Show WATER AND GOLD the by which of dollars are annually gained it is not generally known even in california Cali ornia that millions of dollars arc annuala taken from rude heaps of haaf looking quartz by the flowing of water over huge piles of broken rocks that contain th precious metal the process af pf robbing the earth of its gold had now been reduced to such a fine point that the gentle flowing of water over the ore gleans it of its golden treasures and this works well in cases where the old chloride and other methods are nut so useful the water used by miners in bringing gold from piles of mineral bearing quartz is charged with a simple chemical which has tire potency to dissolve gold and bold it in solution the sparkling liquid which flows over hundreds of tons of quartz trickles through the mines and seeks ita level laden with gold is charged with a deadly poison cy andine of potassium a drug which ferrets out the minutest particles of the yellowish metal and dissolves them and brings the precious burden to the vats for conversion into refined gold again the cyanide process is as noiseless and unerring as the laws of gravitation the method is based on the fact that even a very weak solution of cyanide of potassium dissolves gold and silver forming respectively auro pot aisic cyanide and argento cyanide the solution is separated from the solid material and the gold and silver are precipitated in metallic form during the last five years the process lias been introduced into almost every gold field in california and elsewhere and more than has been recovered by the gentle flowing of waters charged the magical chemical precipitation js effected by the use of fine pieces of zinc so arranged that when the rich waters flow over them the fine gold clusters in rich deposit over the ciuc for which it has an affinity the gold deposits itself in the form of fine dust on the plates of zinc boston journal of commerce |