The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-06-24
10 EXTRACT GOLD
FROM WAIST !. {: ! ! NJ !.
Important Work Begun5ins North.
Carolina BY United States al
Geological Survey:
STAT ON AT CHAPEL Hill
Ingenious Machinery, Already
Tested, Expected to Accomplish
Notable Results.
i(ByS Walden Fawcett.)

WASHINGTON. D. g., June @. The
Division Of Mines OF the United States
E Geological Survey i 8 to make a strong
effort to devise q means y OF arend erins
commercially available he low-grade gold
deposits OF the Mid Atlantic and Southern,
States An ep srimsnL ste ton has been
z tablished at Chapel Hill, n. g., fully
equipped with the ingenious machinery,
5for extracting the gold and other valuable
minerals from the waste sand of the At
lantic coast region. and 1t Is hoped and
believed that many gold deposits that
were Just too low a grade to be worked
probably under the old conditions. can
be made paying propIs tons by the nlu
gof new methods and machinery.
This schema for gathering gold from
sand heretofore regarded as worthless,
Is not an untried project. The govern
ment officials tried It out on the Pacific
coast last year, and, Indeed, n 1t was due
8to the success which attended their ef-
forts there that they decided to &attempt
TO tap f a similar new source OF wealth
In the Eastern section OF the country.
The investigation In the Western couu-
try was started in the hope OF extracting extracting
the gold and pla tinum from the sand.
but the trials made soon demonstrated
that the supposedly worthless sand Was
also rich In d number OF other mineral
subs tances # z
VALUABLE Deposits.
al, Sof the deposits In whlch5this hidden
wealth occurs are referred to- by the
scientists and experts as .'black sand.
hut the lay reade. must not get the idea
that this simply refers to one era De y
an nd to be found on the ordinary ocean
beach,. In It's broadcast signiti gt'l nc I
q applles to the heavy sediment that IS
/ left wherever water has had &chance 70
work on the soil TO be sure there .tre
thousands OF acres OF TINS SAND on $tn ls
sea beaches, but there ore also . NV,
deposIts Of It Inland at points when,
II not reached now by rivers OF other
wa terways. haze in ages gone by, been
subtecked to wave action. NVhereverEhy-
Sdraulic mining has been carried on. the re
may be found great quantities OF TINS
now promising material. The placer minets
knew that they were discardlng sane
that still held some vail BILE deposits but
With their crude equipment It would
have proven too tedious and cosby, g. -
attempt to recover It. How productive
this heretofore useless sand may be made
through the economic process discovered
by Uncle SAINTS experts may ne imagined
when It is stated that one deposit N
Humboldt county, California, which they
recently tested, showed an assay value
of $1,000 per ton in gold and platinum
alone. .f ss 5 #
Various types OF machines are playing
part in this novel wsalth-productng
work, but the most important Of the
mechanical helpers are the sconcentrators
or concentrating machines, several diff err
ent STYLES of which are being tested by
the government with a view to the de-
velopment of a form OF apparatus par
ticularly adapted to this new line Of ac-
tivty. The concentrates gets It's name,
It may be explained, from the fact that
hy a peculiar, continuous movement. 1t
concentrates the mineral particles res
cued from the sand and brings them 10
| a common point of discharge, where
they may be gathered In by the up-to-
date god-seeker.
The New Method, \
At the new Chapel Fill experiment
station the officials Of the Geological Sur
vey have set up quite an installation OF
! machinery designed to help IN one Way
or another. with this twentieth century
| mode of mining. The experience Of the
| experts in the conduct Of the experiment
! station which was established last year
| at Portland, Oregon. gave them u 4 cue
as TO how to proceed at the flew. plant.
/ and they ara consequently In a position
4 to handle alnloN as rapidly as It arrives
\ tina samples of BLACK sand = which may
bs sent, in response to the governments
Invitation, for testing purposes.
The samples OF sediment which are
| sent In acceptance pf Uncle sam ofreF
of free test range N quantity from
sacks OF few hundred pounds to car,
load lots The sand after lts argiYaal
lat the expert lent sta Ton, nTst5 ents 81
N FEEDER ssteg whleh u 4s elevated ~
t,ll.f =