pyrites and heavy sands

[XLV]

got a question ....what a good place to have samples tested to see if theres gold trapped in the pyrite or sands ,,, as what jeff willams says over a oz a ton is profitable ,,,,,am not a miner just into metal detecting .... gold is mined small scale 20 miles from the site am at .....the site am at has a few thermal vents and one river at the base of the vents .....some of the rocks near the vents are covered with a dark green material and about 10% of the rocks bleed what looks like rust ....copper was once mined 30 miles from this site and any information would be helpful .....

 

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[winners58]

Gold usually isn't trapped in black sands, there have been cases like ancient beach placers where the gold
is locked in a concretion, and would recover more gold if they run the heavy's through a hammer mill.
I've also heard of a Clarkson study using a rod mill to flatten the fine gold to improve capture.
best way is get all the fine gold is with classification -30, -50 and -100 mesh screens then pan, blue bowl, or miller table.
Rare Earth elements, chromium, osmiridium could be something that would be of value but would need an assay.
here is a more realistic article;
https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/black-sands-assay-and-content-processing

 

[XLV]

thank you winner58 ive read that in the past .....i guess good old mercury the answer

 

[winners58]

sounds like you are in an interesting area, explore, high-grade some grab samples.
have some assay's done, check the local geology dept. to find someone in the area for assays.
as far as getting the values from large amounts of black sands once you find a PPM that would be worth it.
treat it like Ore, and could use a cement mixer with some river rock then run it on a shaker table.
if you have something promising I know of several people that run 100lb samples might find some milling sites in your area.
finding some free gold in your sampling is the first step, crush and pan...