New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-01
THE LEAD SMELLING AND REFINING KOOM.

meet the demand large quantities of the metal
cast into ingots and bars. Stacks Of these,
varying in weight from 80 to 300 pounds, are
piled high on the floors near the furnaces.
THE LEAD PIG AND IT'S TREATMENT.
The lead which is manipulated at the Gug-
genheim works comes from Mexico and Col
orado. in pieces weighing about 100 pounds
each. These are unlOaded a platform In
front Of a large building, and by means Of an
instrument which is much like butter trier
a sample is gouged from every large piece and
tested to ascertain the percentage of gold and
silver which it contains, and the treatment or
the various lots which these pieces represent
depends the result Of this preliminary test
The metal is first put into sOftening furnace
in sxty-ton lots, where the softening process
takes place This lasts from sixteen to eighteen
hours. according to the quality Of the metal,
and there also the anthony and arsenic are
extracted. After leaving the softening furnace
the metal runs waterlike into great watts, or
which there are four in the establishment, where
the desilvering process takes place. Zinc is
added to the molten mass. and the action Of
this produces scum on the top which, under
the strong light, prese hts an uneven surface and
, all the coors of the rainbow. To the unin-
| itiated observer it looks like worthless dross,
! but in fact it is the cream" of the mixture,
the gold and silver which were contained in the
original lead pig. A hot fire is maintained under
| the kettles for hours, and then the cream is
! skinned off, leaving the lead in a purified
| state. But it is not yet ready for the final
process 1t makes another trip through trough
! to other refining kettles and then into the forms
| which give it marketable shape. The cream"
| is taken to the retort furnaces, which look like
great chimneys. from which fire Of al colors
rises high into the air. There the zinc which
| was ad led to separate the gold and silver from
| the lead is distilled out of the mass, which is
| then taken to the Cupel furnaces in the same
building There the lead runs out in red,
sput. ering mass and the gold and silver re-
main
| PARTING THE GOLD FROM THE SILVER.
The dore metal containing the gold and sill
ver when it comes from the Cupe furnaces, is
drawn into small bars which are treated by
electric processes for separating the gold from
the silver in the parting room. These bars look
| like pure silver and some contain as high as
90 per cent of the white metal, but even | per
cent of gold warrants their further manipula-
ton From the parting plant the silver and
gold go to the furnaces, where they are cast into
bars for the market, the silver bars weighing
from 900 to / 200 ounces and the gold from 800
to 600 ounces.
The precious nature of these metals is evident
from the way in which they are housed. While
the copper and lead are stacked in doorless
houses, the gold and silver are placed in large
safes and every step in their progress is checked
and recorded
In place composed OF series of large bins
the by-prodlcts, among which are anthony
lead-drass and lithage. are kept These look 10