The Metallurgy of Silver Vintage Mining mines 1899 FA

Hhmmmnnn ! Does this book really exist ? The phrase "Lixibation" is not found in the English dictionery. Maybe they meant to say, "lixiviation", meaning "to leach".

Bob (always skeptical about stuff on ebay) Swinney

I'm very much interested in the subject but was looking for something written this century that addresses modern methods, environment, safety, etc.

Likely a spelling error. From google books

The extraction of silver from ores bears little in common with refining. That's not to say you couldn't be enlightened by the book, but it likely will have little content that is "how to" where refining is involved. It's not a well published field, and what little you'll discover is likely to be information beyond that which would help you to learn the refining process.

Harold

Doesn't the concentrating/smelting process depend on what type of ore? ie oxides vs sulfides? I have property in old silver mining country and some of the good ores went 900 oz to the ton and were fluxed via galena without any concentration.

The lower grades were concentratedt in floatation cells then smelted. I think those old miners were really just a bunch of mad chemists...

ED

snip----

Indeed it does. Oxidized ores can be directly reduced by smelting----unlike sulfide ores. It is normal practice to oxidize sulfide ores by roasting to liberate the sulfur. That was the source of SO2 in the air when I was a boy, living in Midvale, Utah, where a silver and lead smelter ran until the late 50's.

The value of the galena in your ore was for the resulting lead to act as a collector (after roasting to oxidize the ore) of the silver, assuring a good recovery of silver from the gangue. That was pretty much the accepted practice in the old days. Molten lead acts as a solvent, dissolving silver and other elements well below their melting temperatures. Needless to say, it became a part of the values when metals were marketed.

Harold