Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Ores or Materials for Determining the Presence of Gold therein.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 6th Apr., 1900-Accepted, 12th May, 1900
[Communicated from abroad by MELINDA COSTELLO. of No: 42, Kerk Street,
Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentle-
woman.]
Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Ores or Materials
for Determining the Presence of Gold therein.
1, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the treatment of ores or materials
for determining the presence of gold therein.
I have discovered that deposits, veins or particles of the precious metals may
be detected in gold-bearing rock, gravel and sand without first subjecting such
rock to the action of a stamp mill or crusher, by the application thereto of the
so-called X-rays. The penetrating power of these remarkable rays is such that
the denser or heavier metallic matter is quite readily distinguished from the
quartz rock or sand or from other gold-bearing material in which it may be
embedded.
By my discovery a great impetus is given to mining operations and metal-
lurgical investigations, since the unnecessary crushing of practically barren and
worthless ore is avoided, while that which is in fact rich, without surface indica-
tion thereof, will be worked and the precious metal therein be saved. Selection
of the valuable material or location, and ignoring of that which is worthless is,
therefore, possible as a preliminary step, the removal and crushing of the rock
to follow if my treatment shows it to be gold-bearing. The results shown by
the X-rays, treatment will, under favorable conditions, be visible to the eye,
but will preferably be given permanence of representation by the exposure of a
sensitized or fluorescent plate and forming a radiograph, shadowgraph or other
picture of the same. These pictures are essential when a considerable thickness
of opaque material is to be treated and where long exposure is necessary, as in
most operations under ground or water. Concentration or intensifying of the
rays from the Crookes tubes on the point of observation is of great advantage.
My invention or discovery is primarily an improvement in the art of developing
and mining the precious metals; and it consists in first subjecting the gold-
bearing rock or deposit to the action of powerful or concentrated X-rays, whereby
if gold is present in the rock or gravel it is made clearly apparent and may be
separated therefrom by the appropriate operations subsequently performed. In
mining, the rock may be broken up and brought to the surface, inspected or
tested in that condition by my method, and then rejected if worthless or sent to
the stamp mill if sufficiently rich.
A peculiar feature of my process, in applying the X-ray treatment to test the
richness of any unworked locality, is to form tunnels about horizontally or parallel

page_text: with the surface, so that the sensitized plates may be exposed therein beneath
the points where the rays are applied, and thus show the character of the inter-
vening soil or rock. Even the frozen plains of Alaska or the Klondike country may
be prospected in this manner during the long winter and the gold located before
it is dug.
בד
101
1
1
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Ores or Materials
for Determining the Presence of Gold therein.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in the treatment of ores or materials
for determining the presence of gold therein.
I have discovered that deposits, veins or particles of the precious metals may
be detected in gold-bearing rock, gravel and sand without first subjecting such
rock to the action of a stamp mill or crusher, by the application thereto of the
so called X-rays. The penetrating power of these remarkable rays is such that
the denser or heavier metallic matter is quite readily distinguished from the
quartz rock or sand or from other gold-bearing material in which it may be
embedded.
By my discovery a great impetus is given to mining operations and metal-
lurgical investigations, since the unnecessary crushing of practically barren and
worthless ore is avoided, while that which is in fact rich, without surface indica-
tion thereof, will be worked and the precious metal therein be saved. Selection
of the valuable material or location, and ignoring of that which is worthless is,
therefore, possible as a preliminary step,-the removal and crushing of the rock
to follow if my treatment shows it to be gold-bearing. The results shown by
the X-ray, treatment will, under favorable conditions, be visible to the eye,
but will preferably be given permanence of representation by the exposure of a
sensitized or fluorescent plate and forming a radiograph, shadowgraph or other
picture of the same. These pictures are essential when a considerable thickness
of opaque material is to be treated and where long exposure is necessary, as in
most operations under ground or water. Concentration or intensifying of the
rays from the Crookes tubes on the point of observation is of great advantage.
My invention or discovery is primarily an improvement in the art of developing
and mining the precious metals; and it consists in first subjecting the gold-
bearing rock or deposit to the action of powerful or concentrated X-rays, whereby
if gold is present in the rock or gravel it is made clearly apparent and may be
separated therefrom by the appropriate operations subsequently performed. In
mining, the rock may be broken up and brought to the surface, inspected or
tested in that condition by my method, and then rejected if worthless or sent to
the stamp mill if sufficiently rich.
A peculiar feature of my process, in applying the X-ray treatment to test the
richness of any unworked locality, is to form tunnels about horizontally or parallel

page_text: with the surface, so that the sensitized plates may be exposed therein beneath
the points where the rays are applied, and thus show the character of the inter-
vening soil or rock. Even the frozen plains of Alaska or the Klondike country may
be prospected in this manner during the long winter and the gold located before
it is dug.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The herein described improvement in the treatment of ores or materials,
consisting in subjecting such material to the action of the so-called X-rays to
determine the presence of gold therein, and afterwards separating the gold from
the waste material in any usual manner.
2. The improved method of treating ores or materials consisting in exposing it
within the field of action of X-rays apparatus, forming a picture of the interior
of such material by the use of said apparatus, and then separating the gold from
the waste material as desired.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.