ALMWICH COPPER MINES.

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 23, 8 November 1845, Page 4

ALMWICH COPPER MINES.

The discovery of these mines was one of the most important events that took place in the mining districts of this country during the last century, for it opened the source of an abundant supply of copper at a time when that metal was beginning to be in great demand for the sheathing of ships and the making of brass. In the year 1672, one Alexader Fraser repaired to the island of Anglesey in search of mines, aiid examined more particularly the Pary's mountain, which in his opinion presented strong indications of minerals in the interior. He communicated his belief to Sir Nicholas Bayley, and prevailed upon him to sink some trial shafts. But no success attended the operations. Sometime afterwards Sir Nicholas, in granting to Messrs. Roe and Co., of Macclesfield, a lease of his mines in Carnarvon, imposed upon those gentlemen an obligation to search the Parys mountain for mines. The search was continued for a long time, at a considerable expense, but without any favourable result, and was near being abandoned, when, as a last effort, the miners were divided into small parties, and instructed to sink several trial shafts in the neighbourhood of a spring of water which was supposed to be impregnated with copper. On the second day much to the joy of all concerned, one of these shafts struck upon a large body of copper ore. This discovery was made on the 2nd of March, 1768, and the anniversary of that day has ever since been celebrated by the miner-. The surface of the mountain had not been penetrated more than seven feet, when the first solid mass of ore was met with. After the discovery of ore, Roe and Co. were dispossessed of their lease by a lawsuit, and the Parys mine was worked by Lord Uxbridge, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hughes's interest in the Parys mine was a share in the land in right of his wife. It made the'fortune of the two latter. The Mona mine in the same range of mountains, was soon afterwards opened and worked ; it was the sole property of Lord Uxbridge, and now belongs to the Marquis of Anglesea. Both mities proved exceedingly piofitable. As the excavations proceeded, it was found that the ore did not lie in regular veins or lodes, but in large conglomerated masses, which admitted of being quarried in a cheap and easy manner by means of workings exposed to the day. The ore was mixed with, and imbedded in slate, and descended to various depths, from twenty to fifty fathoms, so that i,n time the workings assumed the shape of a large deep basin, the sides of which were more or less perpendicular, and the bottom full of deep pits and irregularities. When the mines were in full work, every corner of this immense excavation resounded with the blows of the miners and the thunders occasioned by the constant blastings with gunpowder. At one time the mines gave employment to 1500 men, ninety of whom were employed in the smeltinghouses. Some estimate maybe be formed as to the quantity of ore raised, from the circumstance of there having been at one time a btock of 30,000 tons at the Mona mine, and 14,000 at the Parys mine. The principal part of the ore was a sulpheret of copper, intermixed, however, with black copper, blue aud green carbonate, and some strings of pure native copper. The richer ores were exported to Swansea, or sent to smelting works at Stanley, near Liverpool ; but those of a poorer kind, containing from I to 2£ per cent., were broken into small pieces, and placed in ovens or kiln-, for the purpose of haviug the the sulpher extracted from them. When the oven or kiln was full, hot coals were applied to various parts of the ore, which soon ignited, aud the fire smouldering slowly disengaged the sulpher, which fell into a chamber connected by means of flues with the kiln or oven. This process of sublimation lasted from six to ten mun bs, accoidiug to the quantity of ore operated upon. When the sulpher was supposed to be thoroughly extracted, the ore was taken fiom the ovens to the Company's smelting bouses at Amlwch, and there run into rough copper, technically called metal. One of the smelting houses contained upwards of thirty reverberalory furnaces; each furnace was charged with twelve cwt. of the roasted ore, which smelted in five hours, and yielded halt a cwt. of rough copper or metal, containing about 40 per cent, ofjpure copper- The sulphur collected in the chamber, as above described, was from time to time taken out, fused, and cast into rolls and cones for the London market. In excavations so extensive, and occnsionally penetrating to the depth ol fifty fathoms, there could not fail to accumulate a large body of water. The water was found to hold in solution a portion of sulphate, ot copper, which was separated in the following manner: hr«e langcs of rectangular pits, thirty two feet in length, twelve feet in width; and two feet iv depth were constructed ; the pits were filled with rows ot cast iron plates, placed on ed^e, and prevented from touching each other by a projecting snag upon the upper side. In course of tune, however, any kind of castor malleable iron was substituted for the plates, and found to answer quite as well at less than half the expense. The water impregnated with sulphate of of copper was pumped tip from the excavation's, and made to fljw along troughs or channels into the pits \ slow but continued action took place upon the surlace of the iron which was gradually dissolved anil cai lied off, leaving nearly an equal quantity of oxide of copper previpitated in its place. The precipitation of copper on so large a scale, at a time when the subject was little understood, gave rise to a vulgar opinion, that the iron was conveited into copper. Once in tv>o or three months the stream of water was diverted for a shoit time, the surface ol the iron scraped, and the precipitate removed from the pits to be smelted. Being unavoidably mixed with a considerable, portion of iron and earthy matter, the precipitate duwiot yield more than 50 per cent ot copper, instead WB7 per cent, which the pure oxide coutains,, hut the iopper obtained from it was always considered of the besl quality. The water, chained wiih sulphate of iron, after leavng the pits, was received into large shallow pools, where a precipitation of the iron took place, and this being collected and dried, was sold as yellow ochre, For the last ten or fifteen years these celebrated mines have been decliuing ; the great mass> of ore is exhausted ; and the pi eseut limited operations are guided by partial and uncertain indications iv ihe slate or matrix. Not more than one-third of the people are now employed, and the mining prospeniy ot Arnlweh, which once seemed to spiiug trom an inexhaustible source, has almost passed away. During 1 the most flourishing period it was computed that from 60,000 to fc£0,0()0 tons of ore were annually extracted fiom the Parys ami Mona mines. Supposing the ore to have averaged 5 per cent, (which is 3~ per cent, less than the average, of the Coin.sh ore s ,j the above quantity must ha\e yielded upwards ot .i'Ooo tons of copper, — a product mure than equal to thatol the who eof the Corn sh mines at the same period. At the time now relerred to, the expoits of Anuwch consisted v!— The richer sort? of popper ore ; The poorer ditto, ditto, roasted; Rou^h copper or metal ; Dneil precipitate of copper from the pits ;

Refined sulphur ; Ochre j Alum ; Green vitriol or sulphate of iron. The produce of the mines, for the last five years, has been from 700 to 800 tons of copper annually, or about one eighteenth part of the copper produced in the United Kingdom. The ores mined at present do not yield above four per cent of metal. A sulphate of lead was found in considerable quantities mixed with the soil or earth which immediately reposed up<>n the copper ore. The lead obtained from the sulphate contained from fifty to sixty ounces of silver in each ton, and a great quantity of sulphate was dug in the expectation that it would be profitable to smelt it, and afterwards extract the silver. This expectation, liowever, though apparently well grounded, was never realised ; form separating the sulphate of lead from the soil, and also in the smelting, difficulties occurred, which it was found impossible to overcome in practice. It is exceedingly probable that the Parys mountain, or its immediate neighbourhood, was formerly the scene, if not of successful etiterprize in mining and smelting, at least of trial and experiment. Long before the present mines were discovered, a collection of waters upon the summit of the mountain was well known by the name of the Mine, Pool ; and a hearth for smelting lead, some peices of lead and charcoal, and a plate of copper weighing about 50lbs, afl found anterior to the opening of the modern mines, *eem to attest that the minerals in tlie vicinity of Almwch attracted the notice of a generation remote fiom our o v/u.— -Penny Cyclopccdia.

Suspension Tunnel. — Probably one of the boldest railway projects of the dciy, is that proposed by Mr. R. Stephenson, the engineer, of crossing the Menai Straits, by means of a tunnel in the air. Mr. Stephenson proposes to throw an iron tube across the Straits, by mean- of suspension chains, using the Britannia Rock as a buttress in the middle, the tube to be 25 feet in breadth, by 15 in depth, constructed in tne same way as an iron, ship, composed of large plates put together in the form of a great hon tunnel. He also proposes to have two tubes, one for each line of rails, and expresses himself satisfied on the strength and safely of the tube having tried experiments on an iron vessel 220 feet in length, suspended by the steiiTand stern, with a weight of 1,200 tons in her centre, without the slightest straining effect. Tins plan would be calculated effectually to prevent interference with the navigation, the great difficulty to be encountered in carrying the Chester and Hothead mails over the Menai Straits. Public Impatience. — The Great Western Railway have determined that the si* o'clock morning train shall re-commence running. We understand they have come to the resolution solely for the sake of accommodating the reading world in Bristol, who owing to the late arrangements, did not receive the London morning papeis until half-past twelve, a delay which in these go-a-head times, was not to be endured. Not to have a London morning paper in Bristol before tw elve o'clock. Intolerable ! Though all of us can recollect when (and that not very long ago) we thought ourselves well off to get a peep at the metropolitan morning papers at ten o'clock at night. Nothing short oT lightning speed will soon satisft us. The London morning papers in future will reach Bristol soon after ten o'clock. — Bristol Paper. Present from the East India Company to Mahemet Ali. — The friendiy conduct of the Pasha of Egypt towards this country is about to be acknowledged by the Directors of the East India Company, in a manner worthy of the greatest political and military power of the hast. A silver fountain, of extiaordinary magnitude, intended as a present lo Mahemet Ali from the Company, has just been completed by Mr. Smith, Duke-street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. It is upwards of ten feet in height* and contains 10,4000 ounces of silver. It is richly ornamented Mith fruits and flowers, the likene-s of beast, bird or fish, being scrupulously avoided, in deference to the feelings of iVJaho.nedaiis, The fountain has an inscription on each of the four sides, simph recording the titles of the givers and and the leceiver, without an) addition. The language on each side vaiies ; the languages employed are English, Latin, Arabic, and Persian. Four Brahmins of high caste have arrived in this country for the purpose of studying medicine at University College. They are intended to take degrees, with a view of placing them on a footing with the fas-nlty of India, and at the same time, enabling them as natives, to spread in the inte ior, the knowledge they have acquired in our institutions. Two of these students are sent over by Sir llenr) Hdidinge, at the expense of the Eist Indian Government, one by public subscription amongst the citizens of Calcutta, and the fourth by Dwarkanuuth Tagore, an eastern philanthropist. —Medical Times.

To the Editor ofthr Sydney Morninj Chronicle. Sir. — Obsesv ; ngin }onr publication of )esterday a paragtaph, headed "Three himdied miles per hour," giving an account of anew plan for the transmission of letters, &c., I am encouraged to send )ou a short notice ( of course I am not at hbeity to enter at present into detail) of an invention by a person residing in onr village, which will, certainly, supersede sieain and all other powers )et known. By it a u aggon, loaded with three tons, can be propelled at the rate of live miles per hour on the common road, vp hill and down date One of your Sydney cabs would be packed oft" at the rate of thiit) or fort) miles pel hour. But its great advantage over all other powers is ils cheapness, as (he appaiatus necessary to piopel a waggon loaded as above named will not cost moie than sixty poumis, u hich is but the price of a good team and gear j and will last for \ ears without further expense. The inventor has already laid a plan and de scriptiou of the invention before J. Wild, l£sq. M.(J , preparatory to lading it befoie the Govei - nor and Council ; and he kindly undertook to lay it before 33 r. Lowe, IVI C , for the purpose of fixing on the most advisable plan of having it brought under the notice of our legislators, who, 1 tniM, will give it that consideration which its impoitcince merits Yours, most respectfully, ASub&ciuuer, Picton. October 16, ISio.