Peter,
You might want to look at our website (www.derbyscc.org.uk) as Henderson (I
presume the same one) worked for the Alderley Edge Mines in the 1860s.
There is a series of letters by him in the Mining Journal in 1860 and I have
transcribed them. I have also produced a diagram of the process from the
information in his letters. The transcription of his letters is available
on our website at http://www.derbyscc.org.uk/alderley/mining_process_4.htm
(look in the first paragraph of this page). I have also put a short
biography of Henderson at
http://www.derbyscc.org.uk/alderley/history_biographies.htm#wh but you will
see that I had no information about him after 1863 but your e-mail suggests
that he may have been elsewhere selling the process. I would be most
interested to receive further information (off-line if you prefer to
[log in to unmask]) to add to the biographical note that I have put
on-line.
Regards,
Nigel
[log in to unmask]
(*** Please change your address book to use this e-mail address if you have
not already done so. ***)
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Peter Bell
Sent: 17 October 2008 08:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Henderson Process
I am seeking information about Henderson plants. In 1860 William
Henderson of the Tharsis company in Glasgow patented a process for
extracting copper from pyritic ores by roasting the sulphide
concentrate with common salt to form copper chloride in solution, and
then precipitating copper metal out onto scrap iron. The best
description I have seen is in Manuel Eissler's Hydro-Metallurgy of
Copper (1902), which says the process was "largely employed in
Europe", which I think means Spain, the UK and perhaps Norway.
I am investigating the remains of a Henderson plant which operated at
Kapunda in South Australia from about 1866 to 1877. The ruins are
fragmentary, and the site is very difficult to interpret. I have a
feeling such plants were probably built to a standard plan drawn by
Henderson, so the remains of one may help to understand others. Can
anyone guide me to photographs, plans, other documents or site
remains of Henderson plants anywhere else in the world?
Peter Bell
|