The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-23
BLUE MOUNTAIN ACTIVITY.
The Prospects of the New Camp Are
Most Flattering.

Inc Blue Mountain district, IN San
Juan county. Utah. is a scene of &C
tivity, says the Dolores (Colo) Silver
Star. The miners and managers are
developing and working assessments
to some extent. There can be no
doubt. from the present outlook, but
that the district will come to the front
as a gold producer this spring and
summer. a great many capitalists
and mining men are watching with in
terest the development of this Won
derful district. From a correspondent
of Monticello it seems an almost GER
tainty that this district will become
famous in very short time.
1t has been proven beyond doubt that
there is gold in abundance in this
range Of mountains and easy of access.
The miniature mills that have been
erected il the district have shown how
successfully the ores can be treated,
and that the quality and quantity is
there.
1t is understood that parties with
capital are organizing to enter the field
from Denver and thoroughly explore
the district, and should they be sue
be lost in placing machinery on the
ground at once 10 handle the ore.
We are also informed that a number
of mining men from the San Juan are
making every preparation TO enter the
new gold field as soon as the snow
melts sufficiently to permit good trav
cling.
A party of Durango people have or
ganiZed and will start for the new
field in a few days, for the purpose OF
investigating the report sent broadcast
throughout the country regarding the
new camp.
The Blue Mountain excitement was
brought about by the finding of gold
by Captain Jackson, who accidentally
shot and killed himself while en- route
from what is known as Jackson's
camp, TO Dolores. Mr.. Jackson was a
pioneer mining man of Colorado and
he had on numerous occasions claimed
that the camp was second to none in
rich mineral deposits.
The Keith Electro-Cyanide Process.
The process of recovering gold from
ores is being exploited by-some infiu-
entail South African men, OF whom
Mr.. Paddon and Mr.. Tudhope. of the
johannesburg Consolidated Investment
are the chief. says the New
York Engineering and Mining Journal.
DR.. Keith, the inventor, is an Ameri-
can electrician, Who has for several
years been connected with the Sandy
croft foundry in England. The process
consists of two parts. that MAJ be
considered: First, the pro-
cess for dissolying the gold out of the
crushed ore. and second, the recovery
of the gold from the solution. DR..
Keith's Improvement in the dissolvine
process consists in adding to the solI-
ton of potassium cyanide a certain
amount of cyanide of mercury. In
practice he states that he finos. that
the best results ore obtained when the
solvent contains 0.05 per cent of not
assium cyanide and OOPS per cent cy-
cyaDides, it is claimed, o-erates very
much faster than the simple potassium
cyanide. At present we have no exact
figures relating to the rate of solution.
but experiments on a practical scale
are now being made and will be avail
able shortly.
The process for the recovery of the
gold from the solution is an electrolytic
)ne. The gold and mercury are de-
posted together upon amalgamated
copper plates. The amalgam so de-
posted is scraped off and the gold re-
covered by distilling off the mercury
n the usual way. The anode is not
allowed to dip into the cyanide solu-
ion, but is placed in a separate COM
oartment and surrounded with a solu-
ion of an alkaline salt, so that the
.yanide does not become decomposed. |
rhe electro-mOtive force of the cur
-ent need not be more than one-half !
rolt and the current density on the |
lepositing surface may be as low as |
LOG ampere per square foot.