Rick
A brief extract from my book on Castle an Dinas
Hope this helps?
Tony Brooks
It was the introduction of magnetic separation that revolutionised the production of wolfram from Cornish ores. In September 1898 Dr Alfred Martin, of Frankfurt, who then represented the Wetherill patents in Europe, called at East Pool and other mines in Cornwall. No result was obtained in Cornwall at that time but subsequently a Wetherill machine was erected on the San Finx Mines in Spain. Complete success was obtained and the San Finx example was followed at Clitters Mines near Gunnislake.[i] Around 1900 the old dumps at Greenhill (Holmbush and Redmoor ores) were being worked over by the Clitters United Mines for the tin and wolfram that they contained.[ii] The Clitters plant was the first new mill to be built in Cornwall for some years and it incorporated all of the latest machinery.
The installation of magnetic separation at Clitters, where the soda-process had previously been in use, proved such a success that it was rapidly adopted by other Cornish mines suffering from the same problem, becoming indispensable.[iii] The installation at Clitters was followed by installations at the Bunny Tin and Wolfram mine, Birch Tor mine on Dartmoor and at East Pool.[iv]
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[i].W Thomas, Losses in the Treatment of Cornish Tin Ores, Trans. Cornish Institute of Mining, Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineers, Vol 1 1913. p62.
[ii]. Dietzsch F. The Treatment of Tin-Wolfram-Copper Ores at the Clitters United Mines. IMM 1905-06 p2-61.
[iii]. Mitchell F B - unpublished notes in author's possession.
[iv].Mining Journal, 26 October 1907, p490. Letter by Arthur Schiff re "Genesis of Magnetic Separation in Cornwall".
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Stewart" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 8:33 PM
Subject: Wolfram / Wetherill manetic separators
What is the early history of Wetherill magnetic separators?
Was the Clitters mill the first place to use a Wetherill to recover Wolfram?
Rick Stewart
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