The apparatus in the background is that in which the steam is generated, and which, in combination with the due proportion of atmospheric air, is first superheated in passing through the hearth or bed on which the fire is supported. The superheated steam and air under pressure are then forced through the fire, which is automatically maintained at a considerable depth, by which means the products of combustion are mainly hydrogen and carbonic oxide. These gases are then conveyed by means of the main and branch pipes to the cylindrical apparatus in the foreground, into which the ore to be acted upon is driven under pressure by means of the gases, which, being ignited, raise the ore to a high temperature. The ore is maintained in a state of violent agitation. Each particle being kept separate from its fellows is consequently very rapidly acted upon by the gases. The ore freed from its refractory constituents is then fed into a vessel containing the fluid metal, in which each particle of ore is separated from the others, and being acted upon by the fluid metal is absorbed into it, the tailings or refuse passing off freed from any gold which may have been in the ore. [Illustration: APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF REFRACTORY ORES.] Quantities of refractory ores treated by this process are said to have demonstrated that the whole of the gold in the ore is extracted. The successful outcome of these trials is stated to have resulted in the Anglo-French Exploration Co. acquiring the right to work the process on the various gold fields of South Africa. It is anticipated that the process will thus be immediately brought to a test by means of apparatus erected on the gold fields under circumstances and conditions of absolute practical work. As is well known, gold-bearing ores in South Africa which are below the water line are, by reason of the presence of sulphur, extremely difficult to deal with, and are consequently of small commercial value. The gold in these ores, it is maintained, will, by the new process, be extracted and saved, and make all the difference between successful and unsuccessful mining in that country.