1326
of Calcera: copper , 11 per cent.; silver, 8 oz. —per(quintal) 100 lbs. Spanish of mineral.
[The mineral ores of lead and zinc of the Sierra deGador, near Guaclix, have been worked solely for thesake of the lead which they contain, in the proportion of15 per cent.; but it is now proposed to extract the zincalso, which is more abundant than the lead, particularlyin the mine of Leon de Plata.
The whole coast of Andalusia is rich in galenas; theprovince of Malaga yields this product mixed with pyriticiron and hych-oxidated iron, at Mijar. This mineral,which is fused in large Spanish reverberating furnaces,sells for about a franc per quintal. In the Sierra de Narja,in the same province, galena is found in beds, and inmasses, occurring in crystallized chalks. By fusion, ityields 40 per cent, of lead, of excellent quality. The ter-ritory of Morbella, which furnishes superior ores of mag-netic iron, contains also a rich deposit of argentiferousgalena, of nearly 50 metres (more than 160 feet) of ascer-tained thickness, in a transition formation. It gives 46per cent, of lead and 2 ounces of silver per quintal. Thisore is sold at 5 francs the quintal.
Linares contains a considerable deposit of lead, in theform of sulphuric earths, known in commerce under thename of alcohol. It is sold in this state to the potteriesof the country, for about 8 francs per quintal; and themetal, obtained by fusion, for 13 francs. Mixed ores,equal to those of Gador and Almagrera, above mentioned,are of frequent occurrence in Murcia—a province abound-ing in lead of several kinds, yielding silver in various pro-portions.
The mine of Parvenir yields sulphuretted leads, in con-tact with iron and pyritic copper. The ore, when separatedfrom the rock, is found to contain 60 per cent, of lead,and 2'58 ounces of silver per quintal. There are somecrystallized galenas, combined with blende and withpyrites, which yield no more than 14 per cent, of lead,and yet are worked at a profit, on account of their con-taining silver in the proportion of 2 ounces to the quintal.Carbonated leads are as abundant in this province ofMurcia as the sulphuretted leads. They yield 25 per cent,of lead and 1 ounce of silver, or 37 per cent, of lead and1'37 of silver.
In the collection there are galenas from the province ofSaragossa, equally rich in silver. The sulphuretted leadis sometimes found combined with antimony. The pro-portion, in ores that have been brought from the Ascensionmine, at Munebrega, are—22 per cent, of lead, 8 per cent,of antimony, and 2 ounces of silver per quintal.
In Catalonia there are numerous beds of sulphur oflead. The mines of Falset , near the village of Bclimun,in the province of Tarragona , have been worked from aperiod of remote antiquity. According to the metallurgicrichness of the veins from whence they are extracted, theseores sell at 38 or 40 reals the quintal. At Guipuzcoa , inthe Basque provinces, we meet with galena mingled withblende. At Lordia (canton of Berastegni), this mineral isfound superposed on spathic iron about 3 feet 3 inches indepth, in a bed of the average thickness of 2 feet, and inconsiderable blocks or masses. Another and neighbouringlocality, at Yizcoch, yields a similar mineral, as may beseen in the collection; and this ore it is proposed to digfor. When blende, in formations of this kind, becomesvery predominant, as happens at Miatzegorrieta, the mineis worked with a view to the yield of zinc only. Galenasare found in the same province, but nearer to the frontiers
of Prance, at Mocosorrote, Olaquineta, Alzarrote, Lastaola-bume, &c.
The carbonated and phosphated leads of the province ofZamora contain, also, sulphur of lead and antimony, witha small admixture of silver, in the proportion of Lead enters into this admixture in the proportion of 42 percent., and the veins are about 1 foot thick. The fusion isdifficult, on account of the antimony and the arsenic thatare combined in this ore. The Asturias are rich, likewise,in common and in argentiferous galenas. The associationcalled “ Union Asturiaelia” works the second kind only.The common varieties, although extremely rich (seeingthat some of these ores, such as that of the Cangas deTineo , contain 70 per cent, of lead), are not at present theobjects of mining adventure or operations. In the interiorof the peninsular, in the province of Salamanca , there areveins of sulphuretted and carbonated lead; but neither ofthese has yet induced the undertaking of any extensiveworkings. It is only in the potteries of the country thata small portion of the sulphur, which is sold for 50 realsthe quintal, is consumed. The smelted leads that are pro-cured in Murcia contain, generally, some silver, and this isseparated by cupellation. The quantity varies from halfan ounce to as much as 8 ounces per quintal of this metal.There are other kinds, derived from ancient scoria; andlitharge, which do not contain more than 5 ounces ofsilver per ton. In the “ Patlinson cauldrons” as they arecalled, they have introduced the method of crystallization.Leads which do not contain more than 30 ounces of silverper ton are concentrated till they yield 154 ounces. Thelast result of the continued crystallizing process givesleads with only half an ounce of silver per ton. Theleads elaborated in the foundry of Adra come from theSierra de Gador. The silver obtained from the furnacesof Almeria (the galenas of which fetch 240 reals thequintal), is exported almost entirely to foreign markets.A great proportion of it subsequently returns in the shapeof money, such as five-franc pieces, upon which the usualexchange in Spain (namely, a value of 19 reals) secures asure and ready profit.
The variety and richness of the ores of lead which arediffused through the soil of Spam are really astonishing.There is scarcely a single province of the monarchy inwhich they are not to be found in greater or less abund-ance ; whether the ore contain simply lead and sulphur,or be in combination with antimony, iron, or zinc, or, stillmore especially, with silver—as in many varieties of galenathat are excessively rich in this last metal.
The galenas of Almeria , of the celebrated Sierras ofGador and of Almagrera, are almost entirely of silver. Theyare sold in their rough state at from 40 to 240 reals thequintal. There are some—those of Padules, for example—■in which sulphur is mixed with carbonate, and there is nosilver. These sell for about 5 francs the quintal. Thelead extracted realizes about 55 reals. But there aregalenas, on the other hand, which contain sometimes apound of silver per quintal, and which are sold at a muchhigher price. The large mass that is to be seen at theExhibition comes from the rich vein of Juroso, in theSierra d’ Almagrera, and it contains, upon an average,13 ounces of silver per quintal, and 43 per cent, of lead.]