The Portland daily press., 1895-05-17
GOLD In THE OCEAN;
Boiling Salt Water May Make Us
Rich Some Day.

Millions of Tons of the Precious Yellow
Metal Said to be Held in Suspension in
the Sea in the Form of Iodine-less
Risk and Exposure than In the Present
System of MininG-In Time Gold Would
Be as Cheap as Copper.
the future more gold will he extracted
from the salt waters of the ocean than
from the mines now worked in the rich
est part of the worlds gold regions. The
vast size of the oceans makes the field
practically inexhaustib BILE, and while the
mines of the land are yielding their
thousands of tons, :he seas will produce
their millions. Even though the gold
is fonnd in small quantities, the aggre-
gate yield would be enormous. Extract
ing the gold from the ocean will also be
attended with less risk and exposure to
danger, and the work will not be very
much different from that required to OBJ
tain refined salt from the ocean. Prof.
Ramsay, one of the best gold experts
and mineralogists in this country, has
given considerable attention to the sub
ject, and in speaking about it he gave
some interesting facts.
at seems almost like rev1ving the
dreams Of the alchemists in predicting
that gold will soon be produced abund-
antly by ocean miners" he said. "Never-
theless there Is sufficisnf scientific data
to warrant one in this speculation. 1t
is no new thing to discover either silver
or gold in salt water, but recent re-
searches have directed more interest
toward the subject by proving that the
quantity is large enough to be of practi
cal use. The exact quantity that a ton
of ocean water contains depends upon
local conditions, and varies all the way
from one-twelfth to one-quarter of a
Of gold may be found in portions of the
ocean not yet Investigated. The temper
ature OF the water greatly affects the
amount of gold held IN solution, the
warmer the water the less aomunt one
would find and the colder the tempera-
ture the more that would be held in
solution.
Taking the low figures given for the
waters in warm climates-one-thirtiet
of grain Of gold to one ton of sea water
-and what probable yield of gold would
one find? Why, it would be an enor-
nous quantity-one that would COM
pletely eclipse our present product on
the land. The average depth of the
ocean has been scientifically estimated
at 22,00 fathoms, with AGO. 000, 900 cubic
miles Of space. In its vast area about
are deposited-an amount that is hardly
conceivable when expressed in figures.
Well. il each ton yielded the lowest
quantity of gold obtained, the whole
yield of the ocean would be about 10,250
millions tons Of gold.
just stop and think of that for a
momentl Gold would be SO plentiful
with this amount on tap that we would
make furniture of the precious metal,
and even build houses with it. A solid
gold ring could be had for few cents.
Silver would lie worth 60 times as much
as old. Instead of trying to put the
currency of tha world on gold basis
financiers would tumble ever each other
in their efforts to get rid of all gold
money. We would think no more OF the
pr ecious metal than we do now of iron
or copper, and it would be no more de-
sirable. Compare the amount of gold in
the ocean with the total quantity that
has been taken from the gold mines of
the world during the last four centuries.
The total output Of the whole world
from 1894 to 1894 approximated about
5000 tons, and the present annual out
put is about 200 tons. What an insignif-
cant quantity! And the reports are that
the gold, mines of the world are showing
decided signs of exhaustion. This gold
in the ocean is held in solution by the
iodine which is obtained from the
iodate of calcium. If you mix gold with
solution of iodine it can very readily be
reduced to soluble state, and in this
condition it can be prevented from drop
ping through the water to the bottom.
Possibly the lower strata of water con-
tains certain considerable quantities of
gold that has never yet been
reached by deep soundings. We know
that it is frequntly released and dropped
by the iodine, for this latter is absor bed
by the seaweeds and plant growth SO of
the ocean. Along the coasts of Great
Britain, France and Sweden the kelp or
seaweed is gathered and burned and
then from the ashes iodine is extracted.
This iodine in its simple form in the
plants. holds the gold of the ocean in
solution.
Formerly the iodine was in much
greater quantities than today, and in
past geological ages it abounded in every
body of salt water. Occasionally expert
menters have obtained traces of iodine
from rain water along the borders of the
oceans, showing that it has been taken
up by the wind and sun. Every time
this iodine liberates the gold probably
drops to the bottom of the ocean to form
beds of gold tor future generations.
Should the ocean ever reoede from the
Sarogassa sea great veins of precipated
gold may be found there for the fast
forests Of seaweed are continually alb
sorbing the iodine and releasing the SOL
uble gold. Unless arrested by other de-
posits of iodine the released gold would
rain down upon the bottom OF the sea
in continued showers
"The iodine which holds the gold of
the ocean comes from the iodate of calci-
um. The amount of free iodine is not
great in the ocean, but it is constantly
being liberated by the iodate Of calcium.
AS soon as it comes into contact with
dead organic matter it becomes decnm-
posed, and the iodine is fol med. The
amount of iodate Of calcium in the ocean
has been computed at nearly 100000
TONS This gives an enormous quantity