The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-14

ua0 AEoA EkOnA sho ASEAsAc OH~ss
1t b an open question with Alaska placer
miners whether they save as much gold
IN the RIFLES OF the sluice boxes as is car
rfed on by the iron sand and lost.
II water enough is used to carry OF the
iron sand, It carries the fine gold with It.
X not enough Is used, the iron sand packs
the sluice box to overlooking and no gold
can be saved This is particularly the case
at Cape Nome, where many OF the miners
use small magnets to remove the iron
sand--a slow process but which gives those
using them an advantage of three to one.
Tho Same difficulty exists in treating So
called pyritfc gold ores. The presence Of
the Iron makes smelling necessity. with
the result that millions of tons OF that
ore In Washington. running from three to
ten dollars per ton are practically worth
les ~ business propositions. owing to cost
OF transportation and smelter charges.
Remove the iron from the sluice box Of
the placer mine; crush. roast sluice and
remove the iron from pyritic gold ore of
the quarts mine and both difficulties are
Oolved BY running the remaining sand ans
nne gold over amalgam plates.
lnvented by . Seattle Man.
Nature does the crushing in the one.
and machinery in the other. but both be-
come placer mines. practically.
To remove the iron as rapidly as the
gravel can be supplied whether by hand.
dredger or steam shovel, Frank J. Barnard,
Of Seattle has invented and patented
magnetic separator and fine gold saving
machine that II destined to enormously in
crease the value OF Cape Nome and other
plarers. and to revolutionize the present
methods Of treating pyritic gold ores. As
result OF practical working test OF a
crude. small sized machine. running hve
months. on . Columbia river bar, carrying
much iron sand and some fine gold Mr..
Barnard holds United States mint receipts
FOR nearly 5000.
The machine works at small expense, It
b claimed. in very simple practical man
Nor and with unlimited capacity. A me-
dunn sized machine will easily extract the
iron from three thousand tons OF gravel or
beach sand per day, saving in perfect shape
all the magnetic iron and all the gold no
matter how nne or otherwise hard to gave
oerviceab1e for Quarts and Placer.
It is believed that such machine would
work wonders and prove to be the only
satisfactory method Of attempting to save
M the gold in the sands at Cape Name,
where tho percentage of black iron sand
y large and where 1t is estimated that at
least 20 per cent. of the gold is lost
by all miners using the ordinary methods.
A method OF this kind running several
u
millions from such sands as were worked
My Alaska miners last season.
Mr.. Barnard believes that q large and
profitable field will be found for the ma
chine in many quartz mining districts. such
- those In the vicinity of Lake Chelan,
where 1t is estimated 30 per cent. OF the
ore ID pyritic or in other words, carries
iron, much of 1t running so to 30 per cent
iron. With ore that carries IS per cent
iron. to the ton, it will be possible to take
out the whole amount leaving rs per cent
sand and gold, equal to 500 pounds to the
ton. Ten tons of ore can thus be concern
trated into 21-2 tons of sand and values
The iron being out Of the ore, the sand
and values can be run over the amalgamat-
ing plates and practically all of the gold
will be. caught by the quicksilver by ordin-
ary and simple methods. There are mil
lions Of tons Of this Lake Chelan ore rum
ming from So to $40 a ton gold. Most of
these ores contain 80 per cent. or more
iron, and the cost would be too great to
work by smelling, but by this machine
the iron product can be separated for less
than Is cents a ton.
Cheap Extractor of Values.
The claim for the Barnard process Is that
It WAL extract the values from such ores
for less than $1.25 per ton. The operation
Of the machine is very simple and con-
sists of several rows or a battery of cleo
projecting and extending over and across
an ordinary miners eluce box one two
inches above the flowing water carrying
mixed masses Of the magnetic and nom
magnetic material A recIprocating nom
magnetic conveyor works back and forth
between the magnets and the water be-
meath and crossways with sluice. The
magnets, being charged by a small half
horse power dynamo, draw all iron parti-
cles rapidly upward from and out of the
water. They are at once caught by the
Intervening conveyor and quickly carried
out of the magnetic field and deposited in
. bin at the side Of the sluice. Only the
silicious sands and gold can pass through
under the magnets, and they are easily
caught and separated on plates or by the
ordinary methods of sluicing or rocking.
Tho process is admirably suited for either
large OF small operations, but the larger
the scale Of operation the less the expense
of working, which at most is very low,
considering the capacity and results.
Explanation of the Method,
The method used for working ores Is
very much the same except the ore is first
crushed fine enough to be run through
an % mesh sieve. 1t is roasted for few
minutes to drive off part of the sulphur
and make the iron more magnetic, and
than thrown into small current of water
or sluice and passed under the electro
magnets, when the magnetic iron Is at
txacted upwardly through the water to
tho copper reciprocating plate against
which II is held by the attraction of the
magnets above the plate. acting through
Il, until II is carried outside the sluice box
and magnetic field where It falls by gravity
into bins or conveyors.
The gold and ordinary sand freed from