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INTRODUCTION <br />features to effect a separation of heavy (ore-bearing) from light <br />(gangue) minerals). Hand-sorting was common especially where large <br />amounts of primary metal such as native silver were produced. The <br />writer is informed that hand-sorting was the only concentration <br />carried out on the Smuggler mine site.16 No chemical processing <br />occurred in the concentrators. <br />Milling. In the context of Aspen and most other mining <br />districts in the late 19th century, mills and concentrators were <br />essentially equivalent. Milling amounted to crushing the ore to <br />free smaller-sized particles for concentration; again, no chemical <br />processing was involved. <br />Smelting, on the other hand, involved metallurgical <br />processing, either melting with a variety of fluxes by the <br />application of heat to separate metals from impurities (slag), or <br />by "roasting," heating of sulfide ores in the presence of excess <br />air (oxygen) and frequently other chemicals, to convert the <br />sulfides to different compounds more amenable to further smelting <br />or other chemical processing. The Holden Lixiviation Works, <br />located on the west bank of Castle Creek across from the west end <br />of Main Street, introduced true chemical processing to Aspen ores. <br />According to Henderson, this plant utilized a modification of the <br />Russell process to produce silver from complex silver sulfides." <br />This was the only chemical processing plant in Aspen. <br />Samplers were plants which separated small amounts of ore <br />directly from the mines or concentrates from the concentrators <br />prior to loading these materials into railroad cars for shipment to <br />smelters .18 They consisted of the mechanical equipment necessary <br />to effect the actual sampling, and they usually included a <br />laboratory to analyze the samples prior to delivery to the smelters <br />so that proper smelting procedures could be determined for each ore <br />shipment. Rail freight charges were also dependent on the value of <br />16 Personal communication with Stefan Albouy. <br />~~ HENDERSON PAPER 46. The Russell prOCeSS 1S itself a variation Of <br />the Patera process, which consists of a chloridizing roasting, leaching <br />with water to remove base metals, leaching with sodium hyposulfite for <br />silver, and the precipitation of silver by sodium sulfide; in the Russell <br />process, cuprous-sodium hyposulfite is used in addition to sodium <br />hyposulfite. <br />The Holden Lixiviation works operated from 1891 until the Silver <br />Panic of 1893. <br />1° At some samplers, such as the Brunton Sampler at Aspen, ore was <br />actually purchased, or brokered, from the mines before sampling and <br />shipment. At others, the sampling and loading function were carried out <br />on a contract basis with ore sales handled by the mining company. <br />Bruce A. Collins - XX1X - SMUGGLER BIBLIOGRAPEY <br />