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Mon 16 Oct 1905 - The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)
Page 7 - BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS.
BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS.
THE ZINC CORPORATION
LIMITED.
'A BIG ENTERPRISE.
During tlio past six or seven \veek3
there has been a good deal of attention paid
to Broken Hill zinciferous tailings, and
several announcements of purchases havo
been made in "The Age " which have been
regarded with interest both by the mining
community nnd the general public. We
are now able to announce that these trans
actions have been made on behalf of a-
group composed of H. C. Hoover (Messrs
Bewick, Moreing and Co.), Lionel Robin-
son, Clark and Co., W. L. Baillieu, Herbert
J. Daly and Arthur Terrell. These inter
ests are being consolidated into a company
to be known as "The Zinc Corporation Li
mited," which is in course of formation,
and for which provision has been made for
a preliminary capital of £350,099 by the
parties interested. It is understood that
this compnny is in the nature of a preli
minary one, nnd that a much larger sum
will be provided ut an early date. The first
directors are, it is stated, to l)e Messrs.
Herbert J, Daly, (managing director), H.
C. Hoover, Ilerzig, W. L. Baillieu and Wm.
Clark . Messrs. Clark and Hoover will pro
bably constitute the London board. Messrs.
Bewick, Morcing and Co. will hove con
trol of tho office' management in Mel
bourne and London, and Mr. Simpson, late
maniigpr of tho View CsnacU mine
(Western Australia), will be in charge at
Broken Hill.
The tailings secured are as follow (ap
proximately)
Tons.
Block 10 dump 020,000
Suuth Cunipauy's dump .. .. .. 700,000
Block 14 dump 250,000
British dump ... .. 376,000
' Total ... 1,046,000 '
In addition to this large total the current
tailings for a period of years have been se
cured from tlio South Broken Hill Com
pany, the Broken Hill Block 14 Company,
and the British Broken Hill Com-
pany, which should give the buyers an ag
gregate of at least between 5,900,009 and
0,090,000 tons -before the expiration of their
contracts. The vulue of the dumpa varies
considerably. The Block 10 dump is con
sidered the richest, and, as announced by
the company, averages. 21.7 per cent, zinc,
6 oz. of silver, and 10 iter cent. lead. The
other extreme is the British Broken Hill
dump, running about 17 per cent, zinc, 7
oz. silver, and 6 per cent. lead.
A rough calculation would show that tho
tailings abovementioned would contain
something like 900,090 tons of zinc,
22,000,000 oz. of silver, and 350,000 tons oi'
lead. At current murket prices the aggre
gate value of the metal contents would be
something like £20,500,000 sterling. It is
not to bo assumed, however, that this is
all profit, nor even any large proportion of
it. In tile lirat instance, the metal cannot
all be extracted from the tailings by any
process known up to date, and again, after
the metal is extracted in the form' of a
concentrate, the cost of smelting and de
ductions of metal in that operation very
materially alter the position, and the pro
fits are affected correspondingly. It is un
derstood that the corporation is not
pledged to any process, but intends to ex
periment systematically, on a working
scale on nil of the different patents, and
other things being equal, to work tho one
which tlley can develop most successfully.
There are at present five processes iii tlie
field for extracting zinc. These have ull
been invented during tbe last two or three
years, and have as yet, with the exception
of tlie Rotter and Salt Cake processes,
been used practically on an experimental
basis only. All 'the processes depend upon
some method of rendering the particles of
'metal lighter than the gangue, and thus
separating it by an inverse method to that
hitherto generally adopted in tho treat,
incut of sulphide ores. In tho past it lias
been the practice to separate metallic par
ticles front tbe gangue by virtup of tlieir
greater weight than the gangue minerals,
but at Broken Hill the presence of rhodon
ite and other refractory substances of
about the same specific gravity of zinc sul
phide render tliis impracticable. The El
more proeeqs, wbiclt is the oldest of these
processes, is based on the fact that if the
ore be mixed with oil the oil forms a coat
ing on the metallic particles, causing them
to cling together, and by being buoyed up
by the, oil they float to the surface of the
witter. The Rotter process was the next
in the field, nnd is based on tho principle
that each metallic particle is coated with a
thin film of air, and if the ore bo treated with
sulphuric aeid tlie acid acts on tho carbon
ates in the ore and forms a gas which at
taches itself to the air films on the metal-
lie particles and carries them tip to the sur
face. The Delprat, or Salt Cake process,
is based on the same principle, but the
gas is secured by tbe use of salt cake.
'Rite next process in the field was the Cat-
termole, which is in use by the Sulphide
Corporation, and it is understood depends
upon the fiotntivc faculty of otitic acid,
but it is stated tliere nre no gase3 formed
by its use. The De Bavay process is the
most recent invention, and depends upon
the principle that each metallic particle is
coated with a film of air, and that if these
ores be introduced to a surface of water
gently the air coating is sufficient to buoy
up tlie particles. In addition to these pro
cesses there is the Gillies patent, which has
been spoken of very highly.
All .of these processes may be said to be
at the present time in a rather crude state
of mechanical development/and the profits
earned up till quite recently were not very
considerable, though recent results nt the
Broken Hill Proprietary mine have been
highly satisfactory. The founders of the
Zinc Corporation believe that with ample
capital, and with the engagement of the
best metallurgical brains, they should be
able to develop one of these processes, and
place the same on a commercial footing. It
is understood that the first process to be
taken in hnnd will be the Potter, as that
company is prepared to deal on liberal
terms with their process.
The question lias been much discussed as
to whether the mining companies were
justified in selling their tailings, although
it is not known at what price they were
disposed of, except in tlie case of the
Block 10, which secured 6/3 per ton for
the first 100,009 tons and 5/ for tlie bal
ance of the dump. This dump is tlie rich
est in metals on the field, but if it can be
taken as a criterion of the prices paid, it
must be evident that a very large sum in
cash is being poured, into the mining com
panies. On the basis of this contract, tlio
Zinc Corporation will distribute about
£1,250,000 to the companies for material
-which hitherto has been practically al
lowed to lie waste on the fields. FYom the
standpoint of the companies, it is certain
that the expense entailed in the develop
ment of the processes and the difficulty of
dealing with tho owners, &c., together with
the risk of the pi-iee of spelter, have been
sufficient justification for permitting some
one else to take bhe risks. Tlie directors
of the four compnnics selling their tailings
represent some 15 to 20 men of long experi
ence in Broken Hill, nnd their concensus of
judgment is not to be lightly, treated by a
casual critic. It' is quite evident that if
all the companies started experimental
nlants to determine processes a very large
initial outlay would be wasted, and
shareholders' dividends would have to
be curtailed or reduced. And even
in tbe ease of successful termination should
oil start producing zinc, rfot- only would
tlio spelter market be immediately flooded,
but there tire no smelting facilities in Aus
tralia or Europe capable of handling tlie
ouantity of concentrates that would be pro
duced. From the standpoint of the pur
chasers, however, by bringing special, brains
to bear on- tbe problem, together with the
large capital at their disposal with which
to erect smelting works either in Australia
or Europe, and the ability at any moment
to curtail the output with the view of sup
porting the market price, the outlook is
entirely different. .In fact, the Zine Cor
poration is, about to carry out a pro
gramme which would, he absolutely neces
sary in case tbe, mining companies wished
to each treat its own residues — that is.
to consolidate the output. This would
mean curtailment If adopted by the com
panies themselves, and shareholders would
not benefit considerably. As the matter
now standq, there are only about three pos
sible large producers of zinc nt Broken
Hill — they are the Zinc Corporation, the
Sulphide Corporation and the Broken Hill
Proprietary Company — a very different
situation from the possibility of having
seven or eight Inyge producers nil suffering
from tlie disadvantage (marked in past
management) of inability to co-operate. .
The question of erecting smelting works
for the Zinc Corporation Is to be fully con
sidered. No definite announcement is pro
bable for some time to come. The feelings
of those in tlie corporation, it is stated,
strongly incline towards tho erection of
works in Australia, but at the moment
there are no zinc smelting workmen in
Australia.
Local investors nre naturally largely in
terested in the effect these, sales of tailings
will have on, tho dividends of the Broken
Hill companies. In the case of the Block
10 mine the sale of the surface dumps of
tailings only means over £160,000. This is
quite in addition to-the value of the cur
rent output of tailings and the cash ro-
ceipta for tho slimes sold elsewhere. The.
Broken Hill South Company will receive
about £35,000 to £40,000 annually for nine
years. The Block 14 Company gets about
£20,000 lo £25,000 in hand for development
work, and will receive close up to £20,000
pcr year if the tailings output be as large
and as rich as anticipated. The British
Company's payments have not been dis-
oloscd, but the company is at present put
ting out about 125,000 tons of tailings per
annum, which is shortly to lie increased.
The North Broken Hill Company has sold
jts tailings to the De Bavay'Coinpany, and
it is expected when this process is Tn full
work £15,000 per annum will be secured
for shareholders. Tlie Broken Hill Proprie
tary's dumps contain over 2,500,000 tons of
tailings, which must prove of enormous
value to the company; while the Sulphide
Corporation is situated in a similar fortu
nate position, with 1,250,000 tons.
Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page18538233
APA citation
BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS. (1905, October 16).The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 7. Retrieved March 31, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205
MLA citation
"BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS."The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) 16 October 1905: 7. Web. 31 Mar 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1905 'BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS.',The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), 16 October, p. 7. , viewed 31 Mar 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205
Wikipedia citation
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205 |title=BROKEN HILL ZINC TAILINGS. |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=15,788 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 October 1905 |accessdate=31 March 2025 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

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