Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c26.s8.7

v1.c26.s8.7

In 1730, William Champion of Warmley (near Bristol, England), started experiments on making zinc metal from calamine by the reduction-distillation route. In 1738, he applied for a patent and in 1743, he commenced production of zinc. Morgan (1981), a modern expert of Imperial Smelting Processes (ISP) Ltd., wonders how such ‘a remarkable achievement was completed in so short a time’. Both Morgan as well as Craddock et al. (1985: 52) noted that: “Champion was notoriously close with details to Indian process at Zawar; possibly a third party described the general principle of the process to Champion”.