C G Warnford Lock

Sulphur and its Extraction C G Warnford Lock

THE following notes relate exclusively to native sulphur (brimstone). Though the amount of sulphur annually rained in the form of sulphides of various metals (e. g., iron and copper pyrites, galena, blende, etc.) probably far exceeds that obtained in the uncombined state, still, the separation of the sulphur in an inoxidized condition from such compounds is never attempted, for the simple reasons that, in the processes for extracting the several metals from their ores, the first step necessary is the elimination of the combined sulphur, which is most easily effected by a roasting or oxidizing operation, whereby the sulphur is at once converted into sulphurous acid, itself a valuable commodity, and, moreover, capable of being readily oxidized one step further to form sulphuric acid, the chief purpose for which sulphur is consumed. There are two mines of sulphur worked in Austria-Hungary, one not far from Cracow, and the other at Radoboi in Croatia; both deposits are of considerable extent, but the annual yield is insignificant. The whole district around Mount Büdös, in Transylvania, is rich in sulphur. Some thirty or more diggings have been undertaken in a circuit of eighteen miles, but the area covered by the deposits is more than three times this size. The sulphur occurs in unequal strata one to nine inches thick, beneath one to three feet of mold. The soil is everywhere saturated with sulphur, and in this permeated earth pieces of the pure mineral are found. The whole is the result of living solfataric action, and the accumulation will continue to grow as long as that action survives. Samples of the impregnated earth, taken over an area of 16,000,000 square fathoms, yielded from forty-one to sixty-four per cent of sulphur. Allowing for interruptions in the deposits, and taking these at an average thickness of three inches instead of nine, the total sulphur output of the Austrian Empire, in 1863, was 1,754 tons, at an average rate of £12 15s. per ton. The imports are about five thousand tons per annum. Large quantities of sulphur are found in and about the crater of Gunong Api, in the Banda Islands, and attempts have been made to collect it for exportation. It is said, however, that the labor of ascending the mountain is too great to render the speculation profitable. Sulphur is one of the most important products of Formosa. When taken from the mine, the ore is boiled in iron pans till it assumes a treacly consistence. This is constantly stirred till every impurity is separated from the sulphur, which is then ladled out into wooden tubs, shaped like sugar-loaves. In these it is left to cool, and the conical cakes are freed from the tubs by the simple process of knocking out the bottoms of the latter.