AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING COPPER, SILVER, AND OTHER METALLIC COMPOUNDS PROM SOLUTIONS, AND FOR SEPARATING THE METALS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George James Snelus, of Workington, in the
County of Cumberland, Manager of the West Cumberland Iron
and Steel Works, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR
EXTRACTING COPPER, SILVER, AND OTHER
METALLIC COMPOUNDS PROM
SOLUTIONS, AND FOR SEPARATING THE METALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George James Snelus
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th February 1875.
I, GEORGE JAMES SNELUS, of Workington, in the County of Cum-
berland, Manager of the West Cumberland Iron and Steel Works, do
hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS
FOR EXTRACTING COPPER, SILVER, AND OTHER METALLIC COMPOUNDS FROM SOLUTIONS,
AND FOR SEPARATING THE METALS," to be as follows:-
:
Solutions produced in extracting copper from its ores by wet processes
frequently contain silver and gold, and are usually digested directly
on metallic iron, by which these metals are precipitated together with
copper.

page_text: Sometimes the precious metals are separated from the solutions pre-
viously to the precipitation of the copper; for example, by the process
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to Frederick
Claudet the 31st day of January, A.D. 1870, No. 282; but the application
of such processes has hitherto been very exceptional.
My Invention for the treatment of solutions relates to the separation
of the silver and gold, as well as to the precipitation of the copper
contained in such solutions, whether obtained directly from ores or
otherwise.
For the purposes of my Invention common salt must be added to the
solutions if not present from the extraction process. I pass into such
solutions sulphurous acid, by means of which sub-chloride of copper is
produced, and is usually in part precipitated. If necessary, such partial
precipitation is facilitated by cooling or by diluting the solutions. After
allowing the precipitated sub-chloride of copper to settle, the solution
máy be run off, and the remaining copper precipitated from it by iron or
other precipitant.
The precipitated sub-chloride of copper is accompanied by the greater
part of the silver and gold originally present in the solutions. The
latter metal may be separated by redissolving the sub-chloride of copper 9
and chloride of silver by a solution of common salt or other solvent; or
the gold may be separated after treatment of the solutions by sulphurous
acid, and before the sub-chloride of copper precipitates.
The separation of silver from copper in the mixed precipitated chlorides
I effect by decomposing the sub-chloride of copper by means of a car-
bonate of an alkali or alkaline earth, and separating the chloride of
silver by any of its well-known solvents from the sub-oxide of copper
produced.
L
For economy I prefer for the decomposition of the sub-chloride of
copper to heat the moist chlorides with chalk or limestone, and subse-
quently to dissolve out the chloride of silver by means of a hot solution
of common salt. The silver may bo separated from the latter solution by
means well known to metallurgists, and the sub-oxide of copper may be
smelted by well-known ordinary methods.
E

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George James Snelus in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
JAMES SNELUS, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland, Manager
of the West Cumberland Iron and Steel Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by He
Letters Patent bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year-of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George James Snelus, Her special
licence that I, the said George James Snelus, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George James Snelus,
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
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING COPPER, SILVER, AND OTHER METALLIC
COMPOUNDS FROM SOLUTIONS, AND FOR SEPARATING THE METALS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said George James Snelus, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 George James Snelus, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
Solutions produced in extracting copper from its ores by wet processes
frequently contain silver and gold, and are usually digested directly
on metallic iron, by which these metals are precipitated together with
copper.

page_text: Sometimes the precious metals are separated from the solutions pre-
viously to the precipitation of the copper; for example, by the process
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to F. Claudet,
A.D. 1870, No. 282; but the application of such processes has hitherto
been very exceptional.
My Invention for the treatment of solutions relates to the separation
of the silver and gold, as well as to the precipitation of the copper
contained in such solutions, whether obtained directly from ores or
otherwise.
For the purposes of my Invention common salt must be added to the
solutions if not present from the extraction process. I pass into such
solutions sulphurous acid, by means of which sub-chloride of copper is
produced, and is usually in part precipitated. If necessary, such partial
precipitation is facilitated by cooling or by diluting the solutions. After
allowing the precipitated sub-chloride of copper to settle, the solution
may be run off, and the remaining copper precipitated from it by iron or
other precipitant.
The precipitated sub-chloride of copper is accompanied by the greater
part of the silver and gold originally present in the solutions. The
latter metal may be separated by redissolving the sub-chloride of copper
and chloride of silver by a solution of common salt or other solvent; or
the gold may be separated after treatment of the solutions by sulphurous
acid, and before the sub-chloride of copper precipitates.
The separation of silver from copper in the mixed precipitated chlorides
I effect by decomposing the sub-chloride of copper by means of a car-
bonate of an alkali or alkaline earth, and separating the chloride of
silver by any of its well-known solvents from the sub-oxide of copper
produced.
For economy I prefer for the decomposition of the sub-chloride of
copper to heat the moist chlorides with chalk or limestone, and subse-
quently to dissolve out the chloride of silver by means of a hot solution
of common salt. The silver may be separated from the latter solution by
means well known to metallurgists, and the sub-oxide of copper may be
smelted by well-known ordinary methods.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim,—

page_text: First. The precipitation of copper, silver, and gold from solutions by
the process herein described.
Second. The separation of the copper, silver, and gold in the above-
named precipitates by the process herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George James Snelus have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
GEORGE JAMES SNELUS. (L.S.).