of transportation up and down heavy grades which appear to be easily and safely negotiated during 1926 a total of tons of ore was mined and shipped to the mills and cubic yards 1 cu yd tons of capping was removed the cost of mining was cents per ton of ore the starless group of claims opposite osite the open cut are now being prepared for stripping operations ume of electric shovels Sh sho ovela velm steam shovels are a thing of the past at bingham and 23 electric shovels are now employed the writer spent some time on one while it was loading ore cars their operation was described describe dby by C W corfield and R J corfield electrical engineers for the utah copper company at the meeting of the AM A M C and A I 1 M E at salt lake city on au august gust 22 and in the mini mining ng congress journal for september Sep fember 1927 the shovel inspected has caterpillar tractors and a 4 42 cubic vard ard dipper and can handle tons a day it has two h p digging motors one 40 h p crowding motor and one 45 h p swinging motor as well as a ava motor generator set and an air compressor this shovel like a dozen others has direct current motors the re miander have alternating current motors eventually all may have direct recurrent current motors if the proportionate cost per ton loaded be 2 inch ca stiron balls the hundreds of silent running N tion machines the odor of reagents the thickeners thefil etien blowing off concentrate the general cleanliness anath ana visitor with th chiri atie iri acre tailing dump all strike the men sity yet ease of operation and simplicity these bolo plants pl for use gallons of water a day which iseno is annual i a large city recently according to the comp company anys s a are report and in flotation re creage agents now part original tase ased d used in alkaline circuit to replace reagents formerly dorme r y the in in acid circuit and in this connection an editorial said and mining journal for september J in part the great improvement in the results at tile the utah coppe apse the ast of banys plants Is especially notable in this connection wing an other reagents in 1926 the average recovery of copper oreo u in the and pine oil was 87 per cent from a lol percent pece last few months using a reagent made essentially by fec 3 dept high grade acid with phosphorus penta sulphide sulan Tecoy ery ry hs devised incidentally by the companas comp anys own staff inq containing pining boly ow 0 been increased to better than 90 per cent on tn an ore 1 o P per er cent copper to the advantage of a greal t cost ost metallurgical recovery may be added a lower reagent reagent rea geni arth f reference may be made to the foundry at t the ball used plant which can make a 15 ton casting or a Z in 1 ch ill in the mills al alj J to the exal excl excellent chont clubhouse club house for the recreation ot fie ne start and men anen at 1 e c two plants SMELTING COPPER BEARING MATERIAL two miles from the arthur plant of the utah copper company is the garneld garfield smelter of the american smelting smelling Sm elting refining company it receives concentrates from the former company s plants ores from other mines copper matte from the murray smelter and sundry copper bearing material the garfield smelter is said to have produced pounds of blister copper during november 1926 the copper in the utah copper companas Comp anys concentrates during 1926 amounted to pounds this is equal to pounds a month this smelter covers a large area with its receiving and bedding bins 48 roasting furnaces fed with apron feeders flue system and cottrell precipitators center fed furnaces waste heat boilers which and cleanliness of this plant are frequently heard the lead concentrates are sent to the companas comp anys smelter close by and the zinc concentrates like many other produced in utah go to montana for treatment an interesting use of 3 inh rubber hose is in sockets and bends in steel pipe through which pulp is pumped the rubber outlasts these fittings LEAD SMELTING IN UTAH the writer visited the midvale and murray lead smelt ers which are respectively twelve miles and seven miles mile south of salt lake city these and that at tooele thoele are briefly yet well described by B L sackett carlos bardwell simon jacobson and N H jensen in volume 73 of the A 1 M E for 1926 also by A B young in mining and metallurgy for august 1925 at Mil midvale milvale vale 4 the midvale smelter of the U S smelting smelling Sm elting refining Z rl M UX 1 ball mills with ith classifier to the left in arthur mill of utah copper co 3 2 rolls in fit the crushing section of the midvale plant of the united states smelting smelling Sm elting refining and mining co 3 three of f the rod mills and two of the ball mills in midvale plant of the U S smelting smelling Sm elting refining stud and mining co supply 90 per cent of the steam required for the blowers compressors and electric generators the pierce fierce smith converters ver and the slag dump blister copper is made and shipped east for refining A copper smelter such as that at garfield requires much more imore study to follow operations than a blast furnace and open hearth plant such as often visited by the writer at pittsburgh FLOTATION OF LEAD ZINC ORE the midvale flotation plant of the united states smelt ing illg mining refining company which is a model of its kind was placed in operation early in 1926 and has a daily mining company is close to this companas comp anys flotation mill from which it receives lead concentrates direct diorec c smelling smelting ores are received from the company and other n hies also concentrates from other mines these produs brodu are drawn out of bins as required crushed to about ya J inch size pre roasted in wedge 6 and mcdougall za furnaces cooled sintered on dwight lloyd machines fired with coke breeze and finally fed into seven blast furnaces with limestone iron ore and coke the lead bullion is either cast into pigs or anodes which are refined outside of the state arsenic is recovered from the idume and flue dust v X x W 4 JIM S smelting smelling Sm elting refining and mining co 3 2 filters in fit flotation of the II 11 1 1 reagent feeders and roll feeders to rod mills midvale plant utah lend lead zinc and iron concentrates produced 3 blast plant of U S smelling smelting Sm elting refining and mining co and at coking plant of columbia steel corporation ironton ontoH Ir utah furnace stoves washer sher powerhouse A murray capacity of tons of complex lead zinc ore A pre tion on by C A lemke appeared in the mining congress ernal for december 1925 it was also described in full by J F geary inthe in althe engineering gering and mining journal for june aj J im 1926 gyratory crushers and rolls prepare the ore which comes from the company and |