Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-05-10
Decentralization of the Ores OF the
Precious Metals.

a
ing paid by inventors to the subject of a
more economical and efectual mode for
roasting or disappointing the pyrites
found in the ores of silver and gold, for
the purpose of releasing the precious met
ais which they contain. The great en-
pense attending the process has hitherto
induced most miners to neglect this i'm
portant portion of their ores, and millions
of dollars have consequently been suffered
to run to waste in the tailings of our
quartz mills, large portion of which has
passed off in the sulphurets. Within the
past four or five years, however, there has
been ta.dy acknowledgment of the waste
fulness of this practice, and furnaces are
now being here and there constructed for
the purpose of utilizing the sulphurets;
vet the tediousness and cost of employing
the ordinary reverberatory hearth is rem
dering this reform so slow that none but
the most valuable ores can be successfully
operated upon.
THE WILSON PROCESS.
Oflate we have noticed numerous efforts
in this direction undertaken by metallur-
gists at the East. DR.. Riley P. Wilson,
of New York, has recently patented an
apparatus which is highly spoken of. 1t
consists of series of tire-clay retorts,
cylindrical in shape and arranged one
above the other, and all enclosed and
made to revolve in a large furnace, the fire
being applied below, the heat and fame
passing up and around the cylinders.
These cylinders are heated to cherry red,
when the sulphuretes are introduced into
the top one, which is SO constructed as to
automatically discharge into the one next
below, and so on through the series, the
last discharging into water bath. Dur
ing the process current of air and steam
combined is caused to constantly inter-
mingle with the ore, causing more rapid
and perfect oxidation. The construction
and operation is such that no loss can
ensue from vaporization or currents Of air
as in the ordinary reverberatory hearth.
The whole arrangement is compact, and
not very expensive. Crushing and tritur-
ating machines accompany desulphurizing
machines when required.
THE WHITE PROCESS.
A later invention is that put forth by
Geo. w. White, of Boston. We have not
seen any full description of this apparatus,
but it is spoken of as being very simple
and effective; the desulphurizatio being
effected by the direct application Of the
fame to the ores. 1t is claimed that each
machine is capable of calcining twenty
four tons of sulphurets in twenty-four
hours-a claim so improbable as to throw
q strong shadow of doubt over the entire
process. 1t is reported that the inventor
is about to start for California with one of
his machines. Should it arrive here, we
shall take the earliest opportunity to ex-
anime and report upon its merits.
THE CROSBY PROCESS.
There is still another method of desul-
phurization, known as the "Crosby Pro-
cess" This process purports to have been
eliminated from practical experiments at
the Excelsior Co.'s mine in Colorado.
These experiments were conducted on
large scale, and upon ore taken from a
grea, number If lodes. In the course of
these experiments, the inventor CLAIMS to
have discovered the fact that gold exists
in its ores in two conditions-as native
metal and in condition from which it is
readily VOldLlll1eu At q HOu0iobC hShiPSA-
AZURE. This latter condition is supposed
to be that of sulphide; and moreover
that the volatile is the normal condition of
the metal, while its "natiye" form is
merely accidental. Accepting this theory
as true, the inventors of this process argue
that the sulphides must be all lost by the
usual process of desulphurization. They
s,-.harr,o,o claim that in many of the
sulphuret ores, the sulphides represent
three or four times as much as that held
in mechanical connection with the sui
phurets. Acting upon this theory, Messrs,
Crosby and Thompson have devised pro-
cess Of dssulphuriza,ion by which any es-
cape by evaporation is rendered utterly
impossible. We propose. next week, to
give a full description Of this process
which will probably be followed up with
careful examination Of the philosophy
and practicability of the same.-S'ient!fc
Press.