Tailings and an abandoned mine.

[jza01701]

So, I would assume assaying a sample is going to be a common response to this thread.

I have a claim in Nevada that was an abandoned mine.

The tailings near the adit look to be mostly flour gold. The entire pile is filled with golden yellow fine materials.

I was planning on drywashing as there is zero water even to purchase within 30 miles.

I looked at photos of gold dust online; some are likely gold, the rest are likely scammers selling sand.

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this or personally pulled large amounts of flour gold out of tailings?

It just seems a little uncommon to me to see such a large amount of gold colored material in the sand and gravel tailings.

Thanks.

 

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[brianc053]

Before assaying, have you panned any of the material? A quick pan should tell you if it's gold or some other, lighter "yellow" material.
Personally I've never "seen" flour gold with my naked eye; it's usually mixed in with other materials - like black sand - that are much more prevalent, making the flour gold hidden.
But I've never worked on the tailings of an abandoned mine.
Good luck!
- Brian

 

[jza01701]

Thanks.

If you IM me I will send a pic. Jon

 

[sherm]

Wow, just read your post. Was wondering what the rock formation is in the mine to get flour gold. All the old mine tailings I've searched, are rocks the size of golf balls to basket balls. A drywasher is the right tool to use and Brian is right about panning first as the flour will show up in the pan. I've drywashed in Colorado and have about a half of a quarter ounce vial of flour gold. I mean this stuff is small, some like a needle point. To get this out of my pan, I would wet the tip of my finger and press down on the speck and with the vial filled to brim with water wipe the tip of my finger over the top allowing the speck to fall to the bottom. The old miners of yesteryear, to separate the gold dust from the dust, would hold the corners of a canvas/sailcloth and toss the material in the air, allowing the wind to blow the dust away in these dry climates. Then they would do their panning. Must have carried water a long ways. Wish I were there with. Hey! Good luck, Butch

 

[jza01701]

Its in the Nevada desert.....way out there.

Check back later today. I will format and post a pic. I do not know....the claim is now active again. I do not know how long it was abandoned. Its just the color of the tailings that has me asking questions. If it is flour gold, there sure might be a lot of it because its visible color.... Might be wishful thinking. It looks interesting enough for me to ask for opinions.

 

[jza01701]

Pic.

This pic is intentionally a little vague and I am a bit color blind. I have never seen tailings this color... It does not look like sand anywhere in the area and is a completely different color than anything above ground for miles. It came right out of the mine and everyone I show it to asks, "Why is that gold colored part there?" The sand and rocks on the surface are all grey color. I hear most of the gold in this part of Nevada is super small. In the original picture with a much wider view it is the only place for fifty miles this color. Its about 10 feet behind the mine entrance. So, let me know if it is uninteresting, interesting, or anything else. I will probably drywash about 30 yards of it and hope for the best. Thanks.

 

[brianc053]

Thanks for the picture, jza01701. It's super interesting, please don't get me wrong. I just suspect it's not a big mystery. I've learned from the more experienced folks here on the forum that a pan and a tub of water will answer a lot of questions about dirt very quickly. I'm going to assume that you're an experienced panner (if you're not, it's a skill you should acquire via practice and there are many threads on the forum about doing that). As an experienced panner, you'll know pretty quickly whether the material behaves like gold or like something else - yellowish sand, pyrite, some mineral that happens to have the yellowish color and has stained the material. There are probably dozens of explanations (sorry). The most likely one is not that the old-timers left a pile of gold lying around. (Again, sorry to speak the truth).

- Brian

 

[dave wiseman]

Wow, just read your post. Was wondering what the rock formation is in the mine to get flour gold. All the old mine tailings I've searched, are rocks the size of golf balls to basket balls. A drywasher is the right tool to use and Brian is right about panning first as the flour will show up in the pan. I've drywashed in Colorado and have about a half of a quarter ounce vial of flour gold. I mean this stuff is small, some like a needle point. To get this out of my pan, I would wet the tip of my finger and press down on the speck and with the vial filled to brim with water wipe the tip of my finger over the top allowing the speck to fall to the bottom. The old miners of yesteryear, to separate the gold dust from the dust, would hold the corners of a canvas/sailcloth and toss the material in the air, allowing the wind to blow the dust away in these dry climates. Then they would do their panning. Must have carried water a long ways. Wish I were there with. Hey! Good luck, Butch

.....It's called winnowing.

 

[Clay Diggins]

It looks like cyanide tailings. No health hazard but no gold either.

Did you see a concrete pad nearby like this?


Cyanide.

Heavy Pans

 

[Goldwasher]

Sulphides in that waste pile

 

[jza01701]

No. No concrete pad.

 

[jza01701]

If they are sulphides is it super complicated to attempt to process the waste pile for ore containing micron gold?

 

[jza01701]

Dry washer.

If its sulphide ore will I have much luck with a drywasher or could it expel any gold with the ore.... Thanks.

 

[pcampbell]

Honestly you're just going to have to pan the dirt like everyone already suggested. No one is going to be able to tell you specifics about your dirt based on a photo or two. If you know how to pan you will know if there is gold within a few minutes. If you don't know how to pan I suggest buying some flour gold or paydirt to pan at home. This will teach you the technique and also teach you what gold looks like first hand. Once you know what gold looks like it becomes very easy to identify out in the field.

Good luck.

 

[Goldwasher]

You said it is an active claim.

So, your just gonna have to move on and keep wondering.

I have seen hundreds of "yellow" waste rock piles in frond of mine portals. Typically a lot of sulphur. Normally silver mining areas with gold and copper as secondary minerals.

if it is claimed you are not allowed to test it.

When right at a portal it is typically just wast rock good place to look for specimins. typicall on hillside. Though in the desert vertical shafts are common and can have waste and ore piles nearby.

Large piles in flat areas could most likely have been leach piles like Barry showed look for relics, trash old wood. most likely a mill area.

Material that was moved from a deposit is considered abandoned and not locatable 99% of the time.

The finer the material the more likely it was processed in some way

 

[jza01701]

Thanks.

I am bilingual...Italiano. It is my own claim...no longer abandoned. I am trying to get info as I only travel the 3000 miles once per year. Jon

 

[jza01701]

Thanks. I am bilingual. Italiano. It is my own claim, active, no longer abandoned. Jon

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

So I can say without any doubt - your pile of yellow colored tailings is just that. Not even a remote chance that it is so laden with flour gold to give that appearance.

However, that does not mean it does not have gold in it. Since you have a load claim, have you read any of the geological reports for the surrounding area to get an idea of the nature of the mineral deposits? That's the first place I'd start, especially being 3000 miles away. You can easily throw together a very inexpensive re-circulating system and do some sampling while you are there. You don't need very much water and 30 miles is not very far to transport a 55 gallon drum of water (if you can drive to the claim). You can also bring a mortar and pedestal with you to crush up some rocks to see if they have gold in them. It is not uncommon to have piles of excavated rock laying around that was then not considered worthy of the effort, but today would more than qualify for ore.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I am bilingual...Italiano. It is my own claim...no longer abandoned. I am trying to get info as I only travel the 3000 miles once per year. Jon

If you are an Italiano and have no U.S. citizenship you don't have a claim. Mining claims are only for those who are U.S. citizens or those who have applied for citizenship.

It's fine for foreigners to prospect the public lands when allowed but foreigners have no right to make mining claim locations for the minerals they discover. 1872 Mining Act Section 1.

Heavy Pans

 

[jza01701]

I have XRF readings of this claim. There are a lot of different things there. Some of the ore in the adit is 2-3 oz. Au per ton. There is a lot of silver and many other things. It is a long list of materials. I do know what is in there. At that amount I was wondering what might be in the tailings as micron gold is common in Nevada. I will be there for four weeks canping this summer with a metal detector and dry washer. Jon