Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-01-01
The Sebillot Process.

istrv that heated sulphuric acid VIII com
 pletely disintegrate ores. That agent IS
 used by the United States assay oihces
 for the purposes of assaylng, ana IS qultt. peneraliv acknowledged to be the most effective disintegratOr known to ehelilis- | try. Its application in treatment or ores 1 on a large working scale has, however tbus far been impossible; for no means
 have been applied for conserving the evaporated acids, and its heavy cost | would preclude its use even at lhose points where it Is cheapest, and much more in the larger mining States, where | it sells at over S100 per ton. These oD- | stacles to it's use appear to have been el- fectuaIlv surmounted by M. SeblllOt, an
 eminent Paris engineer. through pateht- ed contrivances by which he eondenses
 SO much of the acid as evaporates ana reproduces such portions of It as go liito z combination with the ore In course O1
 treatment, both the condensation ana
 reconstruction being, 1t IS clalmed, sHTc'- l,5
 cd at a comparatively nominal cost. The
 complete reduction of the ore IS eiieeted
 memUSss,,s- '+ ;n uUlvegtcS q. .eni'.4ls' 1l
 broke out during the progress of the
 dance, but was quickly extinguished
 without causing any excitement. Had
 shA fire got good headway, 1t would have
 by lnlxlh7 Is, ~o1rpr5r. --i " a-H, prSssott-.
 with from one to one and a half times it's
 weight Ot strong ulphuric acid, and sub-
 Jecting 1t to a moderate heat until the
 acid Is entirely evapOrated. The reduced
 mass Is then subjected to q process reg
 ulraly practiced in metallurgy, and the
 entire contents of precious and base
 metals are obtained in pure condition.
 the iron being available in the manu-
 facture of steel without fG-Bler change
 As alre i- ated, ti>- lOt p
 ureu-a.. "e 'tOod eonversi,
 CT re-Hliuo, ,.ith gs..u .ufai -i' rtsipe..
 is available for repetitiOns ot use without
 limit The inventor claims that the cost
 per ton of thus procuring all the metals,
 precious and base, each in a chemically
 pure condition, IS far less than of pro-
 cu1ng the gold and silver alone under the best and most carefully operated processes at present known; and consid- | ering the nature and economies of the process and its exemption from destruct- i've temperatures or expensive agents, there seems tO be good prima facie evi- dence that tllis claim may be well found- ! ed. The process prOfesses to be equally adapted to all kinds of ores. For sul- | phurets It should possess a special adap- tatiOn, inasmuch as 1t cOnserves the sul- | phur and includes an apparatus for con-
 yerting 1t into sulphuric gold at small part of the cost common in the leading acid works of our manufacturing cities. | In some parts of the country this would l be a most important advantage; as, for ! instance, in North Carolina, where the | sulphur could be extracted from now worthless pyrites and made into sul- | phuric acid for the manufacture of phos- | phate mlnures, the residum of the ore | being treated for its base metals and | such golC or silver as t might contain. 1 When 1t IS considered that large masses | of those now useless ores contain in | each ton about $50 lbs. of sulphur, and | 92O lbs. of iron, and from g. to SIP in | gold, the profit that would accrue from | such treament becomes apparent. It is computed that Colorado ores contain, on an average, about 2jOtbs of iron per ton, 2OO lbs. of zinc, so lbs. of copper and POO lbs. of sulphur; which, being claimed to be recoverable under this process, would give 1t a most important advantage over the best existing meth ods.
 Miners will see at a glance that, if this process can be successfully applied, great revolution in mining must result A method that gives the assay contents of procuring 60 per cent. to 9 per cent. of those metals, and that gives in addi- IlOn all other minerals in the ore that have any value, would confer largely
 value upon all ores and make profitable q vast extent of mining that ,an now be conducted only at a loss. It would not only increase the value of mining property, but would revive mines that have been abandoned because of he low grade or refractory nature or 'helr ores. Vast quantities of stubborn )res in Colorado that, while assaying S40 'O S75 per ton of gold and silver, are worthless because no process can reduce hem at a profit, would then yield a good 'eturn to the miner. Indeed, 1t Is not ,asy to put a limit to the extension of mining that must follow the successful application or such process. However, , orecastlngs may bevery properly deferr- 'd until the SeblllOt method has had a | air trial, which 1t appears likely to have I t an early day. A company has been Ormed Tor working the process, and pre- , lmlnary works have been started at |, Denver for perfecting the working de- { ails, preparatory to the erection of rOrks on a large scale. So long as We re accustomed to announcement of "im- ; in reduction which turn out ! 0 be failures, 1t Is proper to regard all s lew processes as on probation until their | merits have been demonstrated by work z ng results. It Is only just, however, to [ |. SebillOts method tO acknowledge { hat 1t carries on its face more prObabil- = Y of success than new processes gener- | fly do. It comes from an engineer of ' ability and character in s Us profession. It attempts nothing new C n chemical processes. Indeed, beyond VI be condensation of the acid vapOr and ' he reconstruction of acld destroyed t -hich from expert evidence appear to o e accomplished with success-the pro- S ess Idcludes nothing that IS not com lOnly done in industrial operations. | What Is new seems tO'be the simplest art of the process, and what is old has cen put beyond doubt by experience.
 his much must, in justice, be conced- II l in advance of trial; for the rest we W lust wait for the verdict of results, h lough from what we know of the pro f, ess, we incline to an anticipation that n ne results will largely justify the invent D r's claims.-N. Y. Commercial Bulletin. Ii