Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-06-29

VuV UIOC6SS0S lOT WOEkIQK LucM AZ q
profit are yet to he devised. The
State of Washington doubtless has
gold enough to repeat the product Of
California. The gold resou ces of
the Pacific Coast have only been par.
TALLY prospected but not fully de-
veloped. In South America the
places of Il olombia and Venezuia
and Bolivia are immense and will
eventually be extensively worked.
Colomb a has already produced more
gold than California. Gold is also
found from Peru to Patagonia, and
there is no reason why gold mining
in South America may not become as
profitable an industry us it was in
California between 1850 and 1860.
All are familiar with the gold fields
Of Australia. and large quantities Of
the precious metal will he produced
there for centuries to conc.
MINING.
Placer gravels and sands are usu-
ally washed hy some pro ess, the
coarser and lighter materials being
readily carried of, and the heavy
gold left behind. Sluice boxes, in
clined aprons, covered with cloth,
overw which the water flows carrying the
sand, andUther earthly matter, leaving
the gold to he caught upon the cloth,
are in common use. The old . o.
cesses of washing .'pay dirt" by
means Of pans and cradles, though
crude and tedious. are still much
used. The natives who wash the
gold gravels of Colombia, South
America, use no other process than
that of a pan. Ingenious machines
have been devised for washing such
gravels on a large scale. hundreds of
tons q day, and catching the fine gold
upon copper plates amalgamated
with mercury. But when the gold is
very fine, there is often loss of from
Is to 20 per cent by similar
processes. When ore is taken
from veins in the rock.
its treatment depends entirely upon.
its character. 1t is seldom that two
volumes contain one kind of ore, and
for this reason new chemical and
mechanical problems continually
present themselves to tho mining
engineer. The truth may be illus
trated by reference to the gold fields,
to the north of Pretoria in South
Africa. In 1881 these fields were
practically abandoned, owing to the
fact that no one at that time was
able to t.eat the refractory ores,
though such ores were known to ex-
ist IN almost fabulous quantities.
The present increasing output there
is the result of introducing inew
methods Of treatment like the
cyanie and determination processes.
Improved methods. which chemistry
Is certain to devise, will, at nc dis
tant day, make it possible to work
vast masses of gold ore which cannot
as yet be treated with profit, Low
grade ores a often be concentrated
SO as to get the valuable portions Of
many tons into small bulk, and this
greatly reduces the cost of shipment,
as it costs no more to ship a ton of
treighs worth a thousand dollars
than one worth only $40. Our space
permits only a mention of furnaces,
shelters. amalgamators, and rein.
cries, and methods like chloriniza.
tion which are in use in mills. In
Australia, the alluvial ground
washed during the year 1878, v
ag,d about 81 Tor each ton Of gravel.
In the alluvial washings of Califor.
mia, the average value portion of
material washed. was only SO cents.
Parties about to wash gold sanus in
Colombia ,are enthusiastic over the
prospect of getti ng IS cents a ton
out Of the material treated, while
the region about the Jicarilla Noun.
tains in New Mexico, contains
placers which average a dollar per ton
of earth, water only being needed to
work them to advantage.
EXTENT OF II GOLD OUTPUT.
While recent Government action.
owing to the steady decrease in the
price of silver, has tended to discour-
age the III ming of that metal. it has
directed the attention of the mining
world to gold, and the result must be
a large increase in the annual output
of the latter metal. During the year
lS9. the entire output of gold for the
world Was 1888, 900, 600, and of this
amount Australia produced 1874, ooo,-
UOU: the United States $50, OOO, 600;
Russia, s24, 500. OOJ; and Africa s25..
O0O, OU0, the remainder being from
Hungary, Austria, Mexico, Sweden,
Italy, Turkey, French Guiana, Peru.
Bolivia, Central America, Japan,
China, India and Corea. Tue value
of the silver product of the world FOR