Show anaconda company s zinc refinery STANDARD ANACONDA MONTANA few improvements in the mining line have attracted as much attention throughout the world as the new zinc refinery ot the anaconda copper mining company at great falls within a few months there has been constructed a plant that promises to revolutionize the zinc industry of the world the building and development of the plant have been watched for months by hundred of mining men in all parts of the world they have been waiting to see how successful the company would be in producing the highest grade of zinc made anywhere and at a cost that is estimated at less than that of the lower grades on monday morning september alth at precisely the electric current from the plant was turned through the big revolving transformer in the substation the indicator showed 1200 amperes at 10 at the same hour the work of filling the tanks in the first section of the zinc refinery with the solution containing the zinc was begun by that afternoon most of the tanks were filled in that section and the work of making zinc was well begun at 2 the first of the cathodes with their aluminum plates was raised and stripped there was a a very thin coating of zinc it was soi thin it was almost like brown paper but it was quickly torn into souvenirs this marked the opening of the big plant on wednesday the first installment of zinc for commercial purposes was stripped from the plates the two new fifty ton furnaces hi which the zinc is to go through the final process and be converted into plates for shipment were not ready and so this shipment of twenty five tons was sent to anaconda for handling the work on the two furnaces at great falls is proceeding rapidly and it is expected to have them operating by october 1st ast an additional section will be in operation by that date and by november the entire plant it is expected will be in operation great capacity the capacity is pounds of refined zinc per month this zinc enich will be pure is expected to command a higher price even than the famous horseshoe brand of new jersey the site on which the zinc refinery buildings stand was plain bleak prairie on january of this year A photograph taken on that date shows the corps of engineers of the anaconda copper alining company marking out the sites and levels leveis for the new buildings the decision to construct the refinery was not reached until less than thirty days before that the experimental plant at anaconda which furnished the data on which it was decided to erect the new plant was begun in july previous and was not finished until october frederick laist the head of the metallurgical lurg ical department of the company had spent several months working out the plan and when he expressed his confidence in the success of the plan the company constructed ted the experimental plant this proved successful and it was then that president ryan and the other officers of the company decided to put millions into the new plant the requirements of the new electrolytic refinery in electric energy are unusually heavy to meet them it was necessary to construct a special substation which is located at the upper end of the refinery buildings and adjoining the tank room the substation is of concrete brick and steel and is equipped in the most modern way it is seventy two feet wide and feet in length A forty ton crane was installed for the handling of the machinery and this crane will be kept as a part of the permanent equipment of the substation five rotary converters are being installed to change the current from the alternating to the direct current two of these converters are already in operation and the third is nearly finished the two others will probably be in place by the first of november each one handles 10 amperes the substation equipment is arranged for distributing about horsepower this comes from the big falls and rain bow plants of the montana power company both located a short distance down the missouri river from great palls falls there are about motors distributed about the plant A total of about horsepower will be taken from the volta plant at big falls when the entire plant is in operation the tank building adjoining the substation is the refinery proper or tank building this was constructed ted along the same lines as the big copper refinery stand standing about feet away the building is feet long and 25 feet wide and is of bridge construction with steel girders overhead which carry a regular trolley system for handling the anodes and cathodes the building is divided into six sections of these five are being equipped with the electrolytic tanks in which the zinc is to be taken off in each of the five sections are tanks each tank is eleven feet long three feet wide and five leet icet deep and they are arranged in double batteries of six tanks each the tanks are cascaded with a drop of a few inches between the first and second and so on to the sixth the solution of acid containing the zinc is poured into the tanks and so arranged that it runs from one tank to the next until it reaches the sixth one when the acid la Is taken back to the leaching tanks and used over again all told in the five sections there are electrolytic tanks in each of these tanks are placed twenty eight anodes of cast lead weighing pounds each between the anodes are placed the aluminum cathodes twenty seven in each tank these cathode sheets contain sixteen pounds of aluminum each and the copper holders contain fourteen pounds of copper each the lead anodes are for the purpose of conducting the current of electricity through the solution containing the zinc when it is poured into the tanks and the refined zinc is taken on the aluminum plates which are later taken out and stripped it is estimated that twenty four hours is sufficient for the aluminum plates to take on the zinc needed for stripping underground workings the underground structure of the tank building is in itself a most interesting feature four hundred cement pillars were put in to support the tank building and the electrolytic tanks these form a labyrinth that will rival the catacombs cata combs A man could be hidden in there for a month without being discovered except by 1 a I systematic search the entire flooring of this underground section is of cement covered with an paint should a tank on the floor f above burst the acid can be saved each of the cement pillars has a lead roof that prevents any acid from touching the pillars on top of the cement root are blocks of glass two inches thick while on top of the glass blocks rest huge square wooden timbers which support the tanks on the floor above supports from the pillars for the floors above prevent them from becoming charged the current of electricity from the substation to the electrolytic tanks is carried by ten lines consisting of solid copper bars two inches thick and seven inches wide over pounds of copper were required for these lines the cathodes used in the electrolytic tanks represent a big investment there are of these and nearly pounds of aluminum were required in making them and about an equal amount of copper aluminum is selling at 1 a pound and the copper alone was worth additional dit ional the manufacturing cost added atac 0 fu di thing they told you about taxes will be LOWER look at section 9 of the amendment SIX and section six says fixes a limit if this change were handle a twenty four hour run next below the refinery proper is the leaching plant when the zinc concentrates are brought from the concentrator at anaconda they are first taken to the roasting plant of the smelter and there converted into calcines which consist of a fine powder these calcines carry in addition to a high percentage of zinc copper lead gold and silver values the calcines the calcines are carried in cars to the top of the leaching plant here they are lowered into the leaching tanks ali there e r e are twenty of these called pachuca tanks each is ten feet in diameter and twenty feet deep there are also four heating solution tanks the calcines are poured into these and then the acid is turned in and thoroughly mixed with the calcines this is done by means of three large air compressors with a capacity of 2000 cubic feet of air per minute and forty pounds to the square inch the acid and calcines are boiled over and over by the agitators with the compressed air until the solution is ready for the cleaning process there is a horsepower motor for each compressor and after about an hour for agitating the solution is carried to the dorr thickeners for cleaning there are six of these each fifty feet in diameter and fifteen feet deep the solution is there mixed with water and the lighter solution goes over the edges and is returned to the four pachuca tanks where by the use of zinc dust the last traces of the other metals are removed the pulp from the leaching tanks containing the copper lead gold and silver is taken to the battery of twelve oliver niters filters where it is turned over finally to the pulleys that take it out and send it to the smelter the solution containing the zinc is put through a battery of six schriver filter presses that takes out still more of the impurities puri ties and leaves little but the zinc in the solution two large pumps pump it direct from this point to the storage tanks in the refinery building |