NOTES ON RECENT MINERAL DEVELOPMENTS AT 



MINEVILLE 



BY HEINRICH RIES 



The introduction of a new and successful method of magnetic 

 separation for treating the magnetite ores at Mineville, Essex 

 co., has led to renewed activity in the iron mining industry at 

 that locality. 



The special object of thus treating the ores is to obtain a 

 product low in phosphorus, which in the crude ore often runs 

 from iy 2 $ to 2#, and thus make it available for Bessemer work. 



In the summer of 1901 Witherbee, Sherman & Co. installed a 

 new separating plant for treating the ore from the Joker and 

 Bonanza shafts on the Old Bed. 



In this plant the ore, after a preliminary crushing, is dried to 

 remove all moisture and then passed through Wendstrom mag- 

 netic separators. The concentrates from these are ready for ship- 

 ment, but the tails are recrushed to 20 mesh and passed through 

 a Witherill separator with two magnets. The first magnet re- 

 moves the magnetite, which is added to the concentrates men- 

 tioned above, while the second magnet takes out the hornblende, 

 thus leaving a mixture of apatite with some quartz to pass off at 

 the end of the belt. The last mentioned product is sold to manu- 

 facturers of fertilizer. 



The present separating plant has four Wendstrom separators, 

 and three Witherill machines, giving a daily capacity of about 

 400 tons of concentrates, which, when the machines are not over- 

 crowded, usually run from 64$ to 65 ^ iron and .5$ to .7$ 

 phosphorus. 



Since the present separating plant has been so successful, the 

 company is erecting a second one to the north of the first, which 

 is to have a daily capacity of 500 tons. 



In the new separator the ore is crushed to the proper size in 

 jaw crushers and rolls, dried in a vertical dryer and then passed 

 through the Witherill machines, no Wendstrom separators being 

 employed in this case. It is probable that the new works will 

 . be in operation by November 1902. 



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