THE PARNELL GOLD-EXTRACTING PROCESS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1279, 3 September 1886, Page 3

THE PARNELL GOLD-EX-TRACTING PROCESS.

This is the invention of Mrs Parnell, of New South Wales, a lady who is said to be possessed of considerable experience in metal urgy and chemistry, A public trial of the process recently took place at Mainwaving’s foundry, Pyrmont, and the opinion of those who witnessed it was that it would find ready favour and acceptance in mining circles. The process is thus described in the “Sydney Globe ” :—The crushed ore is first cone mtrated by means of washing, to save the expense of treating too much quartz sand. When so reduced, it is ground very fine, then roas'ed for some hours in a specially adapted furnace, at a low red heat. It is again ground, and returned to the furnace, and roasted at a much greater heat. By these two roastings, metals, such as oxides, arsenic, antimony, galena, and zinc, blend; the sulphur, forming sulphates of silver, copper, etc,, are fumed off, The roasted me is now put into a revolving wooden 1 oiler, and boiled for a short time at a heat of 212 degrees, then thoroughly washed with boiling water twice to remove nil traces of the soluble sulphates formed. This done, the gold and some of the silver may be recovered from this clean guage or quartz sand, being amalgamated with quicksilver, with or without the electric current, or the guage may be treated in a lead hath, or smelted with galena ore. The patentee further claims that the metals in solution may be recoveied by the electric current, or as cement, silver, copper, etc. Also, that antimony ore carrying gold may

he oxided, and the gold effectually cleaned by boiling. The machinery required for the process is of simple co struotion, and Mr Maiuwariug is now engaged building some lor the patentee capable ol putting a ton through at one charge. A t the trial, a reverberating, furnace was used j but in the new machinery this will be re* placed by a revolving one, which will Serve the purpose better. We understand that the inventor, E, B. Parnell, origina ly intended the process to apply exclusively to the extraction of gold from pyrites. It is now, however, claimed that it can be applied to all descriptions of mixed and refractory ores. If, indeed, the process can accomplish all that is claimed for it, and judging by the trial yesterday there is no doubt to our miud that it can, a lorg felt want in the mining world has been.supplied.