WTH am I doing wrong?

Jeff95531 · Nov 17, 2016

As some may remember, my last outing was filled with lots of fines and not much else. Well, I left a half inch of water in the pan and waved the magnet. I set the magnetic black sands aside, panned the remains and found almost nothing.

Then, I got the loop and saw gold in black sands/black sands in gold and did it all over with the same results. I could not clean this up panning and it's the first time I've ever run into this. Crush is the only answer or

Gawd, it's small enuf as it is. IDK...just check out the load of fines the magnet pulled up with the black sands. Help! :icon_scratch:

(yes i use jet dry)

Underburden · Nov 17, 2016

Try mag'n it dry.

Jason in Enid · Nov 17, 2016

was it wet when you used the magnet? I magnet separate twice. A course separation under water, which also pulls some gold. Then I dry that those in the sun until THOROUGHLY dry and magnet separate again. Never push the magnet into the cons, hold it above and wave it back and forth to tease the magnetics out.

Jeff95531 · Nov 17, 2016

It was under a half inch of water and I skimmed the surface of the water. The pic you see is now dry and was wet when I dumped it into the pan. I'll magnet recovery it dry tomorrow and post up the results.

kcm · Nov 17, 2016

Spread your cons loosely in flat pans and dry thoroughly in the sun (make sure protected from strong wind, dogs, etc). Then run magnet over your cons again. This will separate most of the gold from the magnetite, but often a tiny bit of gold will remain. From there you just have to ask yourself if it's worth the extra trouble at the moment. But by no means get rid of your magnetite until you are CERTAIN you have no more use for them.....ever!

EDIT - You could also dry them in the oven, or pick up a cheap toaster oven at a thrift store or garage sale.

Hoser John · Nov 18, 2016

Think of a oreo cookie and your gold is the creamy center. Impossible to never catch fines. You can waste too much time, effort and dollars to get cents. Save in a bucket then treat chemically to get them fines all at once when you have a quantity. John

arizau · Nov 18, 2016

Classifying to smaller mesh size fractions and repanning each fraction separately may solve your problem.

devldog · Nov 18, 2016

Hoser, is this the same Hoser that used to post on TQ?

KevinInColorado · Nov 18, 2016

arizau said:
Classifying to smaller mesh size fractions and repanning each fraction separately may solve your problem.

Yes, this! Arizau, wise as always

Classify first (you were going to anyway right?!!) THEN use your magnet waving above the cons technique. This helps avoid the Oreo cookie problem. This way I often find zero gold in my magnetic after I dry and re-separate them later. I just classify to 8,30,50 and sometimes 100.

Jeff95531 · Nov 18, 2016

Kevin. My finest mesh is 40 and I used it. So maybe add a 60 and 80? I quess that if I do want it clean and want it bad enough, that's the answer. Maybe I'll save it up while I search for some used ones. Still gonna try what Jason said (dry) to see what happens.

John, GMTA :icon_thumleft:

IMAUDIGGER · Nov 18, 2016

My time and energy is a very valuable resource that I have to spend wisely. I'm sure this is the case for most people.

When in better paying ground, you will see that your time and efforts can be better spent washing additional pay gravel rather than screening, crushing, drying concentrates to recover a minuscule amount of gold that would otherwise be lost.

Gotta leave seed.

eyemustdigtreasure · Nov 18, 2016

I'm not a prospector, but I remember a drop of dish soap in your pan will help with your process.
New pan? Scour it some with gravels, rough it a bit should help. Old metal gold pans I'm told do better after
turning it over into a campfire for a short time helps those.

kcm · Nov 18, 2016

IMAUDIGGER said:
My time and energy is a very valuable resource that I have to spend wisely. I'm sure this is the case for most people.

When in better paying ground, you will see that your time and efforts can be better spent washing additional pay gravel rather than screening, crushing, drying concentrates to recover a minuscule amount of gold that would otherwise be lost.

Gotta leave seed.

I was assuming that working the cons was being done at home, in a controlled environment and without any time constraints.

goldenIrishman · Nov 18, 2016

Ok.... Where the heck did I put my phone?

Laz7777 · Nov 18, 2016

never have done this, not sure it would be worth the effort, but it's worth the time mentioning.
half and half mixture of cons and table salt, heated to red hot and water thrown on it when it is.
can't remember if this is for tellurides or sulfides, somebody help me out here.

goldog · Nov 18, 2016

I may be late to the conversation but are you sure there is gold? If you're sure, or even if you're not, can't you just tap/bump it out?

KevinInColorado · Nov 18, 2016

Jeff95531 said:
Kevin. My finest mesh is 40 and I used it. So maybe add a 60 and 80? I quess that if I do want it clean and want it bad enough, that's the answer. Maybe I'll save it up while I search for some used ones. Still gonna try what Jason said (dry) to see what happens.

John, GMTA

I agree on saving cons up (if you have 5-10 gallons worth, you'll more likely find it worth the cost of a full size classifier) and looking for a deal on a classifier. A 75 or 80 would be enough. They sell 6 inch classifiers for $5 so check that out now online or at a gold show.

Jeff95531 · Nov 18, 2016

goldog said:
I may be late to the conversation but are you sure there is gold? If you're sure, or even if you're not, can't you just tap/bump it out?

Definitely gold...just fines which are small but binding with the remaining magnetic black sands. I tried most everything but this time I could not separate it...which was a first for me. Bumping. slamming. rocking...it all stayed grouped together. GI (the other Jeff) called me today with some specific instructions and it all came out good. Pics and results to follow...

Jeff95531 · Nov 18, 2016

Well GoldenIrishman (the other Jeff) gave me a call and here's (kinda) how it went...

GI: wadda ya doing wrong?
me: going crazy trying to separate this :censored:

gold from the magnetics.
GI: Calm down GH (grasshopper) and I will show you the way...
GH: I want it now GI...how do I get it NOW?!
GI: You don't GH, you must first re-learn the patients of panning, but now using a magnet.
GH: Huh? Oh I get it...sweep the cons and the gold will remain...but it doesn't!
GI: Tell me GH, are the sands dry or wet?
GH: Dry....now you want me to wet them

GI: No GH, we can work with that. So first...you must learn to "tease" the sands.
GH:

You mean like "wax on...wax off?"
GI: NO! Not quick! Slow. Gradual. Methodical. Ok, picture this. You have your magnet in your plastic cup...right?
GH: Yep.
GI: K. Now find a sweet spot where you can move the magnet over the sands without collecting any sands...tease it and make it flow away. The tell tale sound tick tick tick means to dump and start over.
GH: K, I'm doing it. Starting over. No sand now...just dance.
GI: K, now begin to collect the smallest of possible samples from the widest spread out sands. (the thinner it's spread, the easier it is to clean up)
GH: K, I gotta light black sanding. Dumped it in the dish and saw only one small fine and all else black.
GI: Good! Now slowly repeat till done.

And so it went till there was no magnetics left. Just a little bit of blondes that panned away quickly. I'll let the pics tell the story...I used magnification where I could as this was some seriously small stuff! GIs method worked great and I recovered at least 95% or more of what I could not have had before. If I want I could go on and go it wet then dry again but no... I'm very happy with the results just as they are.