Improved Means and Apparatus for Extracting Gold and other Precious Metals from their Ores.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 13th June, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 11th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means and Apparatus for Extracting Gold and other
Precious Metals from their Ores.
I, CHARLES ROBERT WESTERN, of Broadway Chambers, Westminster, in
the County of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention.
to be as follows:-
:-
My invention relates to means of extracting gold, silver or other metals from
their ores or matrices, by means of solvents such as chlorine, bromine, acids or other
suitable agents. In apparatus hitherto employed for this purpose the ore and the
solvent have been brought into contact by agitation in revolving barrels; or by
ineans of circulating pumps, stirrers or otherwise. In all these cases the heavy
nass of ore has to be kept in motion by machinery liable to wear and tear and
requiring considerable power to drive it. According to my invention the ore is
comparatively quiescent while the solvent is slowly forced through the interstices
of the ore, I by preference employ a number of closed vessels arranged in series.
By a system of pipes and cocks the top of each vessel can be put in communication
with the bottom of the next vessel or with that of any other of the vessels.
Each vessel is provided with a charging door at the top and with a discharging
door at the bottom. The solvent may be supplied from a receptacle at such a
height that it will force its way through the ore in the vessels or it may be pumped
through the ore. Any one or more of the vessels can be shut off from the series
to be charged or discharged without stopping the working of the other vessels.
The solvent may be circulated repeatedly through the series of vessels and when
it is sufficiently charged with the dissolved metal it can be treated in any known
manner for separation of the metal.
Dated this 12th dar of June 1890
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means and Apparatus for Extracting Gold and other
Precious Metals from their Ores.
I, CHARLES ROBERT WESTERN, of Broadway Chambers, Westminster, in
the County of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to means of extracting gold, silver or other metals' from
their ores or matrices by means of solvents such as chlorine, bromine, acids or other
suitable agents. In apparatus hitherto employed for this purpose the ore and the
solvent have been brought into contact by agitation in revolving barrels; or by
In all these cases the heavy
means of circulating pumps, stirrers or otherwise.
mass of ore has to be kept in motion by machinery liable to wear and tear and
requiring considerable power to drive it.
According to my invention, the ore is comparatively quiescent while the solvent
is slowly forced through the interstices of the ore, as I shall describe referring to
the accompanying drawing.
the bottom
I provide a number of closed vessels A' A² &c. arranged in a row,
of each vessel communicating by a pipe ¹² &c. provided with stop cock or
valve with a main pipe B and both the top and bottom of each vessel similarly

page_text: communicating by pipes e and d, with another main pipe C divided by stop cocks
into sections. Above the level of the vessels A are two tanks, D containing water,
and E containing solution of chlorine or other solvent.
Both these tanks communicate through stop cocks or valves with the main
pipe B. Each vessel A has a hole in its cover through which it can be charged by
a removeable shoot F with pulverised ore from a truck G. Each vessel has also a
door which can be opened to discharge its contents into a sloping conduit H and
thence into a truck K. A tank I receives the liquid from the last of the pipes c
and drainage liquid from the sloping conduit H.
The vessels A. being charged with ore, the shoot F being removed from A', and
its charging hole being tightly closed, any of the vessels can be put in communica-
tion with the main B to receive water and solvent supplied to its bottom by the
pipe while the liquid flows by the pipe e from its top to a section of the main C
and thence by one of the branches d to another of the vessels. Thus any one or
more of the vessels can be shut off from the series to be charged or discharged
without stopping the working of the other vessels.
The solvent may be pumped or raised to the tank E and circulated repeatedly
through the series of vessels, and, when it is sufficiently charged with the
dissolved metal it can be treated in any known manner for separation of the
metal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is
1. The herein described method of extracting precious metal from ore by causing
solvent to pass from below upwards through ore contained in closed vessels, the
liquid discharged from the upper part of one vessel being supplied to the lower
part of another and the vessels being arranged to be charged or discharged
independently of each other.
2. For extracting precious metal from ore in the manner above referred to,
apparatus consisting of tanks for water and solvent, main and branch pipes with
cocks or valves, and a series of vessels, arranged substantially as herein described.
Dated this 11th day of March 1891.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.