Thyme oil

Underburden

Sr. Member
Mar 22, 2012
484
1,125
Idaho
Detector(s) used
Gold Hog Stream Sluice
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
You are the only source for the answer unless you want someone else to volunteer.
 

DizzyDigger

Gold Member
Dec 9, 2012
5,787
11,447
Concrete, WA
Detector(s) used
Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I've heard that oil will mess up panning even oil from your hands. What about hand sanitizer? Got some jugs that held sanitizer have I ruined my panning tub?

What's the connection between the sanitizer and your panning tub?
 

Bonaro

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2004
977
2,213
Olympia WA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 70, Minelab SD 2200d, 2.5", 3", 4"and several Keene 5" production dredges, Knelson Centrifuge, Gold screw automatic panner
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I am presuming you are asking if using hand sanitizer will impart a oil into your panning process.
Hand sanitizer is a mix of alcohol and either glycerin or Aloe. The alcohol is probably helpful but the others may be a problem. I would avoid using sanitizer when panning but its probably not a real issue. Just use dish soap to clean up your equipment and any oils should be removed
 

OP
OP
S

seafox

Full Member
Dec 5, 2015
106
50
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thank you I got some Cube containers that it held hand sanitizer made from a thymol oil from a friend and use the water in my tanning tub without thinking and then thought oh wait I've heard oil messes up panting thank you I will add dish soap and a surfactant and hope hope it's okay thank you again
 

Bonaro

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2004
977
2,213
Olympia WA
Detector(s) used
Minelab Xterra 70, Minelab SD 2200d, 2.5", 3", 4"and several Keene 5" production dredges, Knelson Centrifuge, Gold screw automatic panner
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Oil will readily coat gold. This is the mechanics of a flotation process because the oil will make the extremely fine gold (<200 mesh) float. If you have oil in your process you may lose some very fine gold because it will simply float out in the wash.
Keep in mind that one small flake is equal to thousands of specks and also it is impossible to catch it all, there will always be losses.
In my experience I have found that increased production volume at the expense of losing a little fines will give you far more gold in your vial at the end of the day.
Dont worry about it...shovel on
 

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