New Amalgamating Process.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 206, 21 October 1873, Page 6

New Amalgamating Process.

Messrs Hollinshed and Nome, of Sydney, have recently patented an entirely new process of amalgamating gold and silver ores, which, says the Morning Herald, “ consists in passing the crushed material through a column of mercury, instead of over the surface of the mercury, as it is now done. To exemplify the action of the new treatment, a working model has been erected in the yard of Mr Nome’s laboratory, 228, Pitt-street, of a size sufficient to pass through a ton of material per diem, or about sufficient to meet the requirements of one stamper. The process is a very simple one, and consists of three stages of piping, each about four feet in length, making, with the hopper and the discharge pipe, a total length of some fourteen feet. The pipes, &c., are erected vertically, and are broken at each of the three stages, where the pipe passes into a glass cylinder or cup, about eight inches in height and five inches in diameter, and of course closed at the bottom. The pipe reaches within a short distance of the bottom, and the water descending through it strikes a false bottom, so hollowed out as to scatter the stream fairly in all directions. To further assist the scattering process, there is a diaphragm inserted within three inches of the bottom, pierced with holes, through which the stream is forced. Each cup is charged with about four inches of mercury, and thus, when the machinery is in action, the wash descending by the pipe is forced through the mercury, thus bringing every part into immediate contact with the silver, and rendering amalgamation almost a certainty. At each of the three stages there is a cup or cylinder charged with mercury, so that the wash has to pass, before it reaches the discharge pipe, through a column of twelve inches of silver. The action of the machine was shown to a large number of gentlemen by passing through a quantity of sand, and the process was generally approved of as being a vast improvement upon the old rippleboxes. Mr Norrie is of opinion that even the crushing from mundic quartz can fairly be manipulated in this way, as the constant agitation of the silver and its consequent continuous friction preserve it bright, and prevent it from sickening, as is the case when the debris of mundic quartz passes over the silver.”