Show THE LEAD FIELDS OF LAURIUM GR GREECE ECE laurion or laurium laudium Lauri um is a promontory in s southwest attica greece projecting into celebrated for its the aegean sea and is lead mines which have been worked since prehistoric times the mines are supposed to have been operated first by the Phoenecia ns in the sixth century B C and with the growth of athenian supremacy they were of the greatest commercial value to the state the chief product of the mines in the earlier periods of their working was silver although large quantities of lead were re iron in the f form orm of pyrite in a gangue ot of quartz and calcite which is generally ni mixed d more or less with and carbonates of manganese the ores ore chiefly galena with some lead carbonate and zinc carbonates in a gangue of calc balc spar and flur spar sometimes as much as 30 per cent of the latter with very little iron or silica in bulk they run about 10 per cent to 12 per cent lead with probably 10 or 12 ounces of silver to the ton the accompanying cut shows the latest type of large modern silver lead furnace bl A v V R P bained and the yield of red oxide of lead was of appreciable value in 1860 a marseilles company bought the right to work over the heaps of refuse from which much lead was extracted in 1869 a dispute arose over limitations imposed by the contract and after a protracted law suit the company in 1873 purchased a large tract of land since then several companies have occupied the territory and carry on profitable operations in the production of lead and kindred metals silver the most important metal in ancient times is however of little value at present the largest company in this field is the compagnie francaise de mines du laur aim whose output in 1904 was over tons the mixed sulphide ores of this district resemble those of leadville C colorado Colo 0 borodo rodo an average of this ore would be about 10 per cent lead 12 per cent zinc and 15 per cent recently ordered for this district this furnace is inches internal dimensions and was built by the colorado iron works company at its plant in denver colorado U S A this furnace embodies the latest and best improvements in the modern modem sil ver lead furnace of the present day it has a capacity of about tons per day the mines of laurium laudium are about fifty miles from athens with which they are connected by rail through the port of laur ium aum or Erg asteria which has a good harbor and a population of about |