The Quicksilver mines of Almaden, Spain. 13 
38,551 quintals “ metal,” whi ins P. 0. = i rs quintals peety 
- 143,969 ia ga en 
6, 1095 ‘ bolas with soot, mie i ‘= re ig 2 
45, 985°5 “ bolas choot soot, = 511 “ = 9-349 , id 
Total quintals, 32°368 
us obtained, 16°101 
Loss, 16267. 
This loss of 50-25 per cent is equivalent to 21,689 flasks; or, 
the ore contained, by the above estimate, 13° 86 per cent and 
the amount of mercury obtained was 6° 96 per cent, 
Notwithstanding the cheap labor at Almaden, many items 
of cost are ph ay high; at 78 cts. per ton of water raised, 
the enormous sum of $17, 541 is expended in pumping by 
hand! At least one-third the effective force of the mine- 
laborers is wasted in the toil of climbing up and down from 
the entrance to the bottom of the mine, want of ventilation 
makin itional heavy tax on the productive power of 
the miners. The cost of fuel for the furnace is extravagantly 
high and its quality the poorest. 
The great feature of t is mine, in contrast with other mer- 
cury mines, is the enormous body of rich ores always in re- 
serve and ready for immediate extraction. careful meas- 
urement shows that 36 per cent of the vein has been left un- 
touched, equal to 2,012,600 cubic feet, which upon a moderate 
estimate must weigh 402, 520,000 Ibs. This at 7 per cent would 
give 375,685 flasks of quicksilver ; at ten per cent it would 
yield 536, 693 flasks, and at 14 per cent, 753,370 flasks of fe 
pounds each. This are makes no account of the grea 
body of extremely rich ores existing untouched between the 
9th and 10th floors of the Almaden mine. 
The very heavy are ite fuel, pumping, transportation, 
at a cost. not porn one-third of that now r incurred in the 
mines at New Almaden in California. 
