| Show NEW ZINC REDUCTION METHOD so successful have the recent operations it athe the wet process zinc plant of the anacon t copper mining company thus far proved proved bat the engineers of the company are plan ling aing the construction next year at the bos eton to 11 montana works at great falls of a d ton plant says a recent special f from rom butte atte mont to the salt lake tribune with its vast tonnage of complex zinc res ores available in conjunction with the mining of its copper ores the anaconda is in a position ultimately to dominate the spelter industry and there is every indication that lie he company is laying its plans to become pie ilie worlds central figure in zinc mining and nd reduction with its wet process operating economically and successfully zinc experts predict that the anaconda has em barked arced on a gramme pro which will revolutionize the reduction of complex zinc ores regardless eg ardless of the character of the ore while hile concentration of complex zinc ores may be undertaken profitably under certain I 1 circumstances concentration is not essen krial bial to the successful treatment of these bores ores under the anaconda plan p costly smelting smelling sm elting of zinc as conducted at atlie the present time by furnaces with a aing ing of adf the zinc vapors is doomed according to metallurgical experts who have been studying the new method the ton zinc t plant at the washoe began operations oc tober 14 the first shift of eight hours producing pounds of the ilie metal of a purity ranging from to per cent zinc the grade making it a brass special type adapted for the manufacture of brass for purposes fire plays no part in the reduction of the zinc ores with the exception of a preliminary roasting designed to rid the ores orea of their sulphurous and other volatile contents followed by leaching precipitation ot 0 the various metals with the exception of the zinc nitration filtration and the consequent electro lazing of the filtrate in which solution is the zinc from which it is recovered on the cathode pole sulphuric acid manufactured at the anacondas ton plant at the washoe furnishes the leaching solvent twenty two hundred tons daily of copper tailings are being put through the leaching plant at the washoe works this plant was completed about six months ago and its operation is proving very successful this plant was constructed at a cost of around and is designed to treat the tailings from the washoe concentrator and a pile of accumulated tailings the result of years of milling operations aggregating from to tons the method employed in the recovery of copper which has slipped by the concentrator amounting to around twelve and a half pounds per ton of tailings is leaching with sulphuric acid and the saving of all of the copper with the exception of about one pound to the ton results the anaconda estimates it will have a production of from to pounds of copper monthly from the leaching of tailings from this unit ultimately it is planned to secure a production of pounds of copper annually from the leaching of tailings by the addition of units to the plant now in operation heretofore the copper contained in the tailings was regarded as a loss from the experiments conducted it was estimated at the beginning of leaching operations that it would cost 85 cents a ton to handle and leach tailings the first months cost it is said was around per ton and now after six months operation the cost has been reduced to a figure below 85 cents it is necessary to haul the tailings L which are steam shoveled into cars from a point below the washoe works around up the hill to the leaching plant the daily output of tailings from the washoe concentrator is believed to be around tons |
