Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-05-07

4
Trial after trial only showed a saving Of
from S3 to "a per ton from 500 ore. At
just about the time We had demonstrat-
ed that amalgamation was failure on
our ore, we received circulars regarding
the McArthur-Fo Forrest process. In juJt
about three days after receiving the cir
culars. was on my way TO Denver to
investigate and see what the process
would do for our ore. Must state had
very little faith in the process, and es-
| pecially when told by older hands in
the milling business, that il was money
thrown away to investigate such an alb
surd thing as cyanide extracting gold,
| but IL proved to be even more than was
claimed for it. Our first experiment
was TO agitate the ore in the cyanide
solution. This we found impracticable
on our particular ore, owing to consider
able clay that it contained So much
slime was made that the solution would
not pass through the pulp. Then per
collation. was tried with encouraging re-
suits. The great surprise to us was the
roarseness of the ore from which we
could extract the metal. A great part of
the pulp treated contained pieces as
large as hazel nuts, and showed an ex-
traction of from 50 to 90 per cent. After
'aLout six days of experimenting in our
assay office, the work was placed before
the board of directors Of the Mercur
Company and approved. On the adop-
ton of the Macarthur Forrest process, a
remodeling Of the mill Immediately fol-
lowed. From 10 to Is tons per day was
the tonnage until the LIST of April. 1892.
when the capacity was increased TO 80
tons per day. Our extraction, at first
showed saving of 10 per cent and
consumption of q pounds of cyadide per
ton. The last 80 days run up TO March
], (when the mill was closed down TO
increase capacity gave an extraction Of
8S4 per cent with only one pound of
cyanide per ton consumed. A brief
description Of the manipulation at Mer-
cur mills may be OF interest here, The
ore passes from the rock breaker to a
set Of 20-inch wall rolls, and on into a
second set Of smaller size, where ii is
crushed TO proper fineness, large pro-
portion of the pulp being as large as
small pea 1--WE use no screens), from here
it is elevated to a storage bin, from this
bin the tanks are filled by car. to a
depth of 33 inches. The cyanide solu-
ton is turned on and the pulp left stand
ing in the solution for twelve hours.
Then the solution is passed through con-
tinuously until the gold is extracted,
which varies from 36 to AS hours. The
solution now, containing gold, as il
passes from the tanks. flows into a sump
from which il is pumped into tank
above the teaching tanks; from this
tank it flows into box which contains
a sufficient amount Of zinc shayiags TO
clean all the metal from the solution
from the zine box it p3sses into the
standarding tank, here the solution is
brought up to standard strength which
Is one quarter of per cent, and again
starts on its tour through the teaching
tanks, with an occasional feed ofcyanide.
This solution never grows tired, for the
same solution is now in use that we
started with six months ago, and still
has as great affinity for gold as when il
started. A great advantage is derived
where water is an item, by the amalga-
mating process. We were limited TO
about % tons per day, owing TO scarcity
of water. The same amount Of water
would permit rs 10 work by the Me-
Arthur Forrest process, 100 tons per day.
Comparative results by actual expert
ence on our ore by amalgamation and
the Macarthur Forrest process is us fol-
lows:
1900 tons of our ore treated by ANAL
gamation gave an average extraction of
20 per cent at cost of "a % per ton for
milling.
1900 tons of our ore treated the past
ninety days by the McArthur-Forrest
process, average extraction of 8S.5-l0
per cent at a cost of $2.25 per ton for
milling.
Our appreciation ofthe process is fully
demonstrated by the fact, that during
the month of March, we increased our
capacity as before stated to 80 tons per
day. The past six days l have made
over one hundred tests on refractory
low grade gold and silver ore from diff.
ferent parts of the county. and my ex
perience so far has been, that the greater
number of them can be worked TO
high percentage by the Macarthur
Forrest process.
GILL s. PEYToN,
Assayer for Mercur Gold NJ. & NJ. Co.
COLORADO CAPITAL COMING.
The property known as the Gold Star
NJ cnn,papv aapc,otinn IF