Show THE COPPER PROCESS S times yerington nevada the experimental leaching plant located at tile the mason valley smelter thompson nevada and operated under the direction of 0 E R assisted by G A bragg has successfully treated ten tons of low grade oxidized ore per day for the past month and will increase the c capacity to twenty tons per day this coming month the plant was constructed and is operated as an experimental plant but as far as the chemistry is concer concerned ned it has passed beyond tile the experimental peri mental stage and is now placed up upon oil a commercial basis however it is essen bial in developing a new process of this nature to carry on the operations over a period of several months in order to determine the exact costs and the necessary ma serials required in the construction of a permanent installation and for this reason mr states that no attempt will be made to overcrowd the capacity of the plant as the development will be gradual and in accordance with the results and information obtained the method of treatment of the ores is applicable to either carbonate or sweet roast ed sulphide ores of copper Sulp hurie acid is the solvent used ore that is readily bleachable lea chable is treated in large tanks and the slimes are treated in a six deck dorr classifier by counter current flow of solution before precipitation the solution is neutralized with lime and treal treated ted with sulphur dioxide until it has dissolved a percentage of gas equal to that of the contained copper in solution precipitation of metallic copper ensues instantly when this solution is brought to a temperature of degress under a pressure of pounds the precipitated metal is finely crystalline and as says over 99 per cent pure in the process of precipitation sulphuric sulp hurle acid is regenerated in twice the amount originally present in combination with the copper the mechanical arrangements are such that the processes of dissolution and precipitation are continuous heat is conserved by returning the hot diot precipitated solution through a heat exchanger in countercurrent counter current to the flow of solution ito the precipitator the latter is a lead lined tank through which the solution flows from bottom to top the necessary temperature is obtained by circulating oil of a high flash point from a heater through a jacket surrounding the lead linning precipitated copper is discharged through a bottom gate into a receptacle from which if it is periodically removed the main feature of the process is its simplicity and few men are required to operate the plant it is the intention of the management to treat only low grade oxidized ores preferably 3 per cent ore for the present and the greater the variety of ores treated the better it will prove for obtaining experimental results of value |