Shiny Rock to Silver Bars lecture given by Donovan Symonds

Park City Museum and Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History will host a lecture called Shiny Rock to Silver Bars given by Donovan Symonds on July 12th from 5-6 p.m. at the Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.

The talk will explain how the ores that were mined in Park City were crushed, concentrated, sampled, transported and finally smelted into silver, lead and gold bars. The difference between milling and smelting will be explained. Practical demonstrations and videos will explain the processes involved in sorting the ores into concentrates and tailings. The early prospectors used simple sorting methods, and these will be compared against the more complex processes used in the Silver King and California Comstock mills, the only two mills still standing in Park City. The smelting process was predominantly conducted in large furnaces in the Salt Lake valley although Park City did have some early smelters. A brief description of the smelting process will be presented.

Donovan is a long-time resident of Park City. He moved here in 1977. He is a retired consulting mining engineer specializing in mineral processing. He holds a degree in mining engineering from Newcastle University in England and a PhD in gravity concentration from Nottingham University. He has enjoyed being a museum docent for about 15 years and has organized the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History lecture series for the last few years.