Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1911-02-08
A Day In MineS0f johannesburg

waking over to one side Of st9pe
Where we see a light. and hear ma
uVe Srunt as he chise.s away, we ex-
anime the rock. Many people expect
10 see visible god AMI are generally
disappointed if they did not have the
previous knowledge that no matter
now rich in gold the reef NAV be, very
sedom is gold visible; and ASA fact
out lew ounces is extracted from
| :on of the reef.
Opon examination OF the rock, we
VIII md 1t Is nothing but pebbles with
sediment Il rock between. and IN
| TINS hard sediment the gold is found
1t is stated that this reef at one time
| was the bottom of sea, and through
some tremendous movement OF the
earth crust, it was upheaved, and let
III the position we now find it, This
particular reef is workable for aoout
a distance OF thirty miles, and johann
nesburg is situated in about the centre
OF L. and at the richest part.
we will ind the workings below are
similar 10 those we have gone through,
SO we will signal Tor an empty skip
and ascend AS we pass landing af-
ter lanllng, we experience that pecu-
liar sensation OF being elevated rapidly
We see daylight at the opening in the
| distance, and soon find ourselves on
top of the earth again. The daylight
viii make us squint; and we will prob
ably have a headache from the dyna-
mite fumes. The fresh air makes us
ieel better, and aite ra good dinner
we Will see what becomes Of the rock
that has been hauled above
The first operation is in the head
gear This is at the top o. the shaft,
and about fifty feet above ground.
This is where the skips dump their
loads on an iron screen, through
which the small pieces pass. Inc
ger ones are rolled OFT, and are shovel
ed into crushers unless the piece is
only granite. We then go down one
flight OF steps to where the rock comes
out OF the crushers. Here we noe
that the rock which fell through the
screen passes with it through a NOV
able chute to the asserting table This
is a large revolving wheel with an
upper and lower table on the edge As
the rock works off the chute in uni
form quantity, it is easily assorted,
and small spray OF water washes the
rock off. and makes it easier to separ-
ate the reef from the granite. The
latter is picked out and thrown on the
top OF the table, SO that nothing is LETT
on the lower table but the gold bear
ing rock. When the granite gets
around almost to the chute again il is
shovelcd off, and finds its way tc
trucks below. where it is taken to the
granite pile. The pieces o. reef are
shovelled through another chute, ant
enter trucks which go to the battery
The Battery is a long building,
where there are one hundred or more
iron stamps at work powdering the
rock. 1t is of course impossible tC
hear yourself speak in here, and il you
have question, to ask, you will have
} 10 wait until you get outside The
stamps are arranged six in a cOmpart.
!. ment, and are raised and dropped an.
, tomatically. A good supply OF water
is kept among the stamps, and il j
, dashed with the powdered rock through
| fine screen on to the amalgamatins
5 table, which is practically Wild
: chute, directly in front OF the com
partment AS the water passes owe:
, it. considerable quantity OF gold ad
J heres to it. We will sec men wcrkins
7 ! ovei one OF these tables, where til,
t stamps have been shut off. We WI,
r see patches OF gold, and the men wlti
] brushes and water will collevt III
4 coating which looks like black sand
and contains about sixty per cent O
e amagam in it. The black sand pre-
j vents the gold adhering to the plate
e and they gather it frequently. Thu
y sand is put in i revolving cylinder an
: mixed with quicksilver. The quick
silver collects the amalgam from tn
: ana The amalgam and qullksllvl
e is then separated. Next it goes to III
e sntc,inp 'urnace. and soon we ind tn
s g, ID il form .tsuts ready 10
d shipment
:, outside of the building we VIII nc
,;cy ,4-gc wheel resembling waite