Show FLOTATION FOR THE prospector george R fansett mining engineer eng neer of the arizona state bureau of mines is advocating flotation as an aid to the prospector mr fansett has been mah making ing a particular study and believes of the prospectors problems that many short cuts will be found that will relative to the use 0 of f be of assistance notation mr fansett says flotation has been used to good advantage of for the concentration prospectors by rock thus minerals from the gangue many result as horning accomplishing the s same ame 0 of valuable min forms many and panning brals are far more easily concentrated by this method than by horning and panning the concentration obtained can then be tested qualitatively and the minerals determined in the same manner as in the present practice with the concentration from panning mode of operation for use in the field the only equipment needed is a cylindrical tute tube oil and water A glass tube about ten inches high and about one inch in diameter with a flat bottom so that it can stand up is the best for use in these tests if one of these is not available a bottle which will hold about three or four ounces will answer very well any one of the good flotation oils will answer the needs of the prospector pine oil eucalyptus oil or creosote are as good as any for this purpose the amount of mineral used for each test is about one fourth of an ounce this should be pulverized prized as fine powder the finer the better to make a concentrated test by this process fill a glass cylinder about half full of water into this pour about a quarter of an ounce of finely powdered sulphate sample to this add about one or two drops of oil measure the oil by dropping it from a dropper or s tick stick and be sure not to use too much oil or it may float much of the quartz close the tube with a cork or by holding the thumb over the end of it shake this mixture energetically for about halt half a minute on standing there will be noticed a tendency for the contents to settle in layers at the bottom of the tube should be a layer of quartz or gangue which is much lighter in color than the ore which was originally put into the tube above this a layer of slowly settling slime of the gangue above this a layer of sulphides sulp hides settling through the liquid and on top of this a layer of dirty water and finally on the top of all these a layer of froth which consists of oil and air bubbles and s sulphide particles but with no appreciable amount of quartz in it this mixture can then be poured and washed and washed out into a pan and the mineral bearing froth skimmed off from the top of the water it can then be tested with acids and the blow pipe and the nature of the mineral determined |