Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-03-05

ran very low. But the old workings
were not on a scale comparable to
what will be done in the excavating of
the canal, and where the old gold
washers might hesitate to touch so per
cent pay dirt, modern methods can
work 1t profitably at 3 cents II there
| Is a considerable deposit Of 1t.
But gold is not the only metal that
1t has been found possible to extract
by modern methods. The experiments
/ of the government in the west have
shown that gold, silver and platinum
iron ore and the rarer minerals, like
monozite zircon and ilmanite, garnets
and other valuables are recovered from
apparently worthless sands. 1t has been
estimated that If the dirt Of the canal
cutting pays to work at all, a single
| fume will be able to take care OF
from 5000 to 5000 tons a day, carry
ing off the lighter materials and con-
| centrating the heavier metals for sep
aration afterward. The work Of sep
aration would be comparatively mex
pensive, and whatever was got out
would be almost pure profit.
The geologist who has been sent to
the isthrnus by the commission has or
ders to take in the whole geological
possibilities of the situation. He is on
the lookout principally for coal, sand
and rock suitable for cement, as the
contractor or the commission, which
ever ultimately does the work, wants
to follow the precedent Of the reclama-
ton service in building the Roosevelt
dam and make it's cemeL.., If possible
on the ground.
It is known that some Of the sand al
| the mouth of the canal on the western
end is about the same as the now
| famous black sand Of the Pacific coast
and 1t is intended to take samples from
various places along the line Of the
canal and send them to this country
| for analysis, so as to see whether the
| work of concentrating the dirt Is worth
doing on q large scale.
Wien the question wGs put to Prof
Hayes, chief geologist of the geologi-
cal survey, he said that he had not
been over the isthmus personally, his
acquaintance being limited to the
Nicaragua region. He said that there
was unquestionably a good deal OF
gold in Nicaragua, and that in the in
terror, considerably off the lines OF
transportation, there were quite rich
placers that had been worked at prof
II for the last fifty years and were
now in the hands Of an English COM
pany. There were other gold deposits
ha hal No
zone, some of them quite valuable
Personally, he said, he did not think
If one were going after gold that the
line of the canal would be the best
place in the region to look for 1t; but
he said that with the modern separa-
ton methods that had been perfected
there were other valuable minerals
besides gold that could be recovered
by washing and concentrating, and
that the profit in them was often
enough to pay for the expense Of run
ming a plant, leaving the gold and pla-
tinum recovered as clear profit.
From the way, in which the Panama
bids have been drawn the interest of
the government Is quite closely guard
ed, not only as to, the incidental min
erals that may be dug out In exca-
waiting the canal but as to the mate
rials in the zone that may be of use to
the contractor in the actual work OF
construction. There is discretionary
authority that may be given by the
commission to the contractor, allowing
him to manufacture cement on the
ground. But unless this authority is
specifically exercised the cement and
stone will be furnished by the commits
sion and the cement purchased by the
government or manufactured on the
spot, as seems most economical.
Thus the contractor is not likely to
profit by anything Of value discovered
in the ground. but there will be great
deal of curiosity on the part Of the
public to know what the analyses of
the sand and gravel actually show
when they are received in the United
States.-Washingto Star.