PROGRESS IN ELECTRO-METALLURGY—KERSHAW. | ID. 
have most important results upon the development of countries which 
have iron-ore deposits, but no coal with which to smelt the native ores. 
Lead.—Several attempts to introduce electrolytic or electro-thermal 
methods for the refining of lead have been made in America, and 
one such process was worked for some time upon a large scale at 
Niagara Falls, but the company financing this venture ultimately 
ended in liquidation. At the present time the Betts refining process, 
in which lead bullion or raw lead is used as anode material, in a bath 
of lead fluo-silicate, is in operation at Trail, British Columbia, and at 
Newcastle, England. The plant at Trail was enlarged in 1906, and 
consists of 240 vats, each 7 feet in length by 30 inches wide. When 
charged, each vat contains 20 anodes and 21 cathodes, and the ca- 
pacity of the plant is stated to be 90 tons of refined lead per day. 
The separation of the lead from the copper, bismuth, and cadmium 
contained as impurities in the raw lead, is reported to be almost 
perfect. Betts has recently proposed to introduce electro-thermal 
methods for smelting the lead ores, but these proposals do not appear 
to have yet been submitted to practical trial. 
Nickel.—Nickel is produced by electrolytic or wet methods, by 
three companies, and at Sault St. Marie, Canada, experimental trials 
have recently been carried out which show that ferronickel can be 
successfully extracted from the ores of the district by the Heroult 
electric smelting furnace. A permanent installation of the Heroult 
furnace at this place is therefore possible. As regards the electrolytic 
methods of extraction, the Hoepfner process is in use by the Allege- 
meine Elektrometallurgische Gesellschaft of Papenburg, Germany. 
The process depends upon the electrolysis of mixed solutions of cop- 
per, calcium, and nickel chlorides, these being obtained by leaching 
the roasted nickel ore with a solution of calcium and cupric chlorides. 
In America, the Orford Copper Company have recently com- 
menced to produce electrolytic nickel, using as anode material for 
the vats slabs of nickel sulphide. These are obtained by operation 
of the “ tops and bottoms” process for separating nickel and copper 
sulphides. The electrolyte is nickel-chloride solution, while thin 
sheets of pure nickel are used as cathodes. The electro-deposited 
nickel tests 99.5 per cent. 
A third electrolytic process in use at Sault Ste. Marie is stated to 
be the Hybinette process (United States patent No. 805969 of 1905). 
The electrolyte in this process is a dilute solution of nickel sulphate, 
to which a small quantity of boric or phosphoric acid has been added. 
The anodes are made from a ferronickel-copper alloy. The cathodes 
are thin sheets of copper inclosed in porous bags, and held in wooden 
frames to prevent buckling. The flow of fresh electrolyte is directed 
into the bags which contain the cathodes, and by maintaining a higher 
