PLUMLEY AND CORNFORTH'S NEW AMALGAMATOR.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 90, 23 January 1872, Page 3

PLUMLEY AND CORNFORTH'S NEW AMALGAMATOR.

A!rcssns Pi.umi.ey and Cornforth, of Auckland, have recently secured jointly a patent for a new amalgamating process, which they have called the Alercurial Percolation Gold-amalgamating Process. The method is extremely simple, and is likclv, we • should think, to prove very effective. The design the inventor lias had in view is to pass the crushed quartz completely through the m* rcury, and so bring every grain of it in close contact with the quicksilver. This object lias been gained by a simple adaptation of the greatest, of all natural principles, that of gravitation. A circular quicksilver bath of any desired size is prepared, but for convenience of illustration we will suppose it is fixed at 8 inch deep, which is a good size for practical purposes. The diameter, of course, must be regulated by circumstances. Now, quicksilver is lil times heavier than water, and it therefore follows that, in order to make water and quartz flow freely' through the. quicksilver by gravitation, a column of water i;}J, or 14 times the size of the quicksilver must be obtained. Based on these first principles, in the percolation process an iron pipe of the required proportion is made. Following out the supposition of an 8 inch bath, a pipe it feet or .if feet 4 inches would be required. This is filled with iron guards at such a distance up as to bring the bottom of the pipe, when placed in the bath, nearly' to the bottom of the quicksilver. Now if water and quartz were poured down this pipe, it. is quite evident that the force of. gravity would send it completely out of the bottom of the pipe, and the great density' of the quicksilver would force it to the surface of the bath and over the sides. In its passage the quicksilver would amalgamate with the gold, the tailings only being driven to the surface and passing away over the side. This is actually the pio- | cess which AlessrsPlumlcy and Cornfortn s machine develops. '1 hero are, however, additions made to render the process more perfect and thorough. '1 hose are in .the form of a sieve at the top of the pipe, which prevents quartz of too. large a size for amalgamation from passing through, and round the bottom end ol the pipe there are five rows of [dates perforated with similar boles to those in the sieve, i These plates lit close to the sides of the ! quicksilver bath, and as they are inserted into the bath and covered by the qniek- ; silver, it is impossible ior the water and ; qu; rtz-tailings to come to the surface without passing through them. Their | object is to make the process of amalga- ■ tion more perfect by interrupting the progress of the tailings in their way to the surface, and so bring every particle in contact with tiie quicksilver. The sieve at the top regulates the size of the crushed quartz passed through, so that no stoppage can he caused at the ' bottom. The process appears to supply a great want, which has been felt in treating line alluvial gold sand, as every particle must come in contact with the quicksilver. Where it is desired to use a batli of such weight as to render working by gravity inconvenient or impossible, a force-pump i can be employed to drive the quartz through the quicksilver. The same inventors have also devised an amalgamating machine for alluvial rock by which the water is passed down a pipe into the ; bottom of a quicksilver bath, and as it I rises to the surface by gravitation is j pumped out by a suction pump. We are

informed that the percolation process was tried at Tookey’s battery for 48 hours as an experiment, with Tncrst satisfactory results. It is well worthy of the attention of those interested in mining.— Cross.