The composition of the charge was 55 per cent. ore and roasted matte, 13 per cent. fluxes, and 32 per cent. slag. Coke used was 11 per cent. on charge, or 20 per cent. on ore smelted. Each furnace put through 10 to 15 tons of charge, or 7 tons of ore, in 24 hours. Eight men and two boys were required for each furnace, including slag handling and making up of the charge. The cost of smelting was 17 pesetas per ton of ore, which at the usual premium (£1 = 34 pesetas = $4.85) equals $2.43. This cost is divided as follows: Coke $1.47 Fluxes 0.04 Labor 0.65 Coal for power 0.10 General expenses 0.17 ————- Total $2.43 This $2.43 per ton includes all expenses of whatever kind. The iron carbonate flux contained lead and silver, which was not paid for. The fluxes are credited for the actual value of this lead and silver. Without making this discount, the cost of flux would amount to 26c. per ton, making the entire smelting cost come to $2.65. As an explanation of the low cost of labor, it may be noted that the wages were, for the furnace-man, 2.25 pesetas, or 32c. a day; for the helpers, 1.75 pesetas, or 25c. a day. The basis for purchasing the galena ore may here be given, reduced to American money; lead and silver are paid for according to the latest quotations for refined metals given by the _Revista Minera_, published at Cartagena. (The quotations are the actual value in Cartagena of the London quotations.) The following discounts are made: 5 per cent. for both silver and lead; $6.40 per ton on ore containing 7 per cent. Pb and below; this rises gradually to a discount of $7.75 per ton of ore containing 30 per cent. Pb and above. The transportation is paid by the purchaser and amounts to about $1.20 per ton of ore. The dry silver ores were cheaper than this and the lead carbonates much more expensive. LEAD SMELTING AT MONTEPONI, SARDINIA[59] BY ERMINIO FERRARIS (October 28, 1905) In dressing mixed lead and zinc carbonate ores by the old method of gradual crushing with rolls, middling products were obtained, which could be further separated only with much loss. Inasmuch as the losses in the metallurgical treatment of such mixed ore were reckoned to be less than in ore dressing, these between-products at Monteponi were saved for a number of years, until there should be enough raw material to warrant the erection of a small lead and zinc smeltery. In 1894 the lead smeltery in Monteponi was put in operation; in 1899 the zinc smeltery was started. At about the same time the reserves of lead ore were exhausted, and the lead plant then began to treat all the Monteponi ores and a part of those from neighboring mines.