Flotation applied to silicate sludge

Within the past few years great success has been made of the flotation of sulfids, and to a certain extent of carbonates. Since sulfids are easily recovered by flotation it seems practicable that silicates could be made to float by first sulfidizing them, and then subjecting them to ordinary flotation treatment. This problem involves the treatment of a silicate sludge obtained from the Joplin district, the sludge will easily pass through a 250 mesh screen. At the present time this sludge is being sent to the tailings pond. The experimental work of this thesis was done along the line of present flotation patents abstracted from the U. S. patent office bulletins --page 2