Treatment of Pyrites For Gold.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3164, 9 April 1879, Page 1

Treatment of Pyrites For Gold.

;We extract;this article.frOffl the£ydfoey - Mail. The Mr M aßters_;referred' W li our late respected fellow-townsman, John Masters .— './•..' '/''!'.'!" ij-.'.-jj'VJ ■'..■■!■ ; I hare just had the pleasure of inspecting a new and extensive industry ;«fc< Long Swamp, on Flyer's Creek, Fowat Beefs, about fifteen-miles from Orange, and the same distance from Carcoar. This is the preparation which is being made for the treatment of auriferous pyrites at <t he Little Emma mine, the property of three Sydney gentlemen, under the superiptendence of Mr J. Masters, who is likewise a shareholder in the concern. I was not less astonished at the completeness of the plant which.is here being.set up than at the neatness and order that pervade the place. Under a large galranised iron building is a battery of twenty-three stampers, two large buddies, foar Wheeler pans (two of which are grinders and two amalgamators), two separators, and a row of berdans, all of which are to be driven by a steam-engine of 35 horse power, .nominal. Connected with the steam-engine .is a forccpmnp, with which water,can Be forced from the creek to a higher level for the supply of the machinery. The, works are being erected under the superintendence of Mr James jVeitch, a clever engineer, who has lately arrived from Scotland. . Two large furnaces for the treatment of the ore are completed.. These, are constructed on the belt of principles and 01, the best materiala; some 6f the bricks having been made on the ground, while the firebricks have been obtained from jLithgow. There are. four doors on each, side of the furnaces^ opposite to which are different stages, for ,the reception or the ore as it passes' from the coolest to the hottest part of the interior. ; Tunnels have been driven; into the adadjoining hill, the core of which is, apparently, composed of a grey tufaceoos rock abundantly intermixed with pyrites; so that there is no lack of material upon 1 which to operate, nor is there any?difficulty in conveying it to the battery, which lies at the foot of ;the tramway. One of these tunnels extends a dift»Bce iof 600 feet in the hill, a tramw,«f ruling from the extreme end- down to the bat* tery, near which a thousand fons of stone I lie in readiness for crushing,' '-'t, A laboratory is in, course of coriitruo- *' ition, where analyses 'ojf-.ihe' op^'^l be performed from time to time by one oi . |Mr Masters' eons, who ia metallurgistto I the company. All the work will be regu* Slated by analyses', samples of the material \ being taken at various stages of _ the i JJrocesß, inorder to ascertain' whetKef-IKis- : work is proceeding with success, and to ; remedy defects in the chemical treatment I where necessary. : /:? ! The bras hed material first passes over ' amalgamated copperplates into>jfche,-bgd-dles, and after; hating -been there is carried into the furnaces, where it is .'chemically tre.atei an.d roasted.^ > jit w then eonvjeyed into Whe.ele^fjg|i§^inji ' pans, where it is reduced to an impalpable p\)wttfei<>,'- then intq 'the r amalgamating pans, where the |[old i«combin«dL-with' quicksilver; then.'i^oesf; intp the separators, in which it,'u/dergoek a process too comp^cate4.^tp*,be''sere\'di^ribed. , Any . a^algana'l,'tha^may ; /^ the separators is caught in the b'e^rda'qß, ; which. rest on an inclined plane. t '-|the residue from the whole process in a series of labyrinths, and treated a second time, if analysis shows that to be necessary. fln this way ■. every, precaution is taken that gold shall not escape during the treatment to which the material is . subjected. The collected amalgam of gold and mercury is; retorted, by 'which the mercury is expelled, and laved for future use, while the gold remains, and is taken into the melting room, and afterwards into the laboratory, to be assayed, and stamped. v .-,,' ■.. »'"" ' ,- The, profitable extraction of gold from pyrites 'has hitherto been an: uhfolved problem in New South Wales—a fact;due more to inefficiency of appliances than to deficiency of knowledge. The difficulties will be removed by the method now adopted by Mr Masters, by the aid of which the pyritous material will be treated in such a manner that presumably only an exceedingly minute portion of the gold will escape.. " ' ,'..:7 ■; " . ''■''■I-"/,.) A series-of analyses have proved ( the pyrites found here tq contain a large percentage of gold ; but if it average only half as much per ton as the assays have shown—via., half an? ounce—the enterprise, it is calculated, cannot fail to yield to the proprietors a handsome return. Great must be the faith of the company in thework' which they have undertaken, for hei-e is set up an exceedingly costly apparatus, the working of ! fchich will also be costly; and there are employed no less than sixty men; whose humble cottages are scattered among the forest' in the sequestered glen';" #hero possibly a town willin 'titpe iitfse; and where other flourishing industries Will be seen. „ .-.. .. ■ lr , „■ There are iminiense ' quantities: of' firewood bow beijjkg ,' got ready -fpr ; the furnaces; and other pteparatidnstre; so forward that, with the "assistaricß'-of' Mr Masters' 'sons,! who aid their fatheir'iuthe supervision, the first'turn of' thejEngine will probably be made by the^irffe this is before the reader. ''' V ,' f ,/ ir:';