GOLD FROM THE SEA.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2645, 11 September 1906, Page 7

GOLD FROM THE SEA.

INGENIOUS SUGGESTION FOR STEAMSHIP COMPANIES TO MAKE MONEY. The old scheme for extracting gold from sea water dies hard, but while there have been some dealings in the shares of the latest syndicate formed thus to obtain the precious metal. few people in Stock Exchange circles are exposed to regard tho venture as more than a scientific experiment. Now the suggestion for collecting gold from the sea comes from rather a remarkable quarter, namely the "Lancet" in which an article suggests a most marvellous inducement to the company promoter by saying that, (in the estimate that a ton of sea water contains approximately .one grain of gold the yield would aniount to something like two hundred tons of gold per cubic mile, and as the volume of the world's ocean is estimated at 100,000.000 cubic miles, the total possible yield of gold would be no less than 100,000.000,000 tons.

The •Lancet'' goes on to observe it should it should be borne in mind however, "the original observations as to the sea containing gold were made on waters which wash the shores (if a gold bearing country, namely New South Wales. Still time, no doubt, suffices to clTect the uniform distribution of the mineral salts of the sea. although the composition of sea water varies with the locality from which it i.s taken. We should have thought that an eminently practical experiment in this direction would before now have been undertaken by the great steamship companies. Most steamships are equipped with electric installation and it would bo quite an easy matter for them to start a system of electroplating while at sea without interfering seriously with the progress of the ship. "A couple of large copper plates suspended in the sea and connected with dynamos would serve as electrodes and collect gold contained in the sea water during a voyage. At the end of the voyage the plates could be examined for gold and some idea of the .practicability of recovering the metal would lie gained. "If it proved that the steamship company could add to their equipment an effective electrical gold dredger they might possibly be induced to cheapen the passenger rates according to the success of the system."