Salts in Tri-state mill waters: their ill-effect on the flotation of zinc and their removal

The application of the flotation process has become one of the greatest innovations in modern ore dressing. In a comparatively short span of years it has grown to be one of the most powerful tools of the ore dressing engineer. Flotation is particularly adapted for the recovery of finely ground mineral and has thus enabled the miner to open up enormous deposits of low grade, disseminated ores for profitable treatment. In conjunction with other methods, the process has raised the recovery in practically every ore dressing plant by the treatment of slimes which otherwise would go to waste, carrying valuable mineral with them. In the last five years a rapid increase has been made in the use of flotation in the Tri-State Zinc District of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma...The flotation of sphalerite, the principal ore mineral, has thus become one of the major factors in mill operation and commands considerable attention --Introduction, page 2-3