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Show dryivul J I ite? ?r boss raiur&R v 'i: y-K liiSS & t ' i. : . :W ' ' " : i : :7-' ; : f iij-: H Si:&&iM: :i : :;:;5a&V : 7-YPCAL 4 ' : : . V - VOGTHER.N tET?5J- - DEPOSITS CMUCH DESPISED. WMK SPAR M-SRQNSIBJLE M-SRQNSIBJLE FOR RENEWED ACTIVITY ' IJV MARY'S VJlLEr REGIQM. INDUSTRY -MOW IN BMP' am cy:- . t FIOREVCE MLL AT MNE ' ; ; Cy 0. J. GRIMES. MARYS-VALE, Aug. 15. The reputation repu-tation of the old camp of Marys-vale Marys-vale as a mining center was in a sad state of repair when Tom ' Gillan lucked a few pieces of Pnk spar into his grip and set out for fcalt Lake that memorable day back in 1910. Veterans of Ihe district wagged their heads knowingly and their comments com-ments were anything but encouraging, for hadn't they tried samples of that same Dink spar for metal values years before, and hadn't they seen tenderfeet meet with similar disappointment almost every ev-ery summer'.' The stuff was to plentiful in the mountains moun-tains southwest of town and the assay results so uniform that it had ceased to arouse interest among the veterans. Gold, trace: silver, trace ; charges, was 1 he stereotyped form of the assay reports. So uniform were the reports that some of the prospectors were wont to voice the onhiion that the Marys vale; assnyer attended the same school as the worthy mentioned in sadness by Mark Twain during his sojourn in the west. In the eyes of the miner.? the only redemin teature of the pink spar, which was so abundant, was that ii was not a difficult diffi-cult rock to bore1 through in search of more valuable minerals. But there was a change in feel) ng id-most id-most overnight when Gillan and Custer Plastered the south hillside in T.il tic Cottonwood Cot-tonwood 1 canyon with location notices, nnd the secret leaked out that the pink spnr was alunite, running high in potash and aluminum. Interest rapidly pro-presscd pro-presscd lo the stge of excitement when 'he information filtered through that the Tushar mountains deposit was the only one of commercial size discovered in the United Sin tec. And when definite steps "ere taken to develop the Gilian-Custr claims andJLb..construction of the potash Plant was begun by the Mineral Products company, there was a full-grown stam-Prie stam-Prie for filunite ground, and Marysvalo Tonnd itself on the verge of an old-time "lining boom. That lit tic trip or Tom Gillun's was the 'nitlal step toward putting MarysvMle K'i?k nn the mining map. not only the mining map of Ltah, but of America; V h was the beginning of a movement hirh culminated in placing Marysvale the head of the list of potash produe- camps In America, and potash was a somv needed commodity, because the trar had shut off the supply from for-"icn for-"icn counMrp. .t Marysvale the first Plant for the production of potash from alunite was erected in America. :md. according ac-cording to authorities on the subject, ;t is today the on!v district in the country "hero & Hm He h.i been found in commercially com-mercially workable quantities. Potash Industry Vet in Infancy. Since the first car of potash went for-trd for-trd from the plant of the Mineral Products Prod-ucts company in the fall of 131 .". M;iry-yale M;iry-yale has been more or less continuously 111 the public eye. Big tilings have been Panned, and some enterprises have been undertaken, but as vet the indications are lt the Marvjivaio potash industry is ?n'v in Its Inf.iucy. the original company ln the field remaining the only consis-(fU consis-(fU producer. Other than that there are "'-Posits of commercial size, rompnrative-i'tUe rompnrative-i'tUe is know n :ts to the extent of aiunitc. The Mineral Prod icrs co-n-)Rr,y. the pioneer in the alunite Indus-,s Indus-,s praeticallv the onlv concern that 'a carried on development of a fhanic-w'iich fhanic-w'iich would suggest t!ic possible e-JI'01' e-JI'01' the deposit. The work them U4W indicate, in that instance, at least. thn,1 Iie ilhmite coes tn a depvh of more i.i .,00 fpl;t( anri continuous croppings triinie of the oLher -sections may be on the mountainside-, a distance dnj,M,l?re froni :o( or Slfl 0 ir,0l) feeti Qt1-evelopmcnt of the deposits southwest con- ?'sTa,e- "usually high in potash S.Tii ' . brou1't aboul extensive investi-(.JT" investi-(.JT" in other sections adjacent to the n.p. with the result thai there have -c-en discovered nev deposits that are be-u'n be-u'n i be of ex-pnionnl tonnage, but jnieli carry less values iJt potash. The Hp J . p.t' new deP'ts of thi cha racier !"orlh an,i east of Mans vale, although me oromismg bods and ledges have been found to the .east and southeast, and suutmvest. ' While exploratory work on these deposits depos-its Is somewhat limited, it is believed by many that the smaller potash content tound' near the surface is due to leaching, leach-ing, as the alumina content, which is Insoluble, In-soluble, remains almost stationary throughout the Marysvale region, ln the Cottonwood district the better ores carry potash values of around 10 per cent, and s'emetimes rich streaks run several points higher, and the alumina ta practically stationary sta-tionary around ;;7 per cent. In the big ledges noith and east of the town the average potash content of the ore found near the surface is from 4 to 6 per cent, and the alumina from about 30 to 35 per cent. .Locally the ores found north and northeast north-east or' .Marysvale are distinguished from those of the Cott-mwoods in lhaL they are frequently classed as taskevite, a name applied ap-plied in a spirit of derision, but which bids fair to stick; and thereby hangs a tale. About the time it was demonstrated that the extraction of potash from alunite was commercially profitable, Colonel C. P. Tasker of Greenriver, Utah, arrived at Marysvale and began a systematic search for alunite deposits. His early investigations investiga-tions Indicated that alunite was found associated as-sociated with iron and rhyolite and he included in-cluded in his instructions to held men sheepherdcrs, prospectors and anyone whose business took him among the hills was that samples of whitish or pinkish materials found associated with iron and rhyolito should tie. submitted to him for analysis rcgardles of the opinion of the finder as to the probable values contained in the deposit. Deposits Found North of Town. Observance of the instructions resulted in the receipt of samples many and varied and, incidentally, to the discovery of tome of the most promising deposits north of the town. The colonel's instructions be-tame be-tame a sort of joke around town and the whitish material from the northern deposits, de-posits, as well as from almost every other section except Cottonwood, were derisively called tasktrite. And, like so many other names applied In a spirit of contempt. It appears that takcrite is destined for a rather long life in Lho vicinity of Marysvale. Marys-vale. A 1 thou eh t 'ne possible value of aJunUc as u source of potash and alumna was suggested bv analyses made in r.'l 0, it was not until that the correctness of the theories was demonstrated. Gillan brought the pink spar samples lo A. VI. C lister, a Salt I .ake ossayer and metallurgist. metal-lurgist. In !li). Mis findings were of tuch a character as to warrant further investigation, investi-gation, n nd sa mples were sent to the Foote Mineral com pa ny of Philadelphia, and some to the I nited Stales geological survev at Washington, and In both instances in-stances the pink spar -was identified as aiunitc. The developmcn t of the alunite deposits depos-its of the Marysvale region, however, is due largely to " the activities of Howard 1". Ohappeil. an eminent New York chemist chem-ist who was among the hrst to realize the v0fiS'W,tics in "i'-Uon with the treat men t of the mineral. Some rather extensive investigations were conducted by one of the big smelting com panics with i view to saving the alumina content, but the eNpcrinn nts did not develop n satisfactory satis-factory process for commercial extraction of the metal mid the investigations were I halted. Mr. ChnppMl and his associates worked out the pru- ess for the ( x traction of the notah and erected the first alunite mill in the countrv. The first shipment of some nventv tons of potash salts was sent out from Marysvale in September. 1?1.V and. ac-oiding o authentic reports, averaged better than 5 per cent potash. A satis-faetorv satis-faetorv method for the saving ni the I alumina had not been worked out. but the production of potash has been maintained bv the Mineral Products corporation, of which Mr. Chappell is the head, since the fall of 1H1.", c.eept dur'ng the period of l-ipj and 1017 wh'm operations were tem-porarilv tem-porarilv suspended he-;.use of the destruction destruc-tion of" the plant by rrr. When 'he new puint was completed, more than a year ago. several new foa-ture foa-ture were included m its construction, wl-'ch made the extraction of potash more economical and increased the capacity ca-pacity of the mill to an appreciable extent. ex-tent. While no accurate figures with reference ref-erence to production are available, it is estimated that the company is now producing pro-ducing between twenty and thirty tons of potash a day, with a gross value of approximately S400 a ton. All during the period of potash production produc-tion the Mineral Products corporation, as well as other interests, has conducted experiments ex-periments to devise a method for recovering re-covering the alumina content of the ores In marketable form. The residue of the ore after the potash is extracted carries a high percentage of alumina, and this residue has been laid aside pending the day when a satisfactory process is evolved. It is understood that recent experiments ex-periments at the Mineral Products plant have been of a highly satisfactory character- and that additions, Including cot-trels, cot-trels, are being made to the plant with ; a view to producing metallic aluminum. I Alunite Analyses Show High Value. Analyses of the alunite such as is found on the property of the Mineral Products corporation, the Florence Mining Min-ing & Milling company, the Eradburn claims and others in the Cottonwood region re-gion indicate that it carries approximately approxi-mately 37 per cent alumina, around 10 per cent potash, about 38 per cent sulphuric sul-phuric acid and very little silica and iron. Figuring the potash content at S4.2j a unit and the alumina at 6.60, the total value of each ton of alunite of this character is S2.S6.70, against $42.50 per ton for the. potash content alone as now treated. Alunite of the richer variety, in the Cottonwood district at least, appears to have a predilection for the tops of the highest mountains, and for this reason the development calls for a considerable outlay and highly efficient management to make the pioduction of potash alone a profitable operation. In this respect the Mineral Products corporal ion has surpassed other concerns that have undertaken un-dertaken the development of their holdings. hold-ings. The mine is being developed in a systematic manner and a tram more than a mile in length is used to transport the ore from the property to the wason road on the floor of the canyon. From the lower terminus of the tram the aiunitc is conveyed by wagons about three and a half miles to the mill, near the entrance en-trance to Cottonwood canyon, approximately approxi-mately six miles south of Marysvale. In the establishment of the alunite industry in-dustry in the region there also has been established a rival camp to Marysvale t he camp of Alunite, made possible- by the erection of the mill. The Mineral Products corporation controls a big tract of land near the entrance to the canyon can-yon and on this the company has erected the plant and built the town of Alunite. All the build ing.s were erected by the company and are com pa n y o wn e J , even the school, which is one of the most modern mod-ern school structures in t he county. With a fatherly interest, Mr. Chappell looks alter the welfare of the residents of the camp and no expense has Len spared to make it as desirable a residence community com-munity as the rival camp of M.rys ale. Company Workers Only in Village. The town of Alunite has a population of approximately 5u0, and ail are em-plovee.s em-plovee.s of the company except, possiblv a few tradesmen or those directly essential essen-tial to the education and conduct of business of the camp. Idlers in Alunite are taboo. The miners and mill em-I em-I plovees a r.d their families make up a large share of the population, but pro'r-! pro'r-! n.hfv the largest part is made up ot I teamsters nnd truck drivers. All tol.l, I there ate four score or more teamster and truck drivers busy every day in the vear handling the ore between the tram-' tram-' wav and the mill and hauling coal, potash J and sunvlk s to and from the camp and Marvsvaie. i .1tbouch the Mineral Proouets corpora -' ti;n has outdistanced ad oti.ers in the j re'-ion in the dcvepir en t of -ilmute c-r.-.s:ts and the pro h:.-:n-i of notash, the Florence Minir.g s; Miihm: company prob-I prob-I abh- has the most exnive hoi, lines nf I all the conn-.ii yet organize! and ranKs tccond in the matter ot devek'Uracnt. I Much"' of the Florence property is on the same alunite belt as the Mineral Products and in some places their property lines adjoin. All told, it controls some eighty claims in the Ohio and Mt. Baldy mining min-ing districts. The operations on the Florence ground date back a quarter of a century or more, to the days of the Log Cabin group, when holes were driven into the mountains moun-tains m search of gold and silver and before alunite was ever thought of in Marysvale. Different corporations attempted at-tempted the development of the various groups of claims for gold and silver and the Florence company was organized only about seven years ago, a couple of years prior to the beginning of the alunite boom. The P'ranklin tunnel was extended extend-ed into the mountain more than 3000 feet toward the Wedge mine in search of gold; a 1000-foot tunnel has been driven on the L. & X. group, an 800-foot tunnel on the Txg Cabin, a 1000-foot tunnel on the .Elephant, a 700-foot tunnel on the Mountain Moun-tain Queen, and a dozen or more smaller tunnels, shallow shafts open cuts and pits have been dug ln exploring the mineral resources of the moutain. Practically all the bigger works were begun prior to the discovery of the value, of alunite ana do not cut the alunite veins, and the smaller openings have been made in recent years to open and prove up the alunite deposits. de-posits. . Interest3 Build Calcining Mill. Shortly after the' Mineral Products corporation' cor-poration' had demonstrated th possibilities possibili-ties in connection with the extraction of potash from alunite the Florence interests inter-ests erected a calcining mill at Marysvale. No leaching or lixiviation plan was established es-tablished and only calcined material was produced. Because of the location of the mine it was found extremely difficult to operate except during the hot summer months and more than a year ago it was decided to erect another mill employing a different process at the mine. The construction was begun under the direction direc-tion of F. A . Cull en, who was formerly associated with Dr. F. K. Cameron in extensive experiments in the production of alumina and potash from alunite, and who evolved what is generally known as the Cameron-Cullen processes. The plant, which .uses a reverberator!' furnace instead of a rotary kiln for roasting, roast-ing, is nearing completion and a test run is to be made In the - near future. The old mill at Marysvale is being used for custom work ; some ore is hrought down from the Florence property by the teams which lake up coal and materials and some alunite is brought m from other properties, principally from those north and east of the town. Some promising ore was developed by the Florence on the .Sunshine e'aims and consiJera'de work has been done there. Also some promising deposits have been opened up on North Fo-k but. the best showing has been encountered only recently re-cently on the T.. & X. group, and from this the management, plans to obtain the alunite for the operation of the new plant. o far. It is estimated, the t-'lorence and other concerns operating the properly have expended more than a quarter of a million dol'.ars in development. L. & N. Group Ore Good Grade, The alu nit e opened upon the L. N. , group, in o far ;.s it ha he-m cb-velone-h J is of an excellent grade, averam: a i little better than 10 per cent in p.-.;ish j content and around "7 per nt aiumina. i ar.d is urms jail;- iow in siliea and iron. The tunnel where work is now mid jr j wii-y is in approximately forty f,.-et ar.d a I shaft iifar bv is down fifty t'e-t, all it ore. from the grass root:.-. An o-en trench in front of the T;r.u-:1 ".;; e-j e-j r-oed th ' ein to a width of iwen'.y-two feet a nd ihe oont in:;ai ion rT ; !-- vein I o I the -add;e a ho at fe : ucove has ben j proved hy open culs and i:al;ow work- ! T'1. mo?r rvtereive wrki-.ts j:i abiTvK: ot the pro pr r y a rc o- j t he ' m v. s' i n-"- ZVfy.') Whf TP Sl- Ti" ' if1.. In a hii: L-lnrv ,e.f on ;'"!- -pe.p K'.eO tons of cae h,r. " bf"" a mnvd. nun-' run aerag-rg n-'njr ,T prr i1:;' pota?h. A d":ft S'JO ttxt long 1ns been' 4 r ? vvsN s V VGAL PRODUCTS MLL-ALUNITSc 0 . " ife, I r "Xs,: .-'-tv; " x v: 'v,' B45i - vt -1 v?vAxV,- v w . 1 f h i - v:(x :.r -T . N ! hz V." - vr, -v-r --a- v . - x, , , f Vt, a x x ! - -(y - J " 1 - , 4 x- 5 1 8RDSEYB VIEW OF FLORENCE CAMP AND CHIEF WO1CNGS sent out on the ore and the limits have not been determined. The development of the Florence holdings hold-ings in the North Fork district has been confined to shallow openings, and the same mav he said of the deposits in the vicinity of Mt. Kdna. Some of the open cuts In the North Fork region indicate that the vein is approximately twenty feet wide and the ore of good quality. A crushing plant with a maximum capacity ca-pacity of 250 tons daily is practically ready for operation in connection with the new plant at the mine. Four rever-beratory rever-beratory furnaces are being put in to roast the ore. From the furnaces the roasted ore passes into big cement tanks and from there the solution is pumped into digesting tanks. After passing through filter presses the solution is pumped into open pans above the furnaces fur-naces for evaporation. Air. Cullen is confident con-fident that the problem of producing alumina in a commercially profitable way has been' worked out and that both alum and alumina, as well as potash, will be turned out at the new plant. It is expected ex-pected that the plant will be completed and in operation by September 1. Within the past few weeks it was officially of-ficially announced that Swift & Co. had acquired an interest in the Bradburn group of claims, which adjoins the holdings hold-ings of t lie Florence and is near those of the Mineral Products company. According Ac-cording to the information given out the only definite plans of the Swift company at this time is to develop the property sufficiently to determine whether or not alunite exists in commercial quantities on the Bradburn group. The ore is of the same quality ay that which ha been mined on the Mineral Products and Florence Flor-ence ground, in so fa.r as can be determined deter-mined by the development already done. District Is Put in Three Zones. The United States geological survey has made some investigations in the alunite region southwest of Marysvale and has divided the territory into three districts or zones eastern, middle and western. The western zone trends northwestward north-westward and roughly parallels the north headwater branch of l,ittle Cottonwood creek, and includes the . & N. group, or a part of it, of the Florence. The middle zone extends along the crest of the ridge which divides North Fork from Dittle Cottonwood creek a nd includes Kdna peak and the Sunshine group among other deposits explored. The eastern zone includes three distinct groups of exposures and probably ' three or more veins. Some of the Florence ground along North Fork and the Mineral Products holdings are included in this zone. Besides the properties mentioned there are many others of promise in these zones, but development, except by the Mineral Products and the Florence, bas been seriously seri-ously hampered because of the difficulty of access to the region. Among the properties prop-erties in this section which have received considerable attention ore the Iron Blossom Blos-som group, the Kenyon group, the Bury B, the Bradburn. Mohawk and Lost Horse gmups. Government experts who have, made an i ox a mi nation of t he deposits have been extremely conservative in estimating the I tonnage of alunite. In practically a 11 j cases the development has been of a more or less superficial character and has not iriven information which would make possible pos-sible an intelligent estimM. With ref-erenee ref-erenee to this G. F. Louphlin. who prepared pre-pared the most, recent bulletin on alunite for 1 1 1 e g e 1 o i c a 1 s u rv e y . says: As already stated, the characteristic characteris-tic features of alunite deposits In several sev-eral pans of The world indicate de- pn-;tion at sha.ilnw depf'c. fl'-nt nvelnpmr ts at Marysvale on all but the. ',:Han-Custer group havo been inpfiy superficial. ;id the deepest 1 wnrMnc-F on that property are oniy abr.at L'r ff.et below- the lo--f-st out-j out-j ,'T-r,r.s r. aiunitc. The cautious at- titude taken by Butler and Gale re-1 re-1 cardit'g ri"r.ctct enee of veirs to depth 1 :v-uid therefore he maintained. The r'-in dep-s h n t eo:n pa re i m'-.M ( k.c.--!y i;i ;, , r wi'h 'he j pj'-:t -- '--.- of Maf 'sva r are thnpf j of To" .. ii.tiy. Th larce of ih' r -it i t ;x. f;o P'rr.idM7 'in. ' been worked to a depth of more than 300 feet, where it becomes increasingly increas-ingly pyritic, and it ends within the next sixty feet. According to information available' the only exploration done in the Marysvalo district at a depth of anything like 300 feet lias been done by the Mineral Products Prod-ucts and in so far as can be learned there is' no indication as yet that the alunite is: pinching. Therefore, there is no local development in the Marysvale region which would indicate the probable prob-able depth to which the deposits of the district go. In the region north of Marysvale even less exploratory work has been done. The deposits, judging by surface indications, are much more extensive than those to the southwest but the potash content is approximately 4 to 6 per cent lower The ore is closer grained and more nearly white in color, and usually occurs in what appears to be big ledges. Conservative Conser-vative estimates place the potash content of mine run at from 4 to 6 per cent, although some rich streaks are reported to run well up toward 10 per cent. The alumina content averages around 30 per cent. P.ecause of its accessibility, most of the deposits being within a few miles of the railroad, and the belief that the mass can be handled virtually by steam shovel operations, it is contended by ; many that these deposits may be developed de-veloped at an equal or even greater profit than the richer veins in the region to the southwest. W'hethter or not this is true remains to be demonstrated. Probably the most systematic development develop-ment in this section has been undertaken under-taken by the American Smelting & Refining Re-fining company. It controls a group of claims from which several shipments have been made to an experimental plant near Salt Lake, which is under the supervision of Dr. Cameron. As to the work accomplished accom-plished at the plant there is a dearth of information, but it is generally understood under-stood that efforts are being confined largely to experiments in producing alumina. Among the more promising deposits in the northern district are the White .Hills, the White Horse, the Iron Gap. the Iron Dyke and the holdings of the Pittsburgh-Ftah, Pittsburgh-Ftah, the Utah Potash, the Potash Company Com-pany of Utah, and the Potash Product s company of Delaware. The Marysvale Potash company, headed by Colonel C. P. Tasker and Dr. J. A. Wldtsoe. was recently re-cently organized to develop the White Horse group. So far no potash or a lu-mina lu-mina production has been reported from a ny of these proper! ies, although some trial shipments were made recently to Swift K- Co. from the White Hills group by Ma a Krotkl nnd arsoeiates. "Discovery of another potasii deposit i n tho foothills three miles southwest of Marysv-'i'e lias been reported by Tom Gillan. Gil-lan. This deposit is not fa r from the Deer Trail mine or from the plant of the Mineral Products company, and tin-development tin-development work dune fs reported to indicate in-dicate that the property has considerable merit. White the demand f"r pola sh must be supplied by American industries. Hie production pro-duction from a 1 nnite appfars to hold considerable indu"ment for the development devel-opment of tho Mar yp vale d'-pnsi ' ' A f -tcr war renditions, however, may be b-ss favorable, nnd for that reason it is especially espe-cially desirable that some prari jr;i! process proc-ess be -worked out for the prod md ion o" metal aluminum from alum t e. 'inr-n the development of ; he Mary.s a le deposi t s, the diseover-v of alunite In varions other western stales, inlodinir Colorado and Nevada . has b'Oii report "d, 1 "it. so fa r. the Indications are that the ore i- either of an i : i f f ri rr q u alii v or d ots n ot exit: t in rommer ia i una.r:: i : Sis or seven pro-.-, s'-k have been na-enft-d for rfov'Tt"- the soluble potash salts from alunite, 1 hre or popkPjIy four of vhicn have bn pra "t i . 1 1' y teft'-d. Tlir'pp a re the Chap! 'eh. the Morza n, t he Cameron nnd t h" .Mar ! iow1! j.ros-.es. Dr. Cameron f xx-r?y--s the icw that under un-der normal trade conditions no;a'-h can j be prof itat !;' produrrd from aiunitc only by marketing the ahimina in some form, po as to pay part of th cor t of production. produc-tion. The Mmrral Pro'hj -is ro-'pr.--. : ion is iitff i he ' ' 1 1 a p ! 1 pro--1 orr. ru-hd i-o that i' coar'-cr f ra enim ; v.-. abo ;t t 1 c f'. of ' ivi;f pir's. and Is j the i rdr.wp- na.--';d tarou-h a t':.nrv kiln, I in -.'."men a temperature of about '( d---' I grees Centigrade is maintained. Thai roasted alunite is digested with boiling water for several hours, and then fil-' teied through Keiiy presses. The cake, which is mainly alumina, is stored for possible use later. The filtrate is placed In a modern multiple-effect evaporator, and potassium sulphate of about 05 per cent purity, practically free from chlorine, chlo-rine, is recovered by crystallization. Bv the Morgan process finely ground alunite is mixed with one-fourth it a weight of lime and roasted at about 100O degrees Centigrade, preferably In a rotary ro-tary furnace ot. Ute. .typf ... commonly used in cement manufacture. The lime is used, chicflv.. to. prevfOiL.the escape of objectionable objec-tionable fumes of sulphur, as practically all- Uie. 'hphur in the alunite combine with" the lime to form gypsum or anhydrite. anhy-drite. The roasted mixture is leached in a series of vats, where Jt is heated find agitated by steam so as to obtain hot saturated solutions. ..which on cooling yield crystallised potassium sulphate. Tho solid residue from tho. leaching appears to be mainly., a. mixture of gypsum and alumina, alu-mina, for which several methods of utill-zo utill-zo tion have been . proposed. By tho Cameron process aJunhto la roasted at a moderate temperature riot) to '7a0 degrees Centigrade and the roast is leached to obtain potassium in soluble form as alum instead -of ,a.s the simple sulphate; Tho solution, ' which usually containfan excess of aluminum sulphate, is bronchi to saturation in a counter-current system of leaching vats, and la then filtered off hot. On cooling, the solution deposits crystals of potash alum mixed with more or less aluminum sulphate. The mixture is then roasted at a temperature tem-perature a little above 7Th degrees Centigrade Centi-grade and yields a solid residue of purft alumina and potassium sulphate, which is separated by a second leaching and crystallization. An advantage claimed for this process is that it produces H Hutched high-grade alumina simultaneously wittt. ihe polassinm sulphate. The MaeDowcll proeess provides that ground alunite be roasted at a tenipor-ature tenipor-ature mif tiriently high to drive off the, r-x-ccss of sulphur as nxldfu. The temperature, tempera-ture, is then raided a fid Die potassium salt and some of the podium are, volatilized, condensed, and passed through a collecting collect-ing apparatus. Alunite Domestic Potash Source. Although alunife has been mined for manv years in foreign countries ne a scuree of potash nlnrn, the principal attention at-tention has Pern giv-n to It in this country coun-try as a possible source of domestic poi - h. The extraction of potassium sulphate sul-phate from It on a eninmrrcial sea !o had been accomplished. possible by-prod )rtm :n 1 !m exi rytirm of potassium su'pbai o are alumina and Fulphnno acid. The pn-- . roHi prodm'tiO!t of alumina or its derived de-rived products on a eornmerrtal ca.le. np- ears to Vo a pos.ibilitv, but ther" ( llttlfl pro.-rK'Oi. of (be prcKluction of sulphuric aU'l nt pres-rat. I 'f a Fh alu in is a hvdrouH sulphate of aluminum and potassium containing H -nr ci-nt r: In. n in-a. T ter cent potash, M rer rent f-ulphur triovldr and 4.". prr rent v. a t rr, Tho pot ash in domestic alum Lt iinrjoH (, and tb alumina Is derived from bauxito Tn;nfd ohiefi v in Alaban'a. Oeor-L'ia Oeor-L'ia and T'-iiimT5'.'', with sn:all quantHie? fro m A rVn n - a.". The plants man ' i f a c t u r-iuc r-iuc potash alum and oibr aluminum rn arc is chM of I b M i sst ssippi river, bnt: t!ie prrifdi-abpity of e;. la hi inn inq a plant in T'tah FJ--enis -worthy of consideration. Thf po?;-iid rleri-at:on of alumina as a. hv-prod; if i in th" et ra ft ion of potash troni ah:nite already lui .a been mentioned. Kxpe'irnentr. on (:io ijjreet extraction of aiumina from hi:.' h - L'radf alunite havo in -dt (.; f-d tliaf a jirrK-f t.p ma-.' h" worked out h tk! mav be a 'jommer'-iai success i f f i ':) t rn !.f-s from I ;tah to stern a lure lu-re mum mannf.iet uri'i plan If are not pro-hit.i pro-hit.i t i-. e. As on off -el. to f reiirht rat rv hov.r-'. er. ihe abmnna prr- lured from hlgh-L-rade ajun'ti if 7-urer thnn that from thi b-or- j' f -,) e of T 1 1 e sou 1 1 (f rn stales. Tb'H io--2rado niip''ril contains too much r,ll-i'-a in bo U--.-.I an oro r.f a' urn! num. Tin-- ftra'-'io,i nf loth potas'n and alumina from the i-aip lot of Or. sri-.jlr further fur-ther 1 n- ard n nk i rr- a. su'-' csf ul indurs trv tl-,m hc i: tra'dion of Hither product alone. |
