GOLD FROM SEA WATER

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1935, Page 31

GOLD FROM SEA WATER

;;.'." .*|?3E possibility of extracting gold from sea water is not likely '-'- '-'■ ' ■ JL t0 attract even the most sanguine.promoter after he has read V. \\ the-report that Dr. William.E; Caldwell of Oregon State " .- College presented before the American' Chemical Society, says the «► .. 'New York Times." The doctor was not especially interested in V. ;; mining the sea. *He simply usedjit to test a highly-sensitive method ;; «> of recovering gold from solutions in which it: may be present in as •"■ ;-.-;small amounts-as one part in 4,000,000. v.. :,, ' ■"'■ II ;" What tllte doctor does is toilet fine particles of mercury fall in l"i ;; a,solution known to'contain gold and silver. -Down falls the gold <- and silver too. After siphoning, decanting, and filtering the residue -■ . - the chemist has a sort of mud to-which he adds some lead. He runs ' '. " the mixture into a furnace. Out comes a little bead of gold and *'. silver. .' . ■'..;■■••. -. .•■ o ' !II <".-■ Dr. Caldvfell obtained samples .of. Puget Sound wat,er and -■ :: precipitated the gold in it by.his method.' He got 0.2 to 1.2 milli- V. '.'. grammes' out of each metric ton—about a 'mill's worth at the present J ;;■ market value. That is the fault of {he sea" water and not of the f .- process. Give the process a chance'in handling ores and it will '.' ', \ extract more gold anß silver than is now possible.