GOLD FROM TAILINGS.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3575, 11 June 1880, Page 3

GOLD FROM TAILINGS.

Mr Edison's latest discovery bids fair to eclipse any that he has yet made if the accounts given oPit by the American papers prove correct. He has, it is stated, invented methods by which he can extract a greater amount of gold from the rejected residuum of auriferous quartz, termed by miners " tailings," then is obtained by the present processes from the virgin rocks triturated by the crushing mills. The agents he employs are chemistry and electricity .f|He takes a quantity of " tailings," which, as far as any known process is concerned, contain not a trace of gold, and produces therefrom the precious metal in quantities truly astonishing. He says that by his method he has got out gold from concentrated " tailings " at the enormous ratio in some instances of 1400_ dols. per ton, at an expense not exceeding 5 dols. per ton. This discovery was made by him while endeavoring to find a supply of platinum for his electric lamps. In the course of experiments made by him with the view of inventing a process for the cheap extraction of this metal from the " tailings " of some California goldmines, specimens of which had been sent to him, he waß surprised at the large amount of gold existing in the rejected residue of the mines. This gave his researches a new direction. The electric light came to be a secondary consideration. He devoted his energies to the fresh discovery, and the success of his process was at iast evident beyond a doubt. Keeping the secret to himself and to a few confidential agents, he at once made contracts for the "tailings" of a number of the largest mines for a term of years. He has thus secured millions of tons of " tailings," and if his manipulations of the refuse really prove as vrtuable as stated, Mr Edison ought to become a " veritable Crcesuß."