The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-19

during the last business panic, in 1893, when silver on it's way down to it's low record of 1T cents was at o2, every silver ore mill in the west was shut down. At that time treating silver ores by the cyanide process was practically non-exist- ent in America. Not only does cyanidlng enable much higher percentage of the values to be extracted from the ore but a very much lower grade of ore can be treated with profit. f'
 The Milling Process.
 The ore cars from Tonopah are run up on trestle and the ore dumped into T building where it is crushed before being sent up on conveying belts to the bins in the mills. Thence it is fed to the stamps, or "batteries," as they are called. Each stamp weighs over 1000 pounds and drops over 100 times a minute. The stamps fall on the ore in a solution carrying about three pounds of potassium cyanide to ton of water
 the form of a heavy yelowish liquid, and, after some further pulverization and separation of the coarse from the fine, reaches the concentrating tables The tops of these tables are corrugated by means of thin strips or Triples. are in- clined at angles to the nipples" and move back and forth a fraction of an inch over 200 times a minute in a direc- tion parallel to the nipples" Thus the lighter portion of the sand flows across the nipples" and over the side, and the heavier or coarser part follows along the ''ripples' into a trough at the end. This latter sand. called "eoneentrates,' Is dried, put in bags, and shipped direct to the smelters.
 So far the process is ancient. and can be carried on without the use of cyanide, but from this point on the entire mill is devoted to the lighter sand, or "taiings," all of which is not shipped as "concen- trates" And this is where the benefit of the cyanide process comes in, for In earlier years, after the concentrates" were carefully extracted, all the residue was thrown away
 To the Leaching vats.
 The tailings, or tails" still in the form of yellowish fluid, flow to "classifers," where is made a further separation of heavy and light. The light, known as shines, goes to collecting tanks. The heavy Is distributed and drained in other redwood tanks till it appears as damp sand and is transferred automatically by a giant "excavator' to teaching vats.
 For two weeks the cyanide solution is kept draining through the sand, taking the values with it to storage vats, popu larly known as "gold tanks" Then the sand is discharged onto the desert. The residue discharged into great piles out side the mill retains values of about $2 to the ton. In the present stage of mill ing in Nevada, it is not profitable to treat it further.
 Meanwhile the lighter portion, or "slnes" that flowed from the "classi- fiers" is collected in tanks where lime is added to settle it, and is then trans fer1od to "agitating" tanks, where cyan. hide lime and lead acetate are added and | nf4. sat ine a md compressed air let in, to keep the slime ih suspension. After 30 hours the agl- tation Is stopped and slime allowed to set tie, and then several feet of clear solu- tion at the top is decanted to the stor- age vats.
 Solution in the Storage Vats.
 The solution which has been collected in the storage vats from the several sources is kept flowing through boxes filled with zinc shavings, emerging value- less to be used over again. The solu- tion in the storage vats is nearly as clear as water, but when the zinc boxes are cleaned up weekly it's values have been precipitated on the zinc and appear in the shape of vile iron-sray mud and ooze. The zinc is washed and the liquid part put through presses from which it comes out looking like big gray waffles. The tubs of muddy product are next put into great pans, dried in ovens and then pu1verized. This heavy gray dirt is ''huxed" or mixed with borax and soda to take care of the impurities during the melting. Finally this product is put into the crucibles of the melting furnaces, where for five hours 1t is subjected 10 tremendous heat, after which it is poured.
 The metal being the heaviest part of the "charge'' is the last to come out, so the first of the molten fluid is run off into slag pots. Then the metal in pure white stream is poured into mo1ds. When these bricks cool one sees for the first time anything that in form or coler re- sembles metal. The bricks are bright silver-colored and weigh 100 pounds troy apiece. Each brick is worth nearly 5000. The Cyanide Wonderful Process. trip through the mill over S5 per cent of the values have been extracted by this wonderful process So automatic is this kind of milling that less than a dozen regular mill men are employed on shift. The regular gang and the "Bohunks" multiply the payroll, but these only work during the daytime.
 Enormous amounts of the potassium cyanide-"s alchemist that in triee the leaden metal into gold trans mutes '--=are always stored in Millers. There is always enough to slay a large percentage of the worlds population. Taking the supply of both the mills it would be no exaggeration to say that there is always on hand enough to wipe but the population of the United States. At one time recently there was enough in one room of one of the mills to do this.