Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-01-09
EDISON AS A GOLD MINER.
PROPOSES TO WORK Low GRADE
AND REBELLIOUS ORES.
Machinery by Which the Wizard OF
the Nineteenth Century Means to
wrest Wealth From Hitler.
TO UnworkabIe Mines.

That wizard OF the nineteenth CEN
fury, Thomas A. Edison. has invented a
mechanical process for extracting Soio
from low grade ores which It is impossi-
bic II mine by ordinary methods. To a
New York World reporter Mr.. Edison
spoke of his new process as follows:
This is no new idea of mine," said
Mr.. Edison. for / have been experiment.
ing with gold ore on and off since 1875.
Although / could practically begin my
gold mining venture right away, l do not
think. It likely that / shall do anything
at II for a couple Of years.
In mining gold / shall employ SUBJ
stantially the same process that l am now
using Tor mining iron. My mining is all
done by machinery. and it does the work
after a fashion that is practically auto
matte. too. Not 4 man touches q piece OF
the iron ore that We are taking out of
the ground here.
When we run at full capacity, about 5000
tons a day, the entire force in all depart
ments of our works Will not exceed two
hundred and fifty men. THAI: means, or
course, that our automatic machinery takes
the place of several thousand men. The
men We employ are not miners; they are
machinists, engineers and laborers, and
their work is simply to start the machinery.
TO watch it while it works and to make
repairs.
as the field for operation, principally on
account of the cheaper labor and fuel there.
There is 4 gold belt fully seventy-tve
miles wide in the South lying chiefly in
Georgia. Alabama and the Carolinas. and
running in more OF less narrow strips from
the mountains toward the sea. These are
mostly long abandoned veins bearing ore OF
such a low grade that is is impossible TO
mine them at a profit by the ordinary meth
DDS. What l want are the big deposits Of
low grade ore on which my machines MAY
work without moving wi for a
long time. Give me the big deposits of
low grade ore of the country. and others
can have all the rich. free mining ores.
They are always in small veins. and it
wouldn't pay to put up my machinery TO
work them.
ting up a big plant to work an ordinary
vein. Even a belt 100 feet wide, 20 feet
deep and a half mile long would not pay
TO dig: What 1 want are deposits about
with a little gold scattered all through
them.
on gold ore that assays as low as SIS TO
the ton. II would be impracticable to mine
as low grade ore as that to-day
The most important feature or my
plan is that / nave invented an absolute
fy new process for separating The gold from
the other ingredients of the ore. BY this
rebellious the ore Is. The Importance, Of
this may be seen when It is known that
there is very little rebellious ore which can
be separated at a profit that assays less
than $40 to the ton. There is some free
milling ore that can be worked profitably
when it yields as low as So or $50 to the
ton where IL is found in large bodies, but
such mines are few.
There are deposits of low grade gold ore
IN the South, such as my machinery Is
made to mine. large enough to keep one
of my big mills busy for five hundred years.
II have figured carefully the cost of the
new gold mining process. and. from my
experience in constructing the works here
at the iron mines, ! estimate that / can
put up a complete plant for mining gold
In the South for a million dollars