Show TURNING ORE TO COPPER ilk opper topper t burnac ji ca charge bini 11 n N rl iel WA scenes in modern utah copper smelling smelting Sm elting plant stem moving blister copper irom on verter to pouring ladle by E me L HE copper and accompanying Ts THE siliceous ores treated by utah shelters smelters sm elters in 1935 would cover a salt lake city block to a depth 0 of 40 feet this material gathered from utah california colorado idaho and nevada before jt it could be made useful in industries and the arts called for or the labor of 0 1500 men railroad cars and worth of 0 supplies principally of 0 utah origin tour four billion lubic cubic feet ot of natural gas 36 million k w hours ot of electr electrical I 1 cal power and large tonnages ton nages ot of brick bri ck the ore had to be transported mixed in ili proper proportions treed freed from some of 0 its sulphur by roasting separated into metals and slag by smelting smelling sm elting and finally parted into individual metallic substances by refining certain natural advantages make utah an ideal copper smelt ing center which attracts ores from a wide area and creates a market not only tor for producers ot of copper but tor for iii miners iners of 0 gold and silver ores the advantages include food and clothing ample for a large number of 0 skilled and unskilled workers plentiful supplies ot of fuel and water and the services ot of three great railroad systems disbursements by the smelters shelters sm elters help sustain agriculture wholesale and retail merchandising and the professional classes the treatment 0 of copper ores is interesting paid tor for the shipments from each mine must lle be sampled and valued separately bites ot of crushed ore taken at regular intervals from conveyor belts are avera averaged ed by successive divisions to a sample small enough tor for the assay which forms the basis of 0 settlement the lot Is then mixed with ores necessary to form a suitable smelting smelling sm elting charge in roasting the ore Is heated to a point where some ot of the sulphur Is burned oft off as sulphur dioxide gas A series ot of revolving rakes in the roaster insure even heating temperatures pera tures in the ro asters vary front from I 1 to 1200 degrees after the charge has been roasted it la Is hauled to the furnaces in larry cars the furnaces ur naces are to feet long and 20 to 30 feet wide above is the charge floor carrying the tracks from which the larry cars dump the roasted ore into the furnace there it slowly melts down until two products are formed the copper sulphur and some of the iron combine to form copper matte the matte also collects the gold and silver in the ore the waste products form a slag which floats and is drawn oft off and consigned to the slag dump the matte is tapped out at a lower level near the firing end to obtain blister copper it is nee essary to treat the copper matte la ili converters steel cylinders with frith a large opening in the middle through which the matte la is charged and the finished copper drawn off when the converter has sufficient clent matte for a charge it Is rolled back until a set ot of air vents I 1 is beneath the molten metal air is the then blown into this and ellice llaca ous ore added from the bins above As the air Is blown through the charge some ot of the sulphur li in driven oft off as a gas the iron Is changed into iron oxide and forms dormi a slag with the silica in the silica allies ous ore As the process continues all the iron Is thus thug snagged slag stag ged but the tha copper which Is in a the form ot of copper sulphide Is not affected when all the iron has been flagged off the air begins to work on oil the remaining copper sulphide the sulphur then burns to sulphur dl dioxide gas passing up the hue flue at the end of this operation the matte converted into blister allster copper remains in the converters this ll Is poured oil off and transferred to th the casting furnace to await pouring into slabs or bars the waste gases from the rout roast ers les ies and converters carry much fine dust and fumes these gases before being beang released through the smokestacks smoke stacks are ar cleaned in cotrell plants high tension electric currents precipitate the dust on steel plates from which it Is periodically shaken into c hoppers beneath during 1935 pounds dounda of copper was produced la in the united states salt lake valley copper smelters shelters sm elters produced pounds or percent ot of the total production from mines la in utah amounted to pounds the difference some soma pounds represents copper in ores originating in nearby states that was shipped to utah for or treatment in treating copper ores and concentrates cen other types such as siliceous and sulphide ores are necessary to make a suitable furnace charge in this way the cop per smelters shelters sm elters have been able to offer a market to the producers producer of these gold and silver ores because 0 of this the mining territory tributary to salt lake valley has been bean constantly expanding until 30 percent of the ore smelted smelter originates in other states the economic advantage to the people ot of utah to la obvious the copper smelting smelling sm elting industry should be a substantial asset ot of this state tor for a long time to come whether or not this will be ba the case depends on the efforts exerted not only by the industry but by the people ot of the state to overcome adverse conditions which will crop up front from time to time la U the future |