, 1865-07-19
A REvOLUTION IN MINING.
DR.. Ayers Method OF Dfslnfsrra1svn
md D.. D.eulplIur1xottOn or Ores.

Gold ind silver a5c very good things to have
provided they Gun be used but Robinson
C:usce would bare gladly swopped his lump
q tie yellow OF, lump as biz as his head,
eause 1t was uetless }or BIS purposes. 3Id
and silver, whether In biz Jumps or little,
add nothing to tie wealth Of a country, be.
yond o certain Foint, II to bring them Into
use costs more than they are worth. Our
Inine;al wealth, enormous as 1t is, has these
lim!ts: First, that only q certain portion Of
Of separating the precious metals from
tho o1e; and, etcenlly, that still
larger portion is OF no value since
they cannot be separated at al. ANY
process which fhall cheapen the extraction
Of gold and silver from their ores, will add
Immensely to our national means, anl II 1t
reached at ali, = new source OF wealth Is
opened TO us Of l1calculable ra1ue. Dr.J. C.
Aver, the we'll known chemist Of New Eng.
land, has recently hit upon method Of dis.
indignation and sulphurIzation Of ores,
which. # 1t does all that Is promised Of 1t,
are connected With hln In The ownership Of
the patent, but add largely to the wealth Of
the nation itself. II this method shall prove
succt ssful we are about to witness q reyptu-
tien Ia mining which will so add to our ma
t3ona1 resources as to make not only the pay
ment Of the public debt an easy mattcr, but
which will influence the commerce OF the
world.
It Is claimed for ills new process that It Is
etIectual in the disintegfation and desulphur-
ization of rock and ores BY The application Of
liquid OF liquid solutions while In heated
state. The rcck or orc Is rendered soft and
ftiable, and may be easily reduced to powder,
while the volatile metals arc, at the same
time, expelled and the basc metals o1Ydizsd.
FTb{s tna ves tho rn1d md gf1ppr fra, for anal.
gamation.
By Tie ordinary method Of grinding and
stamping rock, the gold therein contained is
SO commnuted that q large portion Of It
eludes the mercury and is lost. However
finely the rock be PulEertzed, It Is found,
pieces OF chips Of stone, each OF which con-
iains gold within itself. beyond the reach Of
mercury, and Which is, Of coQrsc, lost, In
the one cate the metal Is lost because It is
itself ground and reduced too fine to be OBJ
tnined In the other, because 1t Is not 1e1eas-
ed at all. No successful method Of oyereom-
ing these difficulties has hitherto been dis
covered, and, consequently, under the system
of extraction now In use,t miners Only get
abont ouc-thi1d Of the gold therein contained.
Or. 4 yefss process appears to obviate these
difficulties, for while 1t aggregates the pre-
cious metals into globu1es, BY the natural
action Of heat, it destroys the molecular ad-
GEElQu VI lAE 44LE1AAA p4A I4SACa Vi tAC bkQH6y
rendering it frtable like chalk. It, In fact,
d,sintecrntes the rock into It's atoms, 50 that
It may be easily rubbed up into powder. So
/ tffectual1y Is the atomic separation that flint
glass, OF The hardest quartz or agate Is made
TO absorb water Ike q sponge: Hence, 1t Is
claimed that ores, treated BY 1t, yield nearly
all tie precious metals they contain inearly
90 rer cent? for the usual means Of extrac-
ton. The process lot only destroys the rock
without dividing tbs gold a1d silver, but
also expels, By chemical action, any volatile
metals, such as arsenic, antimony OF bIsmuth,
whose presence forbids amalgam1tIon BIZ
mercury while, II su]phurets are present, the
oxygen Of the decomposea wafer used In
The process, .unites with the base metals
which remain al o1ydes, and the sulphur.
uniting with the hydrogen, goes off IN clouds
IS sulphuretted hy ydrcgen. Hence mines that
have been abandoned because they could not
although rich be probably worked, for my
Of the above reasons, maysnow atford q num-
f1cent return, and even the tatlings" Of the
working mlnes yield more gold than has
hitherto been obtained from the mines them
selves by the old method. Highly sulphuret-
led ores arc frequently among the richeat
that are found, but they have been nearly
worthless, In consequence Of the insupersblo
dIft1cu1tles Of extracting the metals from
them. Now: those difficulties appear to be
wholly removcd-difcalties which have
locked within the rocks 40 unfold amount of