Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1922-12-28
PLATINUM IN
BLACK SANDS
]. NJ. SCHNATTERLY TELLS OF
PLANS TO PROMOTE PLACER
MINING IN THIS DISTRICT
TO BUILD BIG PLANT AT LE0NIA
BLACK Sand Deposits Valuable In
Platinum and Goid.

Residents OF Bonners Ferry II o
are stockholders of the Idaho Gold &
Ruby Mining Co.. with properties at
Leonia, have recently received from j
Nj. Schnatterly, president and general
manager of the company, a pamphlet
entitled The Scientific Evolution of
Placer Mining in which he tells OF
the expectations of the placer COM
pany and explains the organization of
new company with a view of scien-
tifically treating the black sands con-
tanning platinum in large quantities
which are being saved in the concen-
trating plant of the Idaho Gold &
Ruby Co. at Leonia.
This new company is the Marsh
Metals Extracting and Manufacturing
company. to use processes perfected
by S. J Marsh, who is now putting in
a plant at Quesnel, b. G. This new
company is incorporated at $4,000, 600
Mr. Sehnatterly is acting as fiscal
agent for the sale of S2,000,000 worth
Of the stock to raise money for the
erection of needed mills and equip
ment These mills will be built at
Leonia.
While the extraction of gold and
mary purpose of the company, it is
announced that the company Will
treat black sand products sent to them
from placer operators in this district
on terms of such liberality to the
placer miner. that profits for the com
pany from this service will not be ex-
tensive. The Idaho Gold & Ruby Min
ing company has a contract to the ef-
feet that the Marsh company will pay
for so per cent of the gold and plati-
mum content in the sands, and charge
only $40 per ton for treatment. The
same terms are offered to other pro-
ducers of black sand in this district.
The Marsh company expects to make
its big profits by the manufacture of
platinum into the finished products.
such as platinum wire, which is used
in contact points in combustion en-
gines; sheet platinum. principally
used in the manufacture of jeweIry
and in the electrical world; dental
work, also crucibles and different 9th
er laboratory utensils and equipment
and the sale of such products to the
commercial world at market prices.
In this wav the Marsh company will
double the value of platinum from the
price paid for the manufactured
platinum. Raw platinum at this time
is quoted at about $11S per ounce
Discussing the Idaho Gold & Ruby
company, Mr. Schnatterly says that
the financing and equipping of the
property is complete There S O
more stock for sale, and it can con-
fidently be expected that the company
will start operations on a permanent
basis next wear handling 1905 900 cubic
yards of gravel per day Tests OF
the company's holdings show the pres
ence of 20 pounds of black sand in
every cubic yard. Assays of black
sand recovered in the companys mill
made by Mr.. Marsh, show an average
of $S4.62 per ton in gold and S31.69
per ton in platinum. Twenty pounds
to the cubic yard means one ton to
every 100 cubic yards, or 1000 tons of
black sand, according to Mr.. Marsh S
assays, $4,000 per day production!
The Idaho Gold & Ruby expects to
run a tunnel from its concentrator to
the Marsh mills at Leonia, about three
miles, to transport the black sands by
gravity. The Ogden tables used in the
Idaho Gold & Ruby companys mill
are said to make a complete savings
of all black sands and fine gold. The
significance Of the evolution that has
taken place in placer mining is evi-
dent by the following statement:
There is now opened up the largest
field in the world, which will undoubt-
cdly produce a world supply of plat
mum in years to come, together with
the fact that up to now the recovery
of the black sand containing the plat
mum content has been limited to the
recovery of ten per cent of the actual
black sand product. While at the pres
ent time, with the completion of the
gravity reduction and concentration
system installed and now in operation
at the mines of the Idaho Gold e RUBY
Mining company, the recovery of 10C
per cent of all black sand containing
metallic content contained in alluvia,
placer gravel deposit, is made posi-
Bile, and the discover of this gravity
reduction system and combining il
with the Marsh process of extracting
values from the black sands makes
possible this business or enterprise ;
Mr.. Schnatterlv says that it has al
ways been known that there wer.
enormous quantities of both coarse
and fine gold in the gravel deposits il
this district But the great drawback
TO successful operations n tn e
placers was the fact that black SAND
could not be handled under old stylt
methods of placer mining, that il
baked the rifle and made it next K
impossible to recover the gold. AND
where the plan was used of placinl
the rifles on sufficient slope to "boi
out the black sand. the fine gold an,
Of course the platinum in the blacl
sand also boiled out and was lost. H,
estimates the fine gold and platinum
in the black sand at about three times
as valuable. per ton of gravel. as tn.
coarse gold In other words, old styI,
methods have been saving about on,
fourth only of the values.
SnrVeYs have already heen rnadn q