Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-31
1T WOULD MEAN MILLIONS.
Trying u Process to Extract Gold
From Auriferous Clays.

From the Denver Republican.
For more than twenty-five years lhe
great deposits of clay, breccia and cement
carrying gold values and lying TO Inc
south and southwest of Denver have at
tracted the attention of mining men resi-
dent in this city, and experiments nave ire
quently been made with the view 10 .. qls
covering some method of treatment that
would save the values. 1t has generaiy
been assumed by the investigators that the
gold carried in these substances was the
source of supply fer the free gold known
to exist in the SANDS of Cherry creek, Dut
up to the present time all efforts to extract
values in paying quantities nave 1alled'
These deposits have been traced from as
far east rs Akron, along the divide between
Platte and Cherry creek, between Sedaila
and Acequia on the Rio Grande, into the
foothills west of Castle Rock, and recently
in the new camp CT Woodland Park. In
some places il is a trmly cemented Drec-
cia. in others it is clay more or less Solidl-
fled and in still others II Is hard blue ce-
ment but in all cases gold has been found,
generally in such small quantities that II
would not pay for the cost of treatment,
while at the same time sufficiently palpabie
to excite interest and more or less eXpen-
sive investigation.
The ordinary fire assays have seldom re-
turned more than from a trace to 81, but
failure seems to have stimulated inquiry
and within the last year or two very de-
cided effort has been made in the direction
of chemical analysis. with results which,
while not entirely satisfying, are so much
better than anything heretofore obtained
that several enterprises are now on loot
for thorough test.
The Garnett Gold Mining and Milling
Company has been diligently experimenting
with a deposit of gold-bearing clay for
nearly n year, and Colonel John D. Fredd
and ]. NJ. Watt stockholders of the COM
pany, now claim that they have found
method which will save the values at so
trifiing an expense for treatment that ore
running as low as S. per ton will yield
handsome profit. Colonel Fredd said that
he would guarantee than any single ton
of the clay taken from any part of their
property would yield $l2 per ton at a cost
for treatment of not to exceed 81 a ton. The
process by which this result is obtained is
the patent of Julius Jean, who has erected
a small plant at Globeville and proposes
to make a sample test of five tons.
The process is said to be a combination of
amalgamation and magnetism, and the
principle upon which Mr.. Jean bases his
discovery Is the crushing of the ore into
particles as fine 9S the gold contained
therein. The result of his test viii be look
ed for with lively interest by the many
who have failed IN the past
The location of the clay deposit from
which the test will be made is in Douglas
county. about five miles southeast of Ace
quia. The Garnett Mining Company has
acquired 2.200 acres of land upon which
there is stratum of auriferious clay ten
feet in depth. Assays have been made
running all the way from Sc to $50, and all
portions of the ground have been tested
returning an average of S12. About two
miles from Acequia is the cattle ranch of
H. II. Metcalt. secretary of the Colorado
Cattle Growers Association. Mr.. Metcalf
has also made many tests of the same
material which underlies his ranch and
has obtained the same results. He has the
utmost confidence that some method of
extracting the values will be discovered.