SAVING FINE GOLD.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1090, 18 July 1873, Page 3

SAVING FINE GOLD.

We give the following for what it is worth, from the letter of the Hastings correspondent of the Thames Advertiser:—"l do not think it is generally known that the Hon. Mr Richardson, Minister for Public Works, is a thorough expert in the manipulation of gold. 1 am informed that he is one of the best amalgamists in the Colony. For several years he and others worked successfully at a secret process for saving fine gold. The secret chiefly consisted of the use of gold gilt plates, which seemed to have a stroDg attraction for floury gold.' By using gilded plates they collected several pounds weight of gold, so exclusively fine that when poured into water it took a long time to sink. The gilding was performed in the same way as is done by the button-makers at Birmingham. Amalgamists may do it by thoroughly cleansing the copper, then giving it a good coating of hard amalgam, the mercury to be driven off by heat, and the plate then polished by a soft hand. This being carefully done, the plate is said to resemble one of solid gold. Another process used by some parties crushing their own stuff, is to fix a sheet of perforated paper on the surface of carefully prepared copper. The perforations are thoroughly filled with amalgam, aud the mercury driven off as before. The surface of the plate is in tins manner all dotted over with spots of gold, having a rough appearance like a piece of new baize, and said to be most effectual in arresting the very finest particles of the precious metal."