TREATMENT OF REFRACIORY ORES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9160, 15 September 1888, Page 5

TREATMENT OF REFRACIORY ORES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday. The Minister of Mines has received a letter from the Agent-General, in answer to a previous communication from the Mines Department, having special reference to the treatment of refractory ores. I am unable to forward you the whole of the official correspondence on the subject. The following is the Agent-General's letter to the Minister, posted per Kaikoura : — " London, 7, Westminster Chambers, July 26, 188 S. Sir, —Since writing to you, on the 12th instant, I have continued to be in communication with several high authorities in metallurgy. Dr. Percy, F.R.S., President of the Iron and Steel Institute, has given me much information, and will gladly give me any further assistance he can. His view is, that the; detailed information you really want can best be got in America, and he has given me introductions to metallurgists there, whose processes have been most successful. I am also sending for some publications which he advisecl me to jret. Dr. Hugo Miller, F.R.S., and Mr. Robert Austin, Assayer to the Royal Mint, have given me personal introductions in Frieburg, whither I am going in a few diys. 1 hope to collect information for you that may be of use. Mr. Parkes, of the ' Parkes Gold and Silver Ores Smelting Company,' is at the Thames, in New Zealand, where his process is being tried. I presume he has submitted full details of this process to the Government.— I have, etc., F. D. Bell, Agent-General for New Zealand."

The above letter can only be understood by the otlicial minute and letter of the Minister of Mines to which it refers. In May last the following minute of the Minister of Mines was submitted to the Premier, and approved :— "It would be desirable to request the Agent-General to obtain information from the principal metallurgists in Frieburg, Germany, Swansea, or other places in England and Wales (specially from those who have large works for the extraction of the metals from refractory ores containing gold and silver) so far as the treatment adopted is not a secret process, and to ask them whether they would be disposed to erect a branch of works in this colony, or in tho event of their treatment being a secret process, to see on what terms (if any) a person from this colony sent to their establishments might be instructed and taught the various processes in use ; also to request the agent to procure any standard works published on the subject and forward the same." In conformity with the above minute, as approved by the Premier and the Cabinet, the Under-Secretary of Lands and Alines wrote to the Agent-General on the 19th of May as follows :— "Sir, —1 request that you will be good enough to place yourself in communication with some of the principal metallurgists in Frieburg, Swansea, or other places, especially those who have large works for the treatment of gold and silver refractory ores, with a view of ascertaining some information as to the methods adopted, presuming their methods to be secret. To ascertain whether they would be disposed to establish branch establishments in this colony. Should there be nny books published on the subject you will procure and forward them. —I am, etc., H. Ho'TLEY Eliott."

The Agent-General replies on the 12th July as follows :—" Westminster Chambers, 12th July, 1888. Sir,— l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th May, directing me xo make inquiries as to the processes in use for the treatment of refractory ores, so as to ascertain whether some of the metallurgists concerned in such processes could be induced to establish themselves in some way in New Zealand. lam now consulting the best authorities on this subject, and shall be able to send you the latest and best information obtainable before long. While Sir Julius Von Haast was here, we often talked over the chances there were of applying the several processes to New Zealand mining. When he was in Germany some otiers of the kind you mention were made to him by Drs. Krantz and Linnartz of Bonn. Sir J. Vogel tells me that Sir J. Von Haast reported on these upon his return to the colon}". 1 have some reasons for thinking that metallurgists who have large works in Germany might entertain proposals favourably if they wero satisfied of there being adequate encouragement in the shape of suitable ores. The ,irst thing to induce them to take a real interest in the matter would be the prosecution of efforts in continuation of those made by Von Haast. I purpose, therefore, to visit Bonn and Frieburg shortly, and also the principal tirms of metallurgists in England and Wales. I shall do all I can to carry out the object you wish to obtain, the importance of which can hardly be exaggerated.— I have the honor, etc., F. D. Beix, AgentGeneral."

The wonder is that metallurgists throughout Europe and America should not have known before now that the ores of New Zealand are almost without limit as regards variety, as well as quantity.