The La Monte Process.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1567, 27 November 1885, Page 4

The La Monte Process.

Writing -on the La Monte test at the Thames, the local correspondent ot the New Zealand Herald says :— " It will be remembered that Mr La Monte expressed a very high opinion of Karangahake as* a silver- producer. What has the furnace done to establish that opinion, and what becomes of all the grand 500oz and lOOOoz tests, m face of results ? True, but very little ore has been submitted to the furnace yet, and it is desirable not to dogmatise upon very limited experience. But that experience is a discomforting indicator. The heaviest indictment,however, to my mind is the inability to treat heavilymineralised stone. Anyone at all familiar with the gold. : fields know that the -difficulty m battery tteatmenthas been mineral m the quartz. A high percentage of free gold can easily be saved, but the probability is that the heavy mineral m some quartz carries away, a great deal of gold, or sickens the plates and silver." This Mr La Monte had said was just the stone for the furrlace, but now* his agents stated that roasting furnaces would be required, wlfen the stuff could be treated at 20s or 30s a ton extra. On this the correspondent adds ; !'"' I was not prepared for such a variation from the original representation, and felt inclined to say, upon hearing this, " Thank you for nothing." If we desired to roast the quartz, apparatus could be attached to our batteries for doing so, as. is done m America. I am convinced that with the expenditure of a few shillings per ton extra m treatment m some^classes of quartz, particularly refractory ores, profit might result where at present the balance is on the other side. If I may venture a tentative judgment, m the.,light of very slight experience of the .furnace, it is to improvements m our present gold-saving npplU ances, or a revolution m the treatment of gpld,"rather>-than to the furnace, we mufli look for Jgreater profit from our goldmines. As to silver, the furnace must, have a good trial before it would be just to express an opinion upon a subject so foreign to our experience on this field."