THE HYDROGEN AMALGAM PROCESS OF GOLD SAVING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7828, 23 December 1886, Page 5

THE HYDROGEN AMALGAM PROCESS OF GOLD SAVING.

♦ — In September last we published details of the hydrogen amalgam system of gold saving, these particulars having been forwarded to Auckland. We have now received the following letter from the chairman of the company: - TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—Someone has forwarded me your issues of September 13th and 15th, containing articles referring to the hydrogen amalgam process for treating gold ores (not gold and silver, as stated). Will you allow me space for a few lines on the subject ? Firstly: In your issue of September 13, a reprint is given of a report by my firm to another house in this city, requiring the opinion of experts upon the hydrogen amalgam process before investing in the enterprise. That report, although absolutely in accordance with facts, was not intended for publication, and ought not to have been made use of by your contributor. There are some alight errors in it, as given by him. Secondly : The communication attributed to the secretary (Mr. Watson) is simply a copy of a. circular recording some of the results of workings, printed for circulation to anyone interested in this process. Thirdly : As senior partner in a ' very old house, I must ss.y, with all due deference to your contributor, I do not approve of the general style he indulges in. Not that I would imply that he misrepresents, or that he has misrepresented anything, but there is a goahead flavour about it whioh, according to my ; old-fashioned ideas, is uncalled for. All that is needful is plain statement of facts, in as few 1 words as possible. The hydrogen amalgam process is not like some patent medicines, which profess to cure all diseases. All that is claimed by its inventor is, that it will do more, , and better and cheaper, than any other known , amalgamation process, and that there are ores which yield to its action, although they refuse to do so economically to any other treatment. , At the same time it will not extract gold from every ore, but up to date only one sample out of about one hundred presented here has absolutely refused to yield its gold, and I consider this total tolerably satisfactory. I may say that I have always, as chairman of the com- ■ pany, made it distinctly understood that no guarantee can be given that the machine will successfully treat any particular sample of ore; but that the question of success or failure must rest on the results of absolute treatment of reasonable quantities here. The company has no wish to force the patent or machines on anybody. If they are to succeed, it must be due to their performance, and not to what can be said either for or against them. John Gbove Johnson, Chairman of the Hydrogen Amalgam Co. [John Grove Johnson, of Johnson and Sons, Assayers to the Bank of England, London.] _-