IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING GOLD PRO
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Edward Molin, of Fahlun, in the Kingdom
of Sweden, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING GOLD
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Edward Molin
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1865.
I, ANDREW EDWARD MOLIN, of Fahlun, in the Kingdom of Sweden, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPA-
BATING GOLD FROM ORES CONTAINING COPPER AND GOLD," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in separating gold from ores
containing copper and gold. For these purposes the ores are treated in the
ordinary well known manner by calcining or roasting when necessary and by
fusion. A convenient quantity of the products obtained, whether called
"regulus," "coarse metal," "blue metal," or otherwise is to be fused with a
smaller quantity of copper, such as contains gold being preferred. The copper
and the gold will combine and separate from the products of the ores above-
mentioned; the products deprived of the gold may then readily be removed,
when the copper now richer in gold is to be again fused with another quantity
of the products from the ores above-mentioned, when the gold contained in
such new quantity of the products of the ores will be taken by the copper,
and they will separate from the other products, and this process is to be again

page_text: and again repeated till the copper has became combined with the desired
quantity of gold, when the gold is to be separated from the copper by well
known means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andrew Edward Molin in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, T, ANDREW
EDWARD MOLIN, of Fahlun, in the Kingdom or Sweden, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Androw Edward Molin, Her special licence that I, the said
Andrew Edward Molin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Andrew Edward Molin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEPARATING GOLD FROM ORES CONTAINING COPPER
AND GOLD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Edward
Molin, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Edward Molin, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in separating gold from ores
containing copper and gold. For these purposes the ores are treated in the
ordinary well known manner by calcining or roasting (when necessary) and
by fusion, and then a convenient quantity of the products obtained, whether
called "regulus,"
coarse metal," "blue metal," or otherwise, is to be fused

page_text: with a smaller, quantity of copper, such as contains gold being preferred.
The copper and the gold will combine and separate from the products of the
ores above-mentioned; the products deprived of the gold may then readily
be removed, when the copper now richer in gold is to be again fused with
another quantity of the products from the ores above-mentioned, when the
gold contained in such new quantity of the products of the ores will be taken
by the copper, and together they will separate from the other products, and
this process is to be again and again repeated till the copper has become com-
bined with the desired quantity of gold, when the gold is to be separated
from the copper by well known means.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I
prefer to conduct the process.
The earlier processes of the smelting of the ores I conduct in the manner
heretofore practised, and with the same precautions and variations of the
process to suit the quality of the ores as are now usual, and so I proceed until
I arrive at a regulus which at the next melting would in the ordinary course
produce metallic copper, and whilst this regulus is still melted in the furnace
I add to it metallic copper in a melted state in the proportion of, say, one
part of copper to five parts of regulus, and they are thorougly stirred together
with the ordinary rake or rabble; this operation takes about five minutes, and
afterwards the contents of the furnace aro left at rest, whilst the heat is still
maintained until the regulus and copper separate the one from the other;
this separation will be complete in about twenty minutes, and the regulus and
copper are then ladled or tapped out separately. The regulus which now
contains little or no gold is melted for copper in the usual manner, and the
copper with which the regulus has been treated, and which has taken up the
gold contained thereby is again similarly used in treating another charge of
regulus, and this is repeated conveniently until the copper contains, say,
at least 6th per cent. of gold. The copper and gold are then separated,
which may conveniently be done by dissolving out the copper with sulphuric
acid or other acid leaving the gold. The copper used for treating the regulus
may advantageously be copper which already contains gold, such, for example,
as the bottoms obtained in working the "best select" process.
I would remark, that although it is preferred to separate the gold from the
last regulus, or that which is melted for copper, still earlier and poorer regulus
or products obtained by the fusion of the ore may be similarly treated but not
so economically.
I claim in separating gold from ores containing copper and gold, the treating

page_text: the regulus (or fused product from the ores in the nature of regulus) with
melted copper, as herein described, and also the repeated employment of the
same portion of copper in this manner, so that the gold of the several
quantities of regulus or fused products may become concentrated in it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Edward Molin, have hereunto 5
set my
hand and seal, this First day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
ANDREW EDWARD MOLIN. (L3.)