GOLD IN SEA WATER

Grey River Argus, 8 October 1934, Page 5

GOLD IN SEA WATER

NUGGET EXTRACTED By U.S.A. Chemists WHAT SPECTROSCOPE SHOWS. (Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received October 7 at 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 6. Doctor WiUiard 11. Dow, a noted chemist, and the President of a chemical concern, startled scientists tonight with an announcement - he made before the American Chemical Society that his company had succeeded in extracting a nugget of one tenth of a milligram, half of gold and half of silver from twelve tons of sea water. Dr Dow said that the cost of extraction had been approxfimaitely ten times the present market price of gold, 35 dollars per ounce. He stated that the extraction process had consisted of treating the water with colSodial sulphur, which settled like a sediment, carrying off microscopic bits of metal. The amount of gold and silver extracted was only one three-hundred par|t of the amount which the spectroscope indicated actually existed in the water. The silver, he said, is present in larger quantities than the gold.

He added: “If (the spectroscope is right, there is enough- gold in the sea water to pave the United States, and enough silver to roof the world.” '

Dr Dow said that the collodial sulphur treatment is not the start of a commercial gold recovery programme, but is purely a scientific experiment to explore (the possibilities. At present, he srtid, the bromine which is being taken from sea water in large quantities, for making anti-knock gasoline, is many times more valuable commercially than gold.