292 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 
The lowest smelting cost per ton of ore was, I think, done at 
the British furnaces, on Proprietary ore, from the 1st of June, 
1894, to the 13th September, 1894. 
The quantities of ore smelted were as follows :— 
Carb. lead ore a i ... 4,358 tons net. 
Silicious iron and kaolin... poe oOo oD ‘5 
Manganic iron ore ... ee moe 219 be 
Sulphide ore... na =a wal 53 93 
26,085 net tons. 
Coke used, 3,801 tons, or 14:57 per cent. on the ore ; limestone 
used, 2,452 tons; coal used, 59 tons ; firewood, equal to coal tons, 
774 tons. 
The total cost of everything, including rent, water, coke, flux, 
coal, firewood, repairs, stores, light, salaries, assay expenses, and 
labour about the furnaces, was £24,214 Is. 11d. or 18s. 63d. a 
ton on the net ore. 
Manganic iron ore was good and plentiful, and, therefore, no 
ironstone had to be purchased, which, of course, materially helped 
toward the low cost of smelting. 
This year will probably see the last smelting done in Broken 
Hill, the Proprietary Company finding it to their advantage to 
carry their ores to Port Pirie where coal, coke, and fluxes are 
cheaper than at Broken Hill, and also of better quality. Low 
rates of freight offered by the South Australian Government have 
been one of the inducements, and with cheap and good concentra- 
tion of the sulphide ores, it costs less railage per unit of lead when 
in rich concentrates to send to Port Pirie than if it was first made 
into bullion. This is no inconsiderable item. 
he advantage of concentrating the smelting operations and 
lead-refining under one Superintendent will also be gained, for 
hitherto the Company had six furnaces at Port Pirie in addition 
to those at Broken Hill, necessitating a separate staff in each place. 
SMELTING LOSSES. 
In the absence of any reliable method of sampling the ore, the 
exact contents were never really known. ‘Grab samples” were 
the only means used to arrive at its value, taken from each mine 
truck as it reached the surface, and at the furnaces a man was 
kept on each shift to sample the ore.as it was smelted. It was 
the crudest method of sampling possible, and naturally the results 
were just as crude and useless. Had accurate means of sampling 
obtained, it would have been a great check on the furnaces and 
given the General Manager a lever which ‘he never possessed on 
the whole metallurgical department. Certainly it would have 
saved many thousands of pounds yearly. Accurate accounts were 
