SAVING FINE GOLD.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 227, 11 July 1873, Page 6

SAVING FINE GOLD.

We give the following for what it is worth from the letter of the Hastings correspondent of the 'Thames Advertiser': —" I do not think it is generally known that the Hon. Mr. .Richardson, Minister for Public "Works is ; a thorough expert in the manipulation of gold. I am informed that he is? one of the;best amalgamists in the Colony. - For several years he and others worked successfully at a secret process for saving fine gold. l The secret chiefly consisted of the use of gold gilt plates, which seemed to have a strong attraction for floury gold. - By : using gilded plates they collected several pounds ayeight l of gold,' so "exclusively'fine' that when poured into water it took a long time to sink. The' gilding was performed .in.the same way as is done by the button makers at,-., Birmingham. ■„Amalgamists 'may do it- by thoroughly cleansing the copper, then giving it a good coating - of hard-.•„amalgam, the mercury to.be driven off by;heat, and the .plate polished by a soft hand. This being carefully.;: done, the plate is said to resemble one ofi/solid gold. Another process used by some parties: crushing their own stuff, is to * fix a sheet of perforated paper on the surface of • carefully prepared' ' copper. The perforations are'thoroughly filled with amalgam, and the mercury driven off as before. The/surface of the ' plate is in this pianner all dotted over with spots of gold having a rough appearance like a piece of new baize, and said to be' most effectual in arresting the very finest particles of the precious metal."