Excerpt from A Handbook of Gold Milling Of practical experience for the most part - to carry out the duties of amalgamator, reduction officer, or mill man, these being the various names by which this post is designated in various parts of the world - the very divergence in nomenclature serving to show how very recently the need for and existence of such a trade have come to be recognised. Under these circumstances it is hardly to be wondered at that the technical education of the mill-man still leaves much to be desired, and the main object of the present volume is to impart so much of such technical instruction in his duties as can be included within the covers of a book. Incidentally it is hoped that it may also prove of service to managers and managing directors of mines, not only by showing them the most general causes of loss both of money and material in gold-milling, and by indicating the readiest means of preventing such loss, but also by pointing out to them what are the essential portions of a mill-man's duty and to guide them in selecting a duly qualified man for this onerous post, upon the proper filling of which the prosperity of a mine is so largely dependent. For whilst it is quite true that no one can make a poor mine into a good one, the converse of the proposition is unfortunately by no means impossible; and it is an undoubted fact that there is in existence to day a large number of mines which would give far. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.