The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-15

material having an assay value 100
times greater than plain sea water.
This $4,000 worth of gold that is
thrown away on the Alameda salt
marshes in making the comparatively
small amoun OF salt produced there Is
but a small fraction of the amount
similarly thrown away in h worlds
production of salt by this same method
Of obtaining salt.
IL may be recalled that until 1872 men
were as ignorant Of the almost un.ver-
sal presence of gold in sea water as
they were then of the presence of argon
In the air. In that year Sonstadt dis
covered gold in sea water. Silver had
been discovered In sea water I'm 1851.
but that element may be ignored here.
other chemists In other parts of the
world confirmed the discovery.
The contribution to the discussion OF
the subject which has attracted the
most attention was that OF Professor A.
Liversidge OF the New South Wales
Royal society. who found that the sea
water of New South Wales contained
from five-tenths to ten-tenths of a
grain of gold to the ton. or from two to
four cents worth. Professor Liversidge
estimated the bulk Of the oceans of the
world at 3O7. 710.679 cubic miles. He fig
ured II out that on thisb basis n at one
grain Of gold to the ton the worlds
oceans held in solution S3s. 000. 900. 900
worth of gold. This is but a bagatelle
compared with all h gold In the
earth's composition and awaiting pros
pectors and 1t illustrates the
universally of this hard-to-get metal.
which a smart assayer can now find In
almost every brick and cobblestone.
At only three cents a ton h gold in
the waters of San Francisco bay would
be worth over $32s. 900, 900.
II find the gold in the ocean water
proper" said Mr.. Pack. only In solu-
ton and amounting to o O.5 OF a
grain-in value about 2 c~ents-while
the gold in the San Francisco bay Is
largely in a finely divided state, only
a portion being i'm solution"
This additional value Is due to the
gold in its natural or pure state which
floats in infinitesimally small particles
in the water and Is mixed with it's mud
dy elements after having been borne
downward from the gold fields OF the
interior valleys by the rivers. The
purely ocean waters of the bay present
only the normal amount of gold in So
luton as a bromide, iodide or chloride
of gold.
In the practical process OF evapora-
ton at salt works the salts of the vari-
Gus mineral elements crystalline out OF
the solution at different periods. The
calcium drops out first N then the
water Is drawn of to another vat where
the chloride of sodium or salt crystal
Lies as evaporation proceeds. Before
all the salt has crystallized out Of the
solution and before other salts crystal
lie and spoil the salt the solution Is
drawn of. leaving the pure salt in the
vat. The residue or ''bittern" contains
in a highly concentrated solution all
the mineral elements except the cal
cium and sodium. The magnesium
would crystalline next IL the process
were continued. The gold which is
present is not discoverable by the or
binary processes of chemical analysis
and IL IL is not specially sought. gen.
orally by electrolytic process. IT es-
capes observation.
When the residue or bittern is run
out of the watts in which the salt has
crystallized Ii has been educed in vol
ume about 100 times. If the original
sea water contained 9 cents worth
gold to the ton this residue would con-
tain 81 worth to the on.
The problem set by Mr.. Pack is the
invention Of a process which will prof
itably recover gold from a Solution of
bromide or iodide of gold carrying val
ues of 81 a ton or a little less. There
will be no element of speculation I'm the
reduction, because the values will be
constant.
No process for getting gold from its
bromide. iodide or chloride or an in
dustrial plan and scale, as is now done
with it's cyanide. has ever been sought
until Mr.. Pack began.
Most of the silver now produced Is
a by-product Of copper, lead and gold
mines, which are not worked for the
silver.
ITO me it is simply a practical bust
ness proposition" said Mr.. Pack. and
/ shall experiment as I am able to in
a practical way and without forming
any companies. As a business PROPOSE
ton / now regard this bittern as worth
from so cents to $50 a ton An cleo
trolytic method appears to me most
promising"
Almarin b. Paul, the well known pio-
neer mining engineer and writer on
mining themes. was the first to intro
duce the cyanide process In this state
a few years ago. IND he has given
much study to this subject. which Is
kindred to Mr.. Packs problem. In dis
cussing Mr.. Packs idea, he said:
II have read Mr.. Packs article and
] consider his suggestion worthy OF con-
sideration n experiment. II there Is
$3.50 worth OF gold in the material II
can probably be recovered with profit,
but the discovery of a process is a mat
ter for experiment and probably of loss
in the early stages Of development.
Everything depends upon how
cheaply gold may be recovered from
its bromide OF iodide and upon the
quantity that a be worked at C
Processes are constantly getting cheap
er. The cost of operating the cyanide
process varies from so cents TO s3.a ton,
according to conditions. A process that
will proftably handle bittern for its
gold must have a very low cost In
power. labor. time and so on. I regard
Mr.. Packs idea as a practical posi-
bility as well as interesting in a scien-
tific way"