The tailings
passing off, worthless, are conveyed to the dump.
The apparatus in the background is that in which the steam is
generated, and which, in combination with the due proportion of
atmospheric air, is first superheated in passing through the hearth or
bed on which the fire is supported. The superheated steam and air
under pressure are then forced through the fire, which is
automatically maintained at a considerable depth, by which means the
products of combustion are mainly hydrogen and carbonic oxide. These
gases are then conveyed by means of the main and branch pipes to the
cylindrical apparatus in the foreground, into which the ore to be
acted upon is driven under pressure by means of the gases, which,
being ignited, raise the ore to a high temperature. The ore is
maintained in a state of violent agitation. Each particle being kept
separate from its fellows is consequently very rapidly acted upon by
the gases. The ore freed from its refractory constituents is then fed
into a vessel containing the fluid metal, in which each particle of
ore is separated from the others, and being acted upon by the fluid
metal is absorbed into it, the tailings or refuse passing off freed
from any gold which may have been in the ore.
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