New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-27
GOLD MADE FROM SEA WATER
THE PLANT AT NORTH LUBEC AND THE
PRESIDENTS ACCOUNT OF 1T.

PRESIDENTS ACCOUNT OF 1T.
The sending Of several ingots from North I.u-
bee. Me to the Ncw-York Assay Office. few
days ago. draws public attention 10 scheme Tor
extracting precious metals from sea water. 1t
has long been known that both gold and silver.
In the form OF Chlorides. exist in the ocean. In
the proportion of one grain Of gold and two OF
silver 10 each ton Of water. And now the Elec-
trolytic Marine Salts Company OF Boston has
in operation a plant for extracting gold and Sill
yer 1t is alleged that the ingots sent TO the
Assay ONCE the product of that estab-
lishment They weighed 81 ounces. trite
over one-third OF the metal was gold. and less
than two-ttirds was silver The value OF the
former was estimated by Uncle Sans experts
at $500 61 and Of the latter at So ID 1t Is as
serted by an official Of the company that ex-
tracted this metal that the operation cost about
sos
1t is well known that many chemical COM
pounds can be separated into their constituent
elements by electroysis A good illustration Is
afforded by the Woolf and Hermite's system OF
disinfe zion by means Of electroyzed sea water
Common table salt is known 10 the chemists as
chloride Of sodium" II a quantity OF saf
water be properly treated with electricity TINS
chlorine and sodium divorced The latter
forms new combinations. The former. with
ozone which is incidentally liberated. Kills the
germs which it is sought to get rid of.
variation Of this operation is undertaken
at the North I.ubec establishment Instead OF
saving the gas and letting the metal go. as WOOL
and Hcrmite d. they let the gas go and seek
TO retain the metal Moreover. their process Is
SO CONDUCTED as to deal with the chlorides on
gold and silver, and not with that Of sodium
And il has several features which are still kept
secret
Arthur y. Ryan. president Of the Electrolytic
Marine salts Company. said to a Tribune report
er last week:
"Wo picked NJ $4,000 in Boston and vicinity
last November. with which a working plant was
built At North Lubec. This consists IN part OF
n salt water lagoon with m extent Of about
four acres and depth If nine feet II has
dan, At its entrance. The tide at this point
varies from seventeen 70 twenty feet in height
Hv n system " gates We impound the salt water
At high tide and when the tide IS low we allow
the water to run out through a 5uceWay' ana
treat it with ch. meals and electricity.
we have at this time III separate machines
which we have named accumuators Each has
an indon.naont water supply and is capable II
handling about twenty tons Of water per hour
We are able to use about eight hours Of each
tide making sixteen hours a day that we can
run thu accrmulators. The number u accumu-
Iators that can be used on any gwen BODY or
water simply is the number that. at twenty tons
per hour. Will empty it in some six hours.
"Our estimate is that sea water contains about
one grain Of gold and two grains Of silver per
ton. We have been able to find this quantity
Of gold and silver in a large number 81 tests
But We were in search Of a method OF extraction
that was profitable. and in this research we
devised a method Of rapid precipitation that
was available in the largest quantities or water
and inexpensive in working So that while we
get only one-tenth Of the quantity available IN
any given body Of salt water. we are able 10
banda such large quantities Of the water that
tho results show an enormous profit. The work
ing Of our system is entirely automatic
.Th. ineots which we sent to the Assay or
flee wore the output Of thirty-sX accumulators
working fourteen days. They treated ll,'-o
tons Of water a day or 16l2s0 altogether. The
cost NJ running 100 accumulatOrs for seven days
will not exceed $50. our actual figures are
s117 Bu,. allowing for expense that we cam
not compute. We assume Sl'o as iair estimate.
To rim each machine for fourteen days would
cost about 81: and the operation Of the thirty
six which did this particular work should nave
cost Sos. our private tests snow tha' "iNe
each accumulation involves an expense Of - ~
. week ii yields a gross return Of - - per day.
We are now planning 10 erect near the hrSt
lestablishn ent at North Lubec a second one. with
= water area Of eighty acres. depth Of ten feet
and a capacity for each tide Of about l2oo'ooo
tons Of water
MAKING GOLD FROM SILVER.