IMPROVED TREATMENT OF GOLD-BEARING ORE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 415, 30 October 1889, Page 4

IMPROVED TREATMENT OF GOLD-BEARING ORE.

Tiir, repoifc of the working afc the i,iew reduction works at Te Aiuha isfttubst encouraging. Smelting has been gojing on for some little time, and seventy ton*) ot lead bullion are now on hand. It may be, perhaps, premature co congratulate the,' owners of the plant on having achieved a final triumph over tlioir difficulties, but the fact that the batteries are constantly punning on the preparation of the stuff seems to wartanc an assumption that the! process lea\tn a tangible profit on tlui quartz already reduced. It this is the j case we wieh ihe cntci piising owncis every success and a long career of monoy-gottin^ in return for their plucky outlay and longthened anxiety. The metliods by which the reduction of the ore 3 have been achieved ehonld prove a lesson to the un progressive atvl conservative class of miners. The simp icity of the general lines are very apparent, and have been advocated and explained time after time in the mining reports ot the Mining Inspector. But there are some facts which escape mo?b of us, and this appears to have been onu of them. It an apple had fallen on the head of one of our battery managers it is not probable that he would have discovered the law of gravitation ; and thoujzh this simple circumstance was> sufficient to s>ct Newton thinking, it takes a greater power to originate motion in denser mediums. In fact, thcie seems to be set up a contrary force which refuses to admit the entrance of a new idea. This has been specially the case with the idea of concentrating our ores which time after time h-i^ been pooh-poohed by men who aie considered practical authorities in the mattci. Id i j neailv t.wo years since the Professor of Chetiwtiy at Auckland Unhersity delhered a ,'ectu'e on this very f-übjeeb and pointed om. how the pioce&s of concentration would greatly oieicome the dith'eulty of treating the Thames ores. But practical, men when applied to pooh-poohed the notion, and talked a<- if the project of uoncentiating an\ thing but tailings was mere childish foolishness. However, Dim© swings on at.d the concen (.ration ot the pounded quaitz foi ins the principal ferture which, i^. new to up in the treatment at the woi k? a! Te Aroha. Concentrab'o:: is ef.ected by p;v«sing the pounded oie over a moving endless bluauet which ha.-< a side motion given to it by splines. The »esult is the agg)egation or concentration ot the heavier p-irticles and the cashing away ot the lighlei particles o£ quaitz. When, as happens in our Thames ores, the pioportion ot these lighter particles of silica amounts to ninoty per cent, of the ore tieated, the preliminary concentration .shows immense advantages. The most ditneuit, portion ot the ore to fuse is the silica, and it we have to reduce the oro in its raw undressed .state, a large quantity of flux must be added to bring this silica to a molted state. On the other hand, if we can remove seventy per cent, of the total silica, we can do wioh seventy per cent. les3 of the fluxes which form the greate-t expense. Then the saving in coal is in still greater pioporlion, ior in.stead of having to provide suih'cient heat for the liquifaction of a hundred tons of quartz, if this quartz is concentrated, all the heating power required is for thirty tons. According to Mr (Jordon's report the cost of crushing and concentrating quartz when the best machinery is used and the conditions arc most favourable amounts to less than lour shillings per ton. It should be theiefore our especial care to develop all those conditions which proraotri the cheap crushing and concentrating of the quart/, and with the splendid water power at the Thames this should not be jIl difficult task. If we can approximate this economical working the question of the treatment of refractory ores will be completely solved, for we shall be able with an outlay of a few shillings per ton to get. rid of the greater part of the infusible constituents. j This will be equivalent to melting seventy per cent, of the silica at a ccisfc of live shillings per ton, and it we cannot manage to treat the resulting ore, it will be an easy matter to send the concentrates to those who can. It would not pay to export one hunjred tons of ore worth three uounds a ton, but if this hundred tons were concentrated to thirty, the value per ton would then be I^lo, and would leave a considerable margin of pro lit after paying ft eight and expenses. [ The subject calls for immediate attention fiom every clear-headed business man who lias interests involved in the future ' of Auckland, and the opportunity of inter- \ iewing Mr Gordon, who is now in this part ot Kew Zealand, as to the advisability of establishing central concentrating works, should not be lost. The cost of such works would be small in comparison with a smelting equipment, and would enable some profit to be made out. of the numerous largebodied reefs in the immediate neighbourhood of the Thames?. — " Auckland Star."

News by the 'Frisco mail says that an in" cirlent that was very amusing to outsiders, but exasperating enough to some naval officors, occurred at the American naval station at Marc Island recently. The officers on duty were preparing to knock off for the day and a general quiet was settling over the navy yard. Presently the telephone bell rang and the following message was received from Vallejo Junction : " Please send down the steam launch ; on© of the officers has missed the regular boat." The news spread through the yard that the steam launch Nellie had gone to Vallejo Junction to bring over Admiral Kimberly, who was supposed to have arrived from Samoa, and quite a crowd of officers and men assembled to see him land. As she neared the wharf again after a long and dirty trip, the boat, was eagerly scanned for a view of the Admiral, but no Admiral could be seen. When the Nellie | had tied, up the black cook of the rnan-o'- 1 war Iroquois stepped ashore. He proved/ to be the " officer" who had missed tha regular boat and had telephoned for tha steam launch. Aa Sambo walked off coolhw towards his ship the scene was worth witjf nesaing — the cook, with a look of suprerw satisfaction on his ebony face, ,the officeJ dumb with amazement, the marines em sailors making vain efforts to repress till merriment, and the ea pea in and enjrinl cursing in five languages. The darkly ill , sings, '• Niggaho never, never shall A^j» slaves," and declarer that a u culWoV genTman's " every bit -aa *jood as a jxyw^ white admiral. ' 1