Patio Process

The patio process was a process used to extract silver from ore. The process was invented by Bartolomé de Medina in Pachuca, New Spain (Mexico), in 1554. The patio process was the first process to use mercury amalgamation to recover silver from ore. It replaced smelting as the primary method of extracting silver from ore at Spanish colonies in the Americas. Other amalgamation processes were later developed, importantly the pan amalgamation process, and its variant, the Washoe process. The silver separation process generally differed from gold parting and gold extraction, although amalgamation with mercury was also sometimes used to extract gold.

Read more about Patio Process:  Development of The Patio Process, Basic Elements of The Patio Process, Broader Historical Significance

Famous quotes containing the word process:

    You can read the best experts on child care. You can listen to those who have been there. You can take a whole childbirth and child-care course without missing a lesson. But you won’t really know a thing about yourselves and each other as parents, or your baby as a child, until you have her in your arms. That’s the moment when the lifelong process of bringing up a child into the fold of the family begins.
    Stella Chess (20th century)