I have been concerned with ferrous slags.  I would encourage you to ask the
arch-metals list for help on sources and who could help with analysis.  Most of
the members are european, but there are some Americans.

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A very helpful group of both interested amateurs and specialists.  A couple of
sources I am aware of that cover  copper and lead slags:

Bachmann, Hans-Gert
 1982 The Identification of Slags From Archaeological Sites.  Institute of
Archaeology Occasional Publication No. 6.  University of London, London.

And Tylecote's many works.  However, Tylecote is primarily medieval and earlier.

Tylecote, R. F.
 1962 Metallurgy in Archaeology: A Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British
Isles. Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., London.
 1976 A History of Metallurgy.  The Metals Society, London.
 1986 The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles.  The Institute of
Metals, London.
 1987 The early history of metallurgy in Europe.  Longman, London and New York.

Tylecote, R. F., J.M. Austin, and A.E. Wraith
 1971 The Mechanism of the Bloomery Process in Shaft Furnaces. Journal of the
Iron and Steel Institute 209:342-363.

Tylecote, R. F. and Joan Day (editors)
 1991 The Industrial Revolution in Metals,  The Institute of Metals, London.

Tylecote is readily available.  Bachmann is a bit harder to find.  You might
also want to try an get a copy of John Percy's 1860s volume on lead smelting.
The Historical Metallurgy Soc. did a reprint about 10-15 years ago and and still
had some a few months ago.  You might well find a detailed description of the
equipment used at your site, including plates!

Good Luck
Jamie Brothers


Carl Barna wrote:

> Hi -
>
> On the subject of slag -
>
> Has anyone on this list had expierence with trying to differantiate between
> slag, matte, speise and cottrell participatates  on the ground at
> turn-of-the- century copper or lead mining sites?
>
> Does anyone know which texts on slag were being referred to here or can
> anyone send me an example of how slag analysis program has been handled and
> by whom?
>
> Carl Barna
> Regional Historian, BLM