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Show 4 INTER-MOUNTAI- MINING REVIEW. N CAPITAL IN IDAHO MINES. colleges become an academic educational standard in the same manner as they are in Europe, Development in Lemhi (CONTINUED) by PROF. II. HIRSC1IING. County A Fine Milling nain education the utilize Plant. higher The previous article, treating about the geo- where they tural sciences for the transforming of the nalogical formations, explains fully the causes Correspondence Mining IIevIew. useful resources into tural commercial, products. condiwhy the gold is distributed in such fine Salmon City, Idaho, Dec. 12, lSDo. educaour an in extension such result of The distion in the geological walls of the Mercur In mining and milling enterprises and the commerce our would institutes tional promote business intimately connected therewith, the trict, and also it explains clearly where the sul- and the us nation world. make first the would of phides come from. past summer has been quite an eventful one to the the cya- with us. But that which we, in our principle of The next and most interesting question of Referring, now, isolated know We nide if that and is process: their cyanide potassic metal cheap depositions precious condition, cut off from railroad facilities, conconin under solution certain comes, conditions, economic extraction from the gangue. In the sider as something distinguishable from the or-salts are tact with ores metals, found oxidized are usually cyanide Transvaal and wherever would, with you and others located dinary, in an excess of po- more containing fine laminated gold, no matter if the formed, and they are soluble for the easy access of the favorably we double then tassic call salts; cyanide, which origin of the depositions is glacial or erosive, be noticed. hardly contact in for with successinstance, gold forms, potassic the well known cyanide process can be During the interval mentioned there has been! is sol this and from the cyanide solution, fully used for extracting the gold invested by outside parties between two and1 molecule one uble of in such of a course Of corresponding potassic three hundred thousand dollars in our mining complete analysis gangue. ores is always a necessity, as even an oxidized cyanide, which compound we call a double salt prospects alone, with several negotiations pendof potash. Hereby, one moleore is liable to contain compounds which are of ing upon properties of greater importance. The atom one and offree cule of potassium hydroxide soluble in potassic cyanide or which decompose mere purchasing of these slightly developed is is therefore the used equation hydrogen produced, it, in either case the quantity of the solvent mines is but a part of the outlay necessary to; success failure. a or a Au Cy II 0 K Cy Au 2 K Cy up may render the process carry them forward to successful producing en-- : The analytical result of an ore will guide the -II. It will be noticed that one atom terprises. And as it is the declaration of all of H K 0 f millman'in regard to the necessary strength of the new proprietors to thus equip their proper-- : is dissolution the of disengaged by hydrogen the applied solution, or will point out to him if disen- ties, it can be seen that upon this small number in The of cyanide. potassic gold process lixivi-ation a preliminary treatment of the ore in the of hydrogen can be readily observed of our unlimited vein resources more than a gagement is vat will be necessary; if this precaution and the direct dissolution half million dollars will be paid out. not resorted to the extraction results will al- by careful electrolysis These matters, small as they may appear in is nothing else than galvanic action, process extent sometimes to and the a great ways vary localities where a boom is raging, is evidence must same result be the necessarily to us that we are financial success of the enterprise depends upon therefore, making strides worthy of our fact mention this because some I obtained. it. I have treated in my lixiviation plant ores When we look back over! the advocate of chemists presence oxygen, from Utah, Idaho and Nevado mines and found the past several years and carefully note our beto their is which 25 required satisfy not cent extract equation. of that millmen could per ginning and advance up the present time there to seems to dissolution able be out been and of leach I have The process the values, very is left no problematical thought for the future, 90 per cent by simply modifying the process ac- simple indeed, yet, if there are many metal salts it is assured. Those of us to whom it may seem are to or soluble of which the the which result have in If the the ore, analysis. sulphide cording that we have been backward in coming for--; mine-the ores are entering in the ore body of the property to decompose the potassic cyanide, the ward, can now realize that such a movement utmost care in analyzing the ore for its dif- process becomes very complicated, and it re- as that which has been alotted us is the health-- ! ferent and various compounds with sulphur is quires an excellent scientist to comprehend it. kind, such as will last, and while it does and cases no success can in be in and is in its The process practice yet many necessary, infancy, like continues to grow in dimensions, wTe will get attained with the cyanide process, even if the all other lixiviation processes, but I predict that fatter and '.more comely. The fact also is daily process is adjusted and modified, and the chlor- these processes will be the only salvation in fu- growing more conspicuous that we have as large ine process must be substituted for it. There is ture fqr our mining districts. Utah has been a an area of in Lemhi county as mining territory a variety uf arsenides in the Mercur district leader in earlier days in the pro- exists in Uncle Sams dominion of like dimen--; which are indeed rebellious against the cyanide cesses; it will be a leader also in the chemical sion,' and the world knows that he has some ex-- ; mineral The between the processes. contains, process. tensive and prolific fields of all kinds of re-- ; suld CYANIDE PROCESS. ; ! I capi-talis- t, gold-cyanid- e, gold-cyani- de self-congratulati- lead-smeltin- crystals, native arsenic and phur. I roasted it by low and high temperatures with no avail, however. Lately I have tried to convert these arsenides by an acqueous solution containing some salts, into an insoluble compound, before charging the ore in the vat with the cyanide solution, and I obtained satisfactory results. I will continue to experiment and in due time I will inform your readers about the result. In the past few years we have read so much about the chemistry of the cyanide process that it may be surmised that the theme is now exhausted. This is, however, not so. The analytical methods so far published in mining papers from Dr. Fresenius book of quantitative analysis, and the many equations given in addition to it, are very interesting reading matter. Yet the equations are sometimes confusing and misleading. However, it shows that practical men are endeavoring to use the methods and and have a desire to utilize the chemical science in a commercial sense. As soon as such a spirit is once moving in our enterprising and progressive men, great practical and commercial benefits from the manufacture of our crude materials into refined articles can be expected. The study of elementary and analytical chemistry should be extended into the science of technological processes, so that the elementary studies of our well-define- on. g In regard to the published methods of analyz sources. ing cyanide solutions, according to Dr. FresenThe area of this part of our country is somius, with standard nitrate of silver, I am some- ething like 10,000 square miles in extent, within what surprised that a most practical method of which is included valleys suitable for agricul-- ! estimating the cyanogen according to Professor ture of probably 1,000 square miles. When we; Mohr is not mentioned. It is described in his leave the valleys and commence the ascent of book of volumetric analysis, page 374, and the mountains, immediately our feet press known as the copper sulphate method; it is upon ground devoted to the mineral product: rapid, correct, and more practical, especially and this in whatever direction we may go.; with turbid solutions. We have used it also at our academy, and I recommend it to our mill-meThe estimation of gold by evaporation and cupelling in a sheet-lea- d wrap is the most tedious and unaccurate method which can be suggested, and I am quite surprised that in the mills is not yet introduced the electrolytic method, which is absolutely correct and practical. We have used it for a period of six years in our laboratory and found it superior to any other method. n. The mining academy of Prof. H.JHirsching is now open. Every mining man should take a course of study in natural sciences, lixiviation and electrolysis in this institute. The catalogue provides a special course for the study of lixiviation and the electrolytic processes, and is therefore of great importance to our mining people, who desire to extract metals from ores by cheap processes. Whereas, our mountains and hills have a greater proportion of veins that contain gold as their characteristic feature, yet it must be clearly understood that we have ledges in large numbers in which other minerals predominate, such as silver, copper and lead, which, if commercially computed, would be of more value in these products than the gold contained in them. Hence, it can be seen that when railroad facilwave of prosperity ities and the reaches us our product will be enhanced bv vathat riety, and that, too, in such proportions will put us in line with any district devoted built singly to any one of them. We have had in the county, since the first discovery of quartz, sixteen mills, ranging from and three to p capacity, of both the old new patterns. Some five or six of these mills, used particularly of the old style, have not been for a long time and through disuse have become almost worthless, notwithstanding, in their day ; ; ; ; long-delaye- d gold-bearin- g six-stam- . , |