BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING, 



513 



Memorandum of one of thirty-seven large experiments at the Cwmheisian 

 Mines, in 1854 : — 



Experiment No. 7.— A. bulk of four and a-half tons of metalliferous minerals 

 quartz, &c, was triturated in forty4wo pounds of mercury. The result was 

 without amalgam. The mercury was of the consistency of paste, ten pounds 

 of which, on distillation, gave seventy grains of residual metal, which con- 

 tained 18.4 grains of gold. 



A qualitative analysis of this metal gave gold, silver, lead, mismuth, zinc, 

 arsenic, and traces of copper and iron. 



The distilled mercury contained traces only of zinc and arsenic. 



Eight samples of ore were taken from the same heap as the above four and 

 a-half tons, and qualitative analyses made. The results were, silica, lime, 

 magnesia, alumina, oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, copper, zinc, sulphur, 

 antimony, arsenic, gold, silver, and in three samples carbonic acid. 



It had been proved before the experiment, and has since been proved, that 

 there were several ounces of the " Royal Metal" in the bulk operated upon ; 

 but the quicksilver, in that instance, as in many others, became sportive, 

 neglected royalty, and took up with " associates" of less dignity, although, 

 intrinsically, of more real utility. 



This, however, was anything but the result expected. 



At the Dol-y-frwynog Mine, about two years afterwards, Sir Charles Price 

 erected machinery, at a great cost, for the extraction of gold by amalgamation. 

 Several hundreds of tons were operated upon ; but the machinery itself being 

 only a bad imitation of that used at the Cwmheisian Mines, the result was a 

 failure equally provoking. 



Of all the gold localities of this district, at the present time, the mine in 

 the Clogau Mountain is the most interesting, as it is the most profitable. The 

 Clogau Mine, as it is called, is situate at an elevation of one thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. The " Saint David's," or " Gold Lode," is the 

 most remarkable feature of this mine. 



The direction of this lode is nearly east and west, and is almost perpen- 

 dicular. It is about three feet wide, and is composed of quartz impregnated 

 with sulphides of copper, lead, iron, and occasionally telluric mismuth, with 

 much native gold, which is generally distributed in minute particles throughout 

 the quartz, but very frequently in rich strings or bunches. A shallow adit 

 has been driven on this lode about twenty fathoms, and a winze sunk to within 

 a few fathoms of a deeper adit, which has been driven from the north about 

 forty-eight fathoms, and touches the gold lode a few fathoms further east than 

 the forebreast of the shallow adit. 



This lode is at the junction of the Cambrian sandstones and the Lingula- 

 flags of the Lower Silurian rocks, and was worked many years since, and a 

 large quantity of what was then called " poor copper-ore" raised and sold. 

 More of it was requested by the Flintshire smelters at an advance of five 

 shillings per ton ! 



It is a singular fact that, in 1854, the grass-grown refuse of this "poor 

 copper-ore" was examined, and large stones were found showing positively the 

 presence of native gold in extraordinary quantity. Many of the stones 

 weighed several pounds, and had gold disseminated throughout. The author 

 was once told by an eminent gentleman in London, who ought to have known 

 better, that getting the gold into the stones was " an ingenius contrivance 

 betwixt a jeweller and a watchmaker." 



One specimen of this " refuse" in particular, containing a large quantity of 

 gold associated with telluric-mismuth, has the mark of a boring-iron, which 

 has passed quite through the solid gold. 



Some of this "refuse ore" was put to the test by Mr. J. C. Goodman, and, 

 VOL iv. 3 L 



