A N T I M O N Y : ITS HISTORY, CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY ...

120 TUB METALLURGY OF ANTIMONY.
The by-products produced in all these processes are liquation
residues, matte, slags, refinery slags, and flue dust. They are added
to the charges in smelting the ore, if they are sufficiently rich;
the liquation dross, however, is subjected to a preliminary roasting,
and the flue dust is intimately mixed with lime, before smelting.
Liquation residues are also sometimes treated separately in shaft
furnaces.
Method of extraction
Furnace used .
Analyst .
Sb
S
| Fe
i Ni
Cu
! As
Au
1. 2.
Precipitation .
Reverberatory .
Helmliacker.
94*5
2'0
3-0
0-25
traces
84-0
5-0
10*0
3. 4.
By reduction of
oxidised ores.
Shaft furnace.
97-2
0-2
2-5
95-0
0-75
4-0
0 : 25
5.
From Fahl-orespiess
desilverised
by amalgamation
in the Stephan
Works.
90-77
2-0
| 1-50
573
4. Other Processes.—(a) At the Stephan Works, in Upper Hungary,
antimony is extracted from the spiess, which has been desilverised
by amalgamation. The spiess is obtained from the smelting of fahlores.
The antimony is extracted by using pyritic ores in a shaft
furnace. The copper is thereby converted into sulphide by the
sulphur of the pyrites, and the impure antimony obtained is refined.
({$) Pelatan* smelts the following mixture in a reverberatory
furnace:—
Oxide of antimony . . . . . . 53
Sulphide of antimony . . . . . 40
Coal * . 7
100
It is only necessary to liquate the rich sulphide ore and to oxidise
the poor sulphide ore in order to obtain the sulphide and the oxide
required for the production of the metal. Refining can be effected
with an alkaline flux.
(y) Basse patented t in 1907 the following process. The advantages
of this process are : —
* French patent No. 210,331, Dec. 19, 1890.
t French patent No. 375,872, March 19, 1907.