| Description |
In the present day treatment of complex zinc sulphide ores by means of differential or selective flotation, or gravity concentration, we secure a product, relatively high in zinc, which, thru usage, has come to be known as zinc concentrates. Hence, in the present dissertation, the term zinc concentrate will be used to designate that product secured by differential flotation or gravity concentration, of the complex lead-zinc, lead-iron-zinc, and lead-iron-copper-zinc ores (most of which contain also varying amounts of both gold and silver) as are mined in the Park City, Tintic, and Bingham districts of Utah, and subsequently treated to separate as far as feasible economically, the various valuable metals from each other and from the gangue materials. The ore so treated is usually of such low grade as to render it valueless unless milled, and the metals (usually present as the sulphide) so intimately intermixed that a complete separation by flotation or gravity concentration is, practically speaking, impossible. Today, the majority of these ores are treated by flotation and the trend is definitely away from gravity concentration, so this treatise, while recognized the presence of gravity concentration, will concern itself with flotation products primarily. Flotation so concentrates certain portions of the ore as to give one of the metals a predominant percentage of the total, and this gives rise to the term 'concentrate' as applied to that metal, this concentrate being an economic source of that particular metal. |
