DURING 1893 when mining manager for the Mount Reid Silver Mining Co., West Coast, Tasmania, I made bulk tests of the ores on that mine for gold, silver, lead and copper. Having a small two head crushing battery on the mine with stampers, each 86 lbs. weight, driven by an over shot water wheel, 7 feet diameter and 18 inches breast, I determined to put a quantity of the oxidised capping of the Company's large sulphide lode through this battery to obtain its value for gold. When breaking into the lode capping we frequently found that only a few inches below the surface we would come across the unaltered sulphides completely surrounded by the oxides. The lode was of a very complex nature, and contained sulphides of iron, copper, zinc and lead, in intimate association with small quantities of antimony and bismuth and it became evident to me that amalgamation with mercury would not be successful in saving the gold in the ore, owing to the presence of substances which would quickly sicken the quicksilver.