Sulphide Question

Assembler

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May 10, 2017
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Excellent looks like some of the deposits are close together or large enough for one to use a gold detector. Sure beets a pile of rusty rock and a empty poke right. Thank you for posting the pictures.
Yes some people think the gold detector is not useful yet look what you are finding with your gold bug.
Yes the Falcon is slow and tedious to use.
It appears that you have little trouble finding some values at times on the claim with a gold bug detector. Not everyone has grounds like this and may have to use a tedious Falcon metal detector to start finding any values. However some of the old timers could not use much in the way of metal detectors like we can today. Thanks again for the picture as this can give everyone some hope out here.
 

SaltwaterServr

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Mar 20, 2015
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That would be 1094 ounces of gold per ton. That's a fantasy figure anywhere in the world. In New England? Pure BS.

A lot of failed mining ventures were financed on claims of this level of recovery. When you see these sorts of numbers thrown around it's time to grab your wallet and RUN! I had to advise some potential "investors" (suckers) of this simple fact just this morning.

IF there were such a rich aresnopyrite/gold deposit cyanidation would be required to extract the gold fraction. The cyanide recovery process wasn't even discovered until 1887 so a rich aresnopyrite mine producing more than 1,000 ozt in the mid 1800s would be an impossibility. Sometimes adding a few simple facts with common sense add up to an obvious case of mining "fact" as BS being foisted on the general public. In mining, as in so many other aspects of life the phrase "buyer beware" applies.

Heavy Pans

The most I've even ever read about in a legitimate sourced book is 15200 gpt which works out to 488 opt. That came from a sample in France and certainly wasn't anything more than that.

You could pull gold out of arsenic without cyanide but it would be a royal pain in the ass dealing with it prior to cyanide. You'd have to grind it down, roast the hell out of It, smelt it into a matte and then regrind before amalgamation. I wouldn't even want to wager how low the recovery rate would be.

I wish I could remember which mine owner said "the gold in the mine is in Arizona, but the money is back East."
 

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Clay Diggins

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Nov 14, 2010
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The most I've even ever read about in a legitimate sourced book is 15200 gpt which works out to 488 opt. That came from a sample in France and certainly wasn't anything more than that.

You could pull gold out of arsenic without cyanide but it would be a royal pain in the ass dealing with it prior to cyanide. You'd have to grind it down, roast the hell out of It, smelt it into a matte and then regrind before amalgamation. I wouldn't even want to wager how low the recovery rate would be.

I wish I could remember which mine owner said "the gold in the mine is in Arizona, but the money is back East."

Arsenic has a problem with roasting. The boiling point of Arsenic is 1137°F but the melt point is 1503°F. What this means is the Arsenic will vaporize before it reaches it's melt temperature. Heating Arsenic = Arsenic gas. The Arsenic component would have to be recovered, filtered and retorted to avoid killing the operators and everyone nearby. If you think cyanide is a problem try dealing with Arsenic vapor! :BangHead:

Commercially Arsenic in the ore incurs such a high penalty fee that there is very little Arsenopyrite/Gold ore that could be commercially extracted. As a policy refiners reject even minimal amounts of Arsenic in the ore. In other words no pro will refine your arsenopyrite ore.

This does illustrate a problem with complex ores and gold recovery by miners. A LOT of the minerals you encounter in mining are very dangerous if they aren't handled correctly. Simply adding a test leach or roasting ore samples has historically been the end for a lot of miners. That's why a good fire assay should always be the first step in any ore assessment. If you don't know what's in the ore you shouldn't be roasting or adding chemicals.

Be safe, stay alive. Educate Yourself and Prosper! :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

Assembler

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May 10, 2017
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Detector(s) used
Whites, Fisher, Garrett, and Falcon.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Most Assaying books will point out that in order to be labeled "Roasted dead" all the sulphur has to be burned out. This alone can be a large volume of gas compound just by itself. Not good to breath in at all. Add some arsenic and one can be dead fast.
 

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