Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-11-06
BLACK SAND.
The Kind of Metal it Contains and it's
 High Value.

The demonstration of the fact that the black sand usually encountered in placer nines, especially in Arizona, contains most of the valuable metals, ard the facility with which it is .ncentrated by Mir. J. F. Sanders new amslgamstor and cOncentrstor, gives to that subject a de- gree of importance hitherto unthought of, and any information eniightening The miners relative to its com ponent parts and mesus of accommodating the product, must necessarily be a valuable guide tn them.
 careful test made iu this oity by Mir. J. G. Goodman, of the biacx sand concentrates from the newly opened cs- ment mines of Mir. Sanders and others n the Santa Oatslinss, shows that they will yield something over Sll.GO0 ID gold. per ton. in the condition they are delivered from the machine. Each ton of the gravel gives from five to eight pounds of these concentrates. and as the machine, with the new improvements to be attached. has Q capacity of forty tons of gravel in twenty four hours. the high value and profit ID working these mines is readily seen. Other placer mines in the territory possess similar sources of We Altl that are usually consigned to the waste dump by the miner who does not realize their value. 1t Is for their gui- dance that the following plain desorip- ton of the constituent parts of black s,nd is given, devoId of all technical terms. as furnished by NIT. Sanders him. self:
 AMERICAN FLAG, Oct. r, 1886.
 EDITOR CIrIzES:-According 10 prom 'e I send you below a description of the concentrates ss obtaiCei from placer and mo,i quartz mines, and which are gene rally known as black sand:
 These concentrates contain:
 IRON, m the form of Titanic or chro- mic oxides of iron or both. The for mer is the invsriable companion of gold aud tue latter of platinum. etc. Both kIuds of iron have jet black color, Gnd are almost lnfuslbles, even ID an iron 0lsst furnace; in combination with large quaDiit es of iron, they are used and en- ter but sparingly into the pig-lron, but give to the steel made from such iron, d better quality, which are known in the trade as silver-steel, and cnrome steel. BO h of tine above kinds of iron are mag .etic, which quality furnishes the only means of -ephratIOn from Oih,r metals 1T minerals in these concentrates. The chroms-oxide of iron Is also used in the manufacture of BichromBte O. Potass. chronic yellow, s pigment used exteD- tensivsiy Tn dN eing.
 The only factory in the L. S. is ID or near Baltimore, Md, End obtains the -'Oluck sand' or the chrome oxide of iron from California where It is obtained along Ihe beach. In 1881. SCO0 tons of such ma serial were ship yed to Baltimore from there.
 Th,se kinds of iron form generally 70 per cent of sucn concentrates, but tnls quantity varies much and in different pcEiities.
 The rocks iu the Azoic formation are cLIat yte...s.- E-- .hs. io-oa ns,anunt nf
 
 AOIve kinds. and hence the washes ot he d-tiitus of such rocks contain large Juantlties of "blsck saDd' which k, however, entirely valueless, unless such washes contain also the detritns Oi gold teHrIug mines
 2-G LD. After su5h concentrates nave passed through au smalgamatlon ..rnce,s, or after the free gold has been
 aken out Of them, they still contain gold. hut in another form, m dark ,rown p1wder, as sulphite of gold. ID he laboratory the chemist obtains thIs ,d-ptical kind of gold. when he passes a current of sulphureted hydrogen gas ,hruugh a chloride solution ot gold, n lark brown poSder as above.precipitates. and II Is the sulphite of sold.
 Another kind of gold exists also in ih-se concentrates; It has, like the previous kind, a dark brown color. but ms color consists only ID very thln coating. When rubbed witb the blade uf s knife IL becomes bright and amAlga mates. Placer miners occasionally hnd nuggets that have m places such dark brown spots or coating on them. In he laboratory thls kind ot gold IS also ubtaIued, by preCIpl ation with proto- -ulphate of iron out or a solution or cl,lor,te of gold. The latter kind of gold occurs less frequent than the fnrmer. and both kinds. generally called coated gold. from the latter. which was 6rst recognized. When the coneentrs- tion is carefully conducted and with yood concentrations, they constitute, of such concentrates, up to two per cent or over 5000 % Ter ton m gold. how- ever, ID practice. owing to the extreme smalIness of the particles or gold and he imperfection of most machinery or eoncentrators, such concentrates rarely ever exceed a gold vRide of Sl0OJ per ton and generally contain Tar less. 3-TIS. The tin exists ID such con centrates spariDgly as sn oKide or m: It has Tn this state the appearance ot resin s shade dsrKsr m color 6nd much harder; however, the most ot the un exists m the form of stanic acId. which has Q greyish color. and IS almost mus ibls and therefore in Rn unsuitable con dition for the production ot tin' ana also n great detriment in the bringing ! out of the gold.
 ] ,-s,ss mostly as a sulphite of Sismuth. in which state it has a dark brown ] color. llkt JUG fAAAt0 Na occurs also. but seld Dm, as nftlVe nis- i math, when 1t looks like, and ls easily mistaken for silver. It has a whlte, si'- [ ger hke color. with tinge of purple; 5-CADMIUN exists with and ls hSe The blsmuth. only it nov occurs m a na' [ five condition and Is less frequent than | inc bismuth or tin. All three oi the-e | minerals constitute of such well dsessei ! concentrates, and after the mA2ne'ic ,ron has beeu removed from them, up to 3O per cent, but mostly mach less ! 6-PLaTISUM AND PLATIUM METALS These occur sometimes ss au alloy wi'i .,oId in extremely smsll quantities ou' also and especially In Central and Sontu America, as s distinct one. There are now about six different platinum 3re' Enown: the first looks like native silver and to the discovery of the platinum ID tbe southern part of Mexico or therS abouts. and ss it occurs mostly ID stns' grsins, similar to gold. is was called s anla,ins," by the MexicaDs (ot h.'l' s'lyerl and was named by Nalhog1ol nIat,num. Another kind looks NeI1 yer, much like galena, only It IS geneTall! a trifie darker and harder and ~he1
 NN