THE GOLDFIELDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11565, 31 January 1901, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS

AUCKLAND SHAREMARKET. The market was quiet yesterday. In investment lines there/was but little inquiry. In mining lines there were most buyers in Upper Thames stock. ; Waihi Consols sold j at 9d, with more sellers at lOd, -buyers 7_d. Waihi Extendeds were done at 4s lid, late sellers asking Ss, with buyer's 4s lOd. In Maratotos sd_was offered, sellers asking 6d. There were buyers of Talisman Consolidateds at 19s, sellers 20s 6d. Waihis had demand at £11, sellers £12 ss. Waihi Consolidateds eased to Is 9d,- buyers Is 6d. Waihi Souths also declined to Is 4d, buyers Is 2d. Barrier. Reefs sold at 9s 6d and 9s sd, with further sellers at 9s 6d, and no buyers. Whangamata Gold Corporations had sale at 3s 6d, with further sellers at 3s 9d. In other lines late prices ruled. ALPHA G.M. CO. I The main crosscut in the Alpha Gold Min- j ! ing Company's mine, at Waitekauri, has been advanced westward at No. 4 level ; a further distance of 10ft. There is a slight j i improvement in the country being penej trated. • A series of quartz veins is showing j in the face, leading to the belief that a j body of ore is close at hand. j KAPOWAI G.M. CO. In the Kapowai Gold Mining Company's mine, at Gumtown, the upper drive, on No. 2 lode, is now in 19ft from the crosscut. More quartz has been seen during the pastweek, and a little.gold has been seen in the dish., The rise is up 15ft from No. 2 'level; In the first 6ft of rising, according to dish prospects, the ore was of good grade, but has not been of much value since. A chamber has been cut out on the left hand of the drive, 30ft from its mouth, in order to sink a winze, but as the prospects were not so good as expected, the other side of the drive was reverted to, with a view of sinking there if the ore was of better quality, jj which it has hitherto proved to be. Both ) points will be further tested before determining which side to put the winze down. | .■ ■ | THAMES SHAREMARKET. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN COItRKSI'ONDBNT.] Thames, Wednesday. Broken Hill (Waiomo), sellers sd; Kara- J nui, sellers 3d; Mahara Royal, sellers 6d; | New Whau, sellers 4d ; Crown, sellers 14s; [ Komata Reefs, sales 2s B_d, 2s 9d, sellers l 2s 9d; Waihi Extended, buyers 4s lid; ) Pride of Waihi, buyers 6d; Bunker's Hill, ( sellers lOd; Four-in-Hand, sellers 2s lOd. I . ! i DUNEDIN STOCK EXCHANGE.' j [BY TELEGRAPH. PRESS ASSOCIATION.] ' Dhnedin, Wednesday. | Dunedin Stock Exchange sales at pre-1 miums: Aldinga, 7s; Bailer Junction, 6s t: 6d; Grand Junction, 7s; Grey River Con- \ solidated, 4s 6d; Hokitika, River, 12s; [ Maori King, Is 6d; Mosquito, 2s 9d, 2s i 10_d; Notown Creek, 6s; Pactolus, 33s 6d, ! 335; Victory, lis. Paid-up: Dobson, 11., ; 3ls, 30s 6d; Eclipse, 35s ; Ford's Creek, 15s, '■ 14s 9d; Gibb's Beach, 14s 9d ; Gold Queen, 31s 3d, 31s 6d ; Grey River, 545, 54s 6d, 545. 54s 6d, 545; Inch Holme, ss; Kelly and Casey, 31s: Magnetic, 31s; Metallic, 245; Moa Flat, 22s ; Mokoia, 25s 9d, 26s 6d; Nelson Creek, 71s, 71s 6d, 695, 68s 6d ; New Alexandra, 18s 3d, 18s 6d, 18s; Sailor's Bend, 39s 6d, 39s 3d; Waipuna, 245, 23s 9d, 235, 22s 6d. Otago Exchange sales at premiums: Bendigo, ; Erickson'sßeward, 7s 9d. Paid-up: Charlton Creek, 35s 6d: Electric, 49s 9d, 50s; First Chance 28s; Merrimac, 36s 6d; Upper Magnetic, 335; Vincent Extended, 44s 9d. Equitable Exchange sales at premium: Trafalgar, lis 9d. Paid-up: Electric Extended, 395; Monte Christo, 34s 6d. A NEW GOLD SEPARATOR. An American exchange publishes a description of a new invention, recently constructed in Washington, D.C., which it is stated may double the world's output of gold, and revolutionise the present methods of separating gold from crushed quartz, and particularly '- from river, beach, and 1 placer sands. Such is the confidence placed ] in the: new invention that hundreds ;of thousands'of dollars are stated to. have beep,-. | invested in it. The inventor is Professor. Elmer Gates, whose process is thus explained :—" The whole secret lies in removing from the gold-bearing sand the magnetic iron (known as 'magnetite'), which such stuff always contains, as a preliminary to separating the gold. Under ordinary circumstances the sand, poured, with water, through a long trough called a ' sluice box,' is separated by gravity from the gold, the latter sinking to the bottom of the trough by reason of its greater weight, and then being caught in crosswise slots, from which it is afterward removed. The chief difficulty I in this process is due to the magnetite, ! which, being nearly as heavy as the gold, | collects in the slots, or riffles, and chokes | them up. This obstacle is overcome, how--1 ever, by the new machine, which not only a removes every particle of the magnetite | from the sand, but works wet sand under | water. It handles moist or soaking wet I sand as easily as dry. The machine may l be stood conveniently on a small table, and | easily operated by hand with a crank. Or- | dinarily, however, an electric motor furnishes the trilling power required. The I apparatus consists of a copper drum, about j as big as a good-sized toy drum, inside of ! which is a powerful electro-magnet. The ! core of the magnet consists of a bunch of i iron plates, with fluted edges, on the pole face of one end, likewise within the drum, but which approach their fluted edges close to the inside of the copper periphery of the ' latter. What is seen from the outside is 1 simply the drum, which conceals the magnet I and corrugated pole face plates, and a sort j of hopper above, into which the sand is poured. Small as the machine is, it is I capable of handling in this way 110 tons of sand in a day, sifting out every particle of magnetite from that quantity of the raw \ material. As the sand is poured into the 3 hopper it falls through it and against the \ side of the revolving dram. The drum, ; thanks to the magnet inside of it, draws I every particle of the magnetic iron out of | the sand, and holds it tightly against the outside of the revolving copper drum, while the sand—that is to say, the silicious parI ticles and dirt—drops straight down into I a receptacle beneath the table. The particles of iron while magnetically held against the drum are moved downward by it over the wavy lines of force of the fluted magnet face, and vigorously shaken to and fro so as to detach all foreign matter. It picks the attracted sand into thousands of pieces, j and shakes out the non-magnetic sand. This - is one of the prime features of the machine. | It w,ill he "understood that the sslicious \ sand is not attracted by the magnet,- and on that account falls vertically, whereas the particles of iron, which look like iron filings, stick fast to the drum in rapidly oscillating bunches, until they drop off by their own weight into another receptacle. As a result, all the iron (magnetite) is in I one box, and the sand and other non-mag-netic stuff in another box, In practical mining work the gold (which is non-mag-netic) would be left in with the silicious Is mining work the gold (which is non-mag-netic) would be left in with the silicious sand, which subsequently would be put through the ordinary washing or amalgamating processes, for the purpose of separatI ing out from it the yellow metal. The magnetite once removed, the separation of the gold fron\ the sand from many mines becomes comparatively easy—so much so, indeed, that, as above stated, two to five times as from it the precious metal is demagnetite once removed, the separation of the gold fron. the sand from many mines becomes comparatively easy—so much so, indeed, that, as above stated, two to five times as much of the precious metal is derived from a given quantity of the raw material. To remove the magnetite by means of the apparatus described costs only three cents for each 'ton of sand treated. Professor Gates has just obtained a number of _ patents on still other processes for separating gold from placer or beach sand, which do away with the washing, amalgamating and leaching processes, and save all the gold of any degree of fineness. The hydromagnetic separator described above does not separate gold, but by removing the magnetite enables ordinary washing and sluicebox methods to save from two to five times more gold. Even then, from 20 to 30 per cent, of the gold is lost, because it floats I away on the water. These new gold separating machines just patented, and which Professor, Gates is now perfecting, save nearly all the gold, 'and they do this without sluice boxes, mercury, or leaching..

AUSTRALIAN MINING.

BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY CO. (LIMITED). The directors of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (Limited), New South Wales, in their report for the half -year ending November 30 last, presented to the meeting of

shareholders,, held on January 25, stated that 3 the .'quantity of ere raised during the period j under review showed a very substantial in- j crease over the previous half-year, the out- | put representing a total, both from under- i ground and the opencut, of 293,451 tons, or I an average: of 11.286 torts per week. Of this I quantity 210,808 tons went direct to the j concentration plant, against 161,847 tons | . for the previous six months. This increase . in the tonnage treated had resulted in an appreciable reduction in working costs, and § the percentage of recovery had been much J | better. The sinking of Del prat shaft, now | ! down to a depth of 283 ft, would be of con- | siderable assistance in relieving Stewart | i shaft, from which at the present time prac- j tically the whole output of the mine was raised. A large amount of exploratory and j preparatory work had been proceeded with, j the results being satisfactory as proving! further considerable ore bodies. The gross j profit for the half-year amounted to £167,795 > 19s 6d, which, after deducting £40,953 ■'4s lOd for depreciation upon the 'various plants, left a net profit of £126,842 14s Bd. The | j sum of £21,399 16s 4d had be.m expended in ] construction; ,and two dividends, together '■ j amounting to 2s 6d per share, or £120,000 in all, had been distributed amongst share- [ holders. After making due provision for [ j all outstanding liabilities, there remained j j liquid assets, in cash, bullion, and other conj vertible stocks, representing a total value of j £454,607 12s sd, inclusive of the reserve and j insurance funds. . ■ |