IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF CERTAIN METALS FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER COMPOUNDS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Parkes, of Burry Port, in the
County of Carmarthen, South Wales, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF CERTAIN METALS FROM THEIR
ORES OR OTHER COMPOUNDS."
Sealed the 9th April 1853, and dated the 5th February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Parkes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
'on the 5th February 1853.
I, ALEXANDER PARKES, of Burry Port, in the County of Car-
marthen, South Wales, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SEPARATION OF CERTAIN METALS
FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER COMPOUNDS " to be as follows:-
は
First, my Invention consists in fusing the ores or other compounds
containing silver or gold, with sulphurets or arseniacal compounds
of nickel or cobalt, and carbonaceous matters with fluxes if necessary.
The reguline compound thus obtained I disintegrate and calcine,
and afterwards separate the silver or gold therefrom by means of

page_text: The nickel
or cobalt held in solution by the acids I separate in the usual
lead, or by treatment with acids, or by other means.
manner.
+
.
Second, consists in separating silver or gold from their ores or
other compounds, by fusion with iron ores, or other compounds of
iron and carbonaceous substances, with suitable fluxing agents; if
required. I prefer to use hemalite as as an oxidised compound of
iron, and iron pyrites as a sulphuret compound; or I employ
sulphur, sulphurets, or sulphates capable of giving up sulphur
during fusion, with suitable fluxes and carbonaceous matters, if
required, so that a sulphuret compound will be formed containing
the silver or gold. This compound I afterwards treat by calcination
and solution, or by fusion with lead or tin, or the oxides of either
of these metals, and carbon with fluxes, if required. The silver or
gold I then separate. from the lead or tin by solution or other
means.
Third, my improvements relate to the separation of gold from
ores or compounds containing gold, by means of fusion with
granulated cast iron, or with an oxidised compound of iron or of
tin, or its oxide and carbon, together with fluxing agents, if required,
to render the slag fusible. In carrying out this part of my Inven-
tion, I continue the fusion until sufficient iron or tin is reduced to
combine with the gold. The alloys of iron or tin so produced being
very fluid, are readily separated from the slag. Having thus
obtained the gold in alloy with the iron or tin, I separate the gold
therefrom by solution or other means.
Fourth, my improvements consist in the combined use of an
oxidized compound of iron, and a sulphuret compound of iron,
together with carbon, with or without other fluxing agents.
Fifth, my improvement consists in the combined use of oxidized
compounds of iron, or manganese and lead, or sulphuret of lead,
with carbonaceous substances, with or without other fluxing agents.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Alexander Parkes in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 8th August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALEXANDER PARKES, of Burry Port, in the County' of Carmarthen,
South Wales, send greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters: Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Parkes,
Her special licence that I,. the said Alexander Parkes, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Parkes, 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 THE SEPARATION OF
CERTAIN METALS FROM THEIR ORES OR OTHER COMPOUNDS," upon the condi
tion (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Parkes, by an.
instrument, in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain 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 Alexander Parkes, 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):
First, my improvements relate to the separation of gold and
silver from their ores or other compounds, by means of sulphuret
of iron, oxide of iron, and carbon, in manner herein-after described.

page_text: I wish it understood that when I direct the use of sulphuret of
iron, it is by preference, after it has been prepared as follows:-I
take iron pyrites, and fuse it with lime and skin it well, in order to
remove the siliceous matter, and tap the reguline compound or
sulphuret of iron into water, when it is fit for use.
.
When I direct the use of oxide of iron, I intend either hématite,
or the oxide of iron produced from the above sulphuret of iron by
first grinding the same, and calcining it for about twenty hours, in
order to expel as much of the sulphur as possible; and when I
direct the use of carbon, I intend anthracite coal by preference.
And I would here observe that I am aware sulphuret of iron has
been previously employed to collect silver from its ores, but not con-
jointly with carbon and oxide of iron as hereafter described.
First, when I have silver ores to operate upon, which contain
from one hundred to five hundred ounces of silver to the ton of ore,
I take one ton of the ore, and add four cwt. of the above-mentioned
sulphuret of iron, 2 to 3 cwt: of oxide of iron, and the samė
quantity of carbon, the whole being ground or in a state of fine
division. I mix the whole well together, and place them in a
reverberatory furnace, and fuse for four or five hours. If I find
the mass is stiff and difficult of fusion, I add 2 cwt. of fluor spar;
when well fused, I skim in the way well understood in smelting
copper ores, and then tap the silver reguline compound into water.
The slag thus obtained will be generally found sufficiently free from
silver to be thrown aside; but if it is found to contain upon analysis
a material quantity of the silver, I fuse it a second time, adding a
like quantity of the sulphuret of iron and carbon to that before
added, in order to obtain the silver which remains.
The silver reguline compound thus obtained I grind or otherwise
reduce into a state of fine division, and I calcine it from twelve to
twenty hours in the same manner as copper regulus is calcined,
frequently stirring the whole; I then remove it and mix with it
carbon in a finely divided state, in the proportion of 1 to 2 cwt. to
the ton, and lime in the same proportion, and fuse them together

page_text: for about two hours. I skim and tap the reguline silver compound
into water or iron moulds, and if the product thus obtained does
not contain more than two thousand ounces of silver to the ton, I
prefer to fuse it again, having previously ground and calcined it.
I take the silver compound, and mix it with lead, carbon, and lime,
as hereafter explained, and fuse them together, and tap into iron
poulds; the argentiferous lead thus obtained is ready to be taken
to the cupelling furnace to be refined, as is well understood..
The
product above mentioned is mixed with one cwt. of carbon, one
cwt. of lime in a state of fine division, and 2 to 3 cwt. of granulated.
lead, or the same quantity of oxide or sulphuret of lead will.
generally be found sufficient to collect the silver from a ton of the
reguline compound, or the silver may be obtained by other means.
The slags from the above processes are to be rcmelted with the
further charges.
In place of using lead as above described, and when the silver
reguline compound above described is rich in silver, I grind it very
fine and calcine it, so as to expel all the sulphur and arsenic I can,
and then fuse it in a reverberatory furnace with 2 cwt. of carbon
and 2 cwt. of lime, by which means the silver will be reduced into
the metallic state. I tap the same into an iron mould, and remove
it to the cupelling furnace, as before directed.
I would here observe that gold may be separated from its ores
and compounds by the same means, and by employing the like
proportions of the substances as directed for silver.
The second part of my Invention relates to the separation of
gold and silver from their ores and compounds, by means of
sulphate of lime or sulphate of baryta, together with oxide of iron.
With one ton of gold or silver ore, I fuse from 3 to 4 cwt. of
either of the above sulphates, together with 2 cwt. of carbon, 2 cwt.
oxide of iron, and sufficient lime to render the mass fluid, all being
first reduced to a state of fine division; I skim as in copper smelt-
ing, and by this means I obtain a gold or silver reguline compound,
analogous to that obtained by means of the sulphuret of iron, and

page_text: I proceed to grind, and calcine, and fuse the same as I have before
directed when operating upon the silver reguline compounds
obtained under the first part of this my Invention.
The third part of my Invention relates to the reduction of silver
froin its ores by one fusion. For this purpose I take such ores only
as are very rich in silver, and in a state of fine division; I proceed
to calcine them to expel, or as nearly as may be, all the sulphur or
arsenic; I then mix them with 6 cwt. of oxide of iron, 3 cwt. carbon,
and 2 cwt. fluor spar or lime to one ton of the ore, and fuse the whole
together for three to four hours; skim and tap out the silver into
iron moulds as before directed, and the silver is to be refined in the
usual way.
יי
The fourth part of my Invention relates to the separation of gold-
from its ores or coinpounds by means of metallic iron. I take
to one ton of the gold compound in a state of fine division, one
cwt. of metallic iron, previously granulated, 3 to 4 cwt. of oxide
of iron, and 2 cwt. of carbon, and 2 cwt. of lime, in a state of fine
division; I fuse the whole in a reverberatory furnace; skim and
tap into water, as before directed. The gold will be found com-
bined with the iron, and I then separate them by dissolving the
iron by means of muriatic acid or sulphuric acid, which will leave
the gold undissolved.
The fifth part of my Invention relates to the separation of
gold and silver from their ores or compounds by means of
the sulphurets or arsenical compounds of nichel or cobalt. I
fuse the gold or silver ores for three to four hours together
with the compounds of nichel or cobalt, in the proportion of five
parts of the former to fifteen parts of the latter, adding to every
ton 100 lbs. of carbon, and 200 lbs. of lime or fluor spar, as a flux,
all in a state of fine division; I skim and tap into water or iron
moulds as before.
The reguline compounds thus obtained I grind and calcine; to
expel as much of the sulphur or arsenic as possible; I then dissolve
out the nichel or cobalt by means of muriatic acid, and refine these

page_text: metals in the manner well understood, and collect the gold or silver
from the residue by fusion with the fluxes before directed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Parkes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)