in the first place is to
free it from the waters of crystallisation and to burn all organic
matter out of it. When it leaves the furnaces, it is turned out to
cool in a large space, between the furnaces and the chlorinising
barrels. When it has sufficiently cooled, it is taken on an inclined
tramway to the hoppers connected with the chlorination barrels, in
which the gas is generated by mingling chloride of lime with sulphuric
acid. Water only is added, and the barrels, which are perfectly
air-tight, are kept revolving until the gold is thoroughly
chlorinated, or, to speak plainly, put into a fluid state. Each barrel
contains a charge of about a ton of ore, and it is possible to get
through twelve charges in the twenty-four hours.

[Illustration: Mount Morgan]

'The period for which the barrels are made to revolve averages one and
a half hour. When this operation is over the contents of the barrels
are discharged into draining-vats, from whence the water and the
gold, put into a state of solution, are drained into charcoal filters
below. Charcoal possesses such an affinity for the chlorine that the
gold is rapidly deposited, and the charcoal is so laid in these
V-shaped filters that the golden fluid passes through layers,
gradually becoming finer towards the bottom, and thus practically all
the gold that is dissolved by the chlorine gas in the barrels is
caught in the charcoal. So effectual is the process that the refuse
from the draining-tubs will not assay more than a pennyweight or a
pennyweight and a half to the ton, while the water which drains off
from the charcoal filters is pumped back and goes through the process
a second time. The contents of the charcoal filters are conveyed
straight to the smelting-works. There the charcoal on which the gold
has been precipitated is first roasted in furnaces, and the residuum
smelted in the usual smelting-pots. After this it is run into ingots
of the purest gold.

'Chlorination was originally attempted in the United States. It has
been perfected at Mount Morgan. By the ordinary crushing and washing
process one ounce to the ton would be extracted from the rock quarried
at Mount Morgan. By chlorination every particle of gold is extracted.
The product sometimes reaches 17 oz. per ton. The average may be taken
at 5 oz. Half an ounce would cover expenses.'

The day turned out lovely, and if my cough had not been so bad, I
should have enjoyed the drive down from Mount Morgan