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Show UTAH UNIVERSITY IS SOLVING PRQBLEIVIS December Report of Department De-partment of Metallurgical Research Interesting. PROBING 15 THOROUGH Questions That Confront Mine Operators of State Scientifically Handled. I j The December report of tho department of metallurgical research, State School of I Mines, University of Utah, covering the work done by Dorsey A. Tyon, metallurgist; metallur-gist; Oliver C. Ralston, metallurgist of the United Slates bureau of mines, and other members of the research staff, as transmitted by Arthur E. Wells, metallurgist metal-lurgist In charge, has just been released. It Is a voluminous document of about fifty typewritten pages and covers many phases of the various problems that confront con-front the mine operators in Utah. A portion por-tion of the report follows: Although Utah has long been a metal producer, her high standing as a mining state is due at the present time to the largo bodies of low-grade ore found within hc.r boundaries, a notahle example of which are the mammoth deposits of monzonlte porphyry por-phyry at Bingham, which are being mined by the Utah Copper company. However, the successful treatment of these low-grade ores lias presented a problem which has not as yet been satisfactorily solved in a great many instances. It is due to this fact that at its tenth regular session in 1013 the legislature of the state provided for the establishment of a metallurgical research re-search department in connection with the State School of Mines of the University Uni-versity of Utah. . Fellowships Provided. The university provides five metallurgical metal-lurgical research fellowships of the yearly value of $720. The fellows selected se-lected by the university authorities for the fiscal year 1913-14, and the problems prob-lems assigned to them, were L. F. Pattison, A. B., University of Utah (hydrometallurgy of copper); V. G. "Woolf, A. B., University of Utah (hydrometallurgy of zinc); O. H. Pierce. A. B., University of Nebraska (metallurgy of copper): A. X. Gart-slde. Gart-slde. A. B.. University of Oklahoma (hydrometallurgy of zinc), and C. Y. Pfoutz, E. M., "University of California Califor-nia (hydrometallurgy of silver). Messrs. Pattison, Gartside and Pfoutz resigned their fellowships at the end of the fiscal year, and those selected from a large number of applicants appli-cants to take their places for the fiscal year 1914-15 and the problems assigned to them were R. M. Isham, Ph. D., Columbia university (smoke problems); C. L. Larson, K. M., University Uni-versity of Minnesota (hydrometallurgy of lead), and H. J. Morgan, A. M., Stanford university (flotation of oxidized oxi-dized ores). Messrs. Isham and Pierce resigned shortly afetr entering the department and their places were taken by Messrs. Herbert J. Cutler of the University Uni-versity of Michigan and Frank Cameron Cam-eron of the University of Utah. Problem Assignments. The fellows selected for the year 1915-16, and the problems assigned to them were Marvin J. Udy, University Univer-sity of U tah ( h yd romeia 1 1 u rgy of lead); Richard W. Johnson. University of North Dakota (hydrometallurgy of zinc); Clarence E. Sims, University of Illinois (electrolytic precipitation of metals); Glenn L. Allen, University of Kansas (flotation of oxidized lead ores); Harper C. Neeld, University of Nevada (concentrating of oxidized zinc ores), and George F. Stott, University Univer-sity of Utah (milling losses In Utah). The fellows appointed for the fiscal year 1916-17 and the problems on which they ate working are as follows: fol-lows: Edward J. A tckison. University Univer-sity of Oregon, ore flotation problems: prob-lems: Theodore Erickson, University of Utah. Utah hydrocarbons; Charles V. Frith, University of Utah, concentration concen-tration of oxidized zinc ores; Arthur J. McChrystal, resident of Eureka, Utah. Stanford university, treatment of complex sulphides; G rover J. Holt, University of North Dakola. hydro-metallurgy hydro-metallurgy of lead ; Orel E. Young, Case Cchool of Applied Sciences, hydrometallurgy of zinc: Leonard D. Yundt, University of Utah, flotation oils. Preliminary Survey. After establishing the department and getting ready for work, one of the first tilings undertaken was to determine deter-mine the location and extent of the various low-grade and complex ore deposits of the state which up to that time had not been successfully treated, due to the fact that they were too low grade nod too complex. , Considerable time was spent in this work and the results of tihe preliminary prelimi-nary survey were published in a pamphlet pam-phlet which was printed by the United Slates bureau of mines under thp title of technical paper No. 90, "The Metallurgical Metal-lurgical Treatment of the Low-grade and Complex Ores of Utah; a Preliminary Prelimi-nary Report." As a result of that survey It was found that large tonus ces of low-grade low-grade ores o'-ur in all of the principal princi-pal mining districts of the state, and an estimate was made of the tonnage of these untreated ores. To smaller j camps also have tbir problems and a survev of these camps by the re- I search department is contemplated for the near future. The treatment of ' the ores of these camps -nil! no douht 1 prove prof i ta h!e as soon as' sui talVe processes have been worked uut for t hem. Tin tic Gives Example. Another phase of the low-grade ore problem, mentioned in connection with the zinc ore problem, was found to he the trea tment of t hose ores wihii-h have been left behind after the removal of those ores that would pay for treatment. This low-grade ore. which at the time could not h treated at a profit, cither was not mined or was only removed to make way for the mining of richer ore. Very often th's Irtw-grade mf-ter-al was j stored in stnpes from which richer i ore? In ad been removed. For examnle. In t be Tint: i- district t he ores tba t would stand the cost of nunine1. transportation trans-portation and smelter treatment were RMpped to the smelters in the Salt j lake vallev. or else treated locally by i milliner methods. Ores high in silica, find hence hard to -me1t. that car- ried values below ?1 0 pe r ton wer) i left in the mine or sroreri on dumps. j A great de:U of attention bus recent- i 1v hoen given to this problem. Du I to the fMct that the chemistrv of zinc I Is so different from that of the other ir:etals, the retort process, until the rpfPTi' Introib'dion of the elect rnlvtfc process, was the oMlv nrocss hv which z!nc was produced mm m ere i a 11 c. Moreover, 'he losses which nvur in the zip- in.lustrv. that is. in I h mining, min-ing, milling and smelting of zinc ore. are vfn- great, for it is stated that prohahiv Ipss than 5" per cnt of the .zinc mined, oven hi those mines where zin- 1p tbe cnU- product, reaches the fnnn cf spelter. In addition to the problems already mentioned, as regards the treatment of zinc ores and of lead-zinc ores, thre is aiso the problem of treating the large bodies if low-grade- lead ores which have ber-n oxidized, due to contact with the air. The level of ground water is so ton that often the mines will bp entirely dry and the lead ores have been weathered to a coudiiion which will not allow of their concentration. Consequently, nothing but ores high enough in grade to ship direct to the smelters can be handled. Some of these ores are contaminated with the zinc, and in such cases they are not only low grade, but complex, due tn the presence of zinc. There . are numerous different kinds of these ores, but tn all of them the problem is that of concentration, which so far lias been impossible In most cases. The amount of such ores available is vcrv hard to estimate, but there is probably bardlv a county in Utah which does not have deposits of larger or smaller s!ze, especially the western west-ern counties. Further on in this report re-port a nu mher of met hods are given that have been worked out for appli- cation to such ores, and it is thought that n considerable proportion of the ores can in the future be treated. Copper Problem. In the treatment of copper ores, as well as (hose of lead and zinc, the problem Is: 1. To concentrate the low-grade ores to a sufficiently high-grade product prod-uct to permit of being smelted at a profit. 2. To remove the copper values from the ores by some oilier process than a smelting process. In general, the copper ores mined in Utah are being treated by the first-named first-named process, that is, by concentration. concentra-tion. However, as has already been stated, if the ore trpated tie a mixture of sulphides and oxidized or carbonate ores, a poor saving Is made, as a rule, of these oxidized and carbonate values. For example, the Utah Copper Cop-per company In the milling of its ores has had to be content with recovering recover-ing only a part of the copper values, due to the fact that a large part of t he ore is a mixture of sulphides and oxides of copper, and the oxides a,re not recovered by ordinary concen-traling concen-traling processes, and therefore escape es-cape with the tailings. In the actual experimental work very Important results have been obtained ob-tained in the treatment of the low-grade low-grade lead carbonate ores, making it look as though it would be possible to treat almost anv lead carbonate ore presented. Three alternative methods have been worked out. all of which are inexpensive, both as to cost of the plant necessary for the treatment treat-ment of the ore and as to operating costs. One of these methods is adapted adapt-ed to work under desert conditions and two of them are adapted to work in Isolated localities some distance from the railroads. Very important results have likewise like-wise been obtained in developing processes which would be adapted to the treatment of low-grade oxidized copper ores located at great distances from the railroads. Considerable difficulties have been met with in the treatment of zinc carbonate ores and of complex sulphide sul-phide ores of zinc, lead. Iron and copper. cop-per. Much of the work of the department depart-ment which has been planned for will be the further investigation of these ores. The work of the d epa rt men t baa been guided by the effort to utilize local chemical and other resources In the working of these ores, and at the same time take account of the natural difficulties involved In the working of each deposit considered. |