INNOVATIONS IN THE METALLURGY OF LEAD.
By DORSEY A. LYON AND OLIVER C. RALSTON.
The data reported in this bulletin are largely the result of experiments conducted by the Salt Lake City station of the Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the department of metallurgical research of the University of Utah. The work on lead is only one of the phases of the investigations carried on at that station during the years 1914 to 1916. The results of similar work with zinc ores and with copper and other ores will be published in future reports of the bureau.
The scope of the work done at the station is shown by the following extract from a report published by the University of Utah."
Although Utah has long been a metal producer her high standing as a mining State is due at the present time to the large bodies of low-grade ore found within her boundaries, a notable example of which are the mammoth deposits of monzoniteporphyry at Bingham, which are being mined by the Utah Copper Co. However, the successful treatment of these low-grade ores has presented a problem which has not as yet been satisfactorily solved in a great many instances. It is due to this fact that at its tenth regular session in 1913, the legislature of the State provided for the establishment of a metallurgical research department in connection with the State school of mines of the University of Utah. As stated in the act (Laws of Utah, 1913, ch. 102, sec. 2, pp. 199–200), providing for this department, the purposes of this research department have been "to conduct experiments and research, either alone or in cooperation with the National Bureau of Mines and other agencies, with a view of finding ways and methods of profitably treating low-grade ores, of obtaining other information that shall have for its object the benefit of the mining industry and the utilization and conservation of the mineral resources of the State, and to publish and distribute bulletins and articles relating to the department and its work.
This act became effective in July, 1913. For the remainder of that year the research work was temporarily directed by Prof. Robert H. Bradford, head of the department of metallurgy of the University of Utah. In January, 1914, a working agreement was entered into with the United States Bureau of Mines. By the terms of this agreement the work of the metallurgical research department is under the direction of metallurgists of the Bureau of Mines assigned to duty at the university and Salt Lake City. From January, 1914, to July, 1916, Mr. D. A. Lyon, metallurgist, was
a Wells, A. E., Report of the department of metallurgical research: Bull. 9, Utah Eng. Exp. Station. Univ. of Utah, 1917, pp. 4-8.