Show I 7 TREATING ZINC ORES Experiment of Wide Importance t the Silver Camps About the middle of this month the new process for the treatment of ores containing zinc will blow in at the old Elgin smelters in Leadville says the II Denver News The Inventor of the process Martin Rustenburg E E is himself on the ground and will experiment experi-ment which means a great deal to tht mines of Clear Creek and Lake counties coun-ties In many of which zincbearing ores are prominent The smelter at Canyon City deals with this class of ores buying largely In Georgetown Leadville and New Mexico Its bul I lion output is close to 300000 per year but as the market for its zinc product I has shown small disposition to increase I its capacity the process about to be tried at Leadville is thus described in the HeraldDemocrat of that city I There is a mistaken notion that the process Is a wet one but this is not I the fact The fire process is used the furnace being a combination of the cupola blast and settler For very obvious ob-vious reasons the details of the process are not made public but the results are said to be such a to almost effect a revolution in ordinary smelting methods meth-ods As mining men well know a zincous ore is one of the most undesirable undesir-able products that mother earth yjelds Zinc is classed with silica and when I it runs over S to 10 per cent the miner I pays a penalty to the smelter Up to the present time no process has yetI yet-I been found which eliminated the zinc i satisfactorily I formed wall accretions accre-tions on the inside of the furnaces and I unless great precautions were taken freeze them up until they were rendered ren-dered practically useless I Is proposed however at the furnace fur-nace now under construction to take ore Carrying say 10 ounces silver 5 percent per-cent lead and 30 per cent zinc and to successfully and economically smelt I I By this method the properties of the I zinc are themselves utilized in the I smelting process thus compelling that I refractory disagreeable and altogether 1 baneful mineral to aid in the work I I which it had hitherto refused to perform per-form I is certainly a most striking I i I example of the Ingenuity of man in harnessing a powerful force to do his bidding The values are saved in two forms the gold In an iron sponge and the silver ver and lead in bullion Metallurgists will appreciate the good work of the I furnace when it is stated that the slag i j carries 50 per cent of silica In fact I Mr Rutherburg states that the percentage per-centage of iron and silica in the slag I I ordinary of his furnace lead furnace is exactly reversed in the II I While the present plant is a small 1 one and custom work is not solicited I the possibilities of the furnace are well j worth the most thoughtful consideration considera-tion No estimate has ever been attempted at-tempted of the great reserves of zinccus ores in the camp I is a well known fact however that in many of the I large mines of the camp notably the A Y and Minnie there is an almost boundless supply that is now of no more value than a porphyry dump In I I the Small Hopes the Marian and in I many of the mines of Fryer hill these zlncous ores abound while the mines of the Wasatch range would contribute I I their share > I has been stated In connection with I the new process that it was designed i I to save the zinc and render it commercially I com-mercially valuable as spelter While I I the zinc is saved it is not used as a j commercial product for the simple reason i < rea-son that there is no market for it i I I j There is only a limited demand for spelter and the furnaces that produce j i I more than keep up the supply consequently I i conse-quently there will be no attempt to I market any spelter that may be produced I I pro-duced done In time however this may be I |