INCREASING THE SPELTER OUTPUT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 14

INCREASING THE SPELTER OUTPUT

MOVE BY AUSTRALIAN COMPANY.

If anticipations aro realised, and the zinc concentrates obtained from Broken Hill'ores aro'as amenable to electrolytio treatment as the American product, the way will be clear for the solving of the Australian zinc problem when cheap power is obtainable (states tho "Sydney Sun"). In view of tlie part played by spelter in the manufacture of munitions, and the general desire to make the British Empire self-contained, the successful inauguration of electrolytic zinc refining works in Tasmania will be of national importance. From another point of view—the purely industrial—it'will be. an event of metallurgical mompnt, for it marks the doom of tho old retort furnace 1 and the clumsy distillation methods hitherto in vogue in this country.. Combined with the successful concentration of zinc in copper, lead, and precious metal ores by means of the flotation process, this radical change will ultimately have farreacihing industrial effects. The precipitation of the zinc from an ordinary complex ore yields a concentrated residue readily amenable to ordinary lead or copper smelting practice. Instead of the minor zinc contents being the excuse for the exaction of a heavy penalty by the smelter, it will lie a caleablo by-product. Thus zinc will be cheapened, and a further extension of its use ■ made possible, especially in tha galvanised iron industry. Provided all goes well, it is the expressed intention of the Amalgamated Zinc (De Bavays), Ltd., to take initial steps to install an electrolytic plant to utilise 10,000 horse-power supplied from the hydro-electric scheme frojn the Great Lakes, taken over last year by the Tasmanian Government. Subsequently, it is estimated by tho company that from 40,000 to 50,000 horse-power will be utilised to supply the main plant, together with subsidiary industries. Mr. W. L. Baillieu, representing the Amalgamated Zinc, Ltd., has assured the Tasmanian Premier that if thero are no metallurgical difficulties, the whole undertaking can be Teadily financed. If this is done, _ and the American figures prove reliable as a basis for calculation it is reasonable to assume that the first unit of the plant to be erected in Tasmania will be capable of producing between 10,000 and 11,000 tons of the highest grade spelter por annum, whilo the full plant should bo capable of turning out 40,000 tons of metal a year. Such an output would absorb over 100,000 tons of zinc concentrates of the grade produced by the Amalgamated Zinc, Ltd., via., 49 per cent, of 48} per cent. zinc. Another point to be noted —again provided that the American figures aro correct—that the cost of installing an electrolytic zinc recovery plant is equal to about £12 per ton of annual capacity, as contrasted with, estimates running between £30 and £40 per ton of ijunual capacity for tho installation of the old type of spelter works. This should help to counteract the effect of cheap Continental labour and enable spelter manufacture, and allied industries to bo permanently established in the Commonwealth. '