Flour gold question.

[Mine Shaft]

I am sure its been asked before but here it is again lol. When i pan my creek sand/dirt Mtr'l will the fine stuff stay in the bottom lip of the pan ? i am being very careful when i get to the black sand, thinking i seen some color moving around but i am not sure. I am new to this but did the "Knotts Berry Farm" gold test and it stayed right where it should of. Went out yesterday and got 40lbs of Mtr'l sure would like to see color in this batch lol. Thanks for any input.

 

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[nh.nugget]

Pictures, we need pictures show us what your material looks like in your pan when you get to the black sands. And what your trying to accomplish.

 

[Mine Shaft]

Ok lol, i got the magnifying glass out and a tooth pick so i can flip the very small speck over it looks like mica if thats what its called but i will get pics.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

See if it crushes with your finger. Smear it. Gold doesn't smear or break.

 

[Mine Shaft]

I only seen a couple specks but after watching some videos it looks like it will stay in the first lip. I will keep at it, u would think pan after pan after pan it would get old but its like the first pan you just never know lol.

 

[smokeythecat]

I bought one of those gold wheels, I was losing the tiny specs of gold! It works very well.

 

[WesternMassGold]

add a few drops of jet dry to your water ,then swirl the pan .
The gold will stay in one place, the mica will float around.
The purpose for the jet dry is to break the surface tension of the water so the gold doesn't float.
if you don't know if it's gold or Mica then just take a knife tip and push on it.if it breaks,it's Mica.
Hope that helps.

 

[Hamfist]

Also, if it glitters when it moves around in the pan, it's not gold. Gold will always maintain it's yellow brilliance, whether in shade or sunlight.

Get yourself a bag of paydirt that has guaranteed gold in it and you will be certain of what gold looks like in your pan.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Another trick is, suck the floating gold colored flitting pieces with an eyedropper and set them down in a clear spot in your pan. If they stay put and no longer move, it's gold.

Sometimes, the panning water will have dissolved gas that will form microbubbles on the gold and get it floating over the black sand like mica. The suction of the eyedropper will repressurize the bubble shrinking it, and the flow through the nozzle will wash it off the gold. Even Jet Dry won't stop this from happening.

 

[Mine Shaft]

Thanks for all the info, as mentioned in my post Knotts berry farm test, its real gold that i practice with and the gold stays where it should. I put 2 scoops of mtr'l in the pan and the gold its good practice. I will get out there with my sluice when it warms up.

 

[Jason in Enid]

LOL, that not flour gold! Those would be nuggets from the ground I work! Flour gold is exactly like the name implies, its the size of grains of flour. Yes, you can keep flour gold in the pan but its a lot harder and requires a bit of practice and perfect technique compared to the material in that picture.

 

[Mine Shaft]

I know lol, i was just commenting about the buy some pay dirt.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Now this is flour gold!

 

[johnedoe]

Now this is flour gold!

View attachment 1556419

Nope.... That ain't flour gold.... This is flour gold..... -100 mesh and smaller....

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Here's some more flour, John. Courtesy of the Snake. Most of it would squirt through 100 mesh...LOL

This was recovered with my "sweep" jig. Have 3 units about ready to ship.:-)
Jim

 

[Mine Shaft]

That's what i wanted to see thank you Jim & John.

 

[arizau]

Having read numerous posts and seen a number of pictures of what different people consider to be "flour gold" the various individual's definitions for it wildly vary from about 20 mesh (or even larger!) to minus 100 mesh which is five times smaller than 20 mesh and is probably close to the size of actual ground white wheat "flour". Just for kicks I googled and found this youtube video which graphically compares various gold specks and gives his perspective of what he considers "flour gold"...I pretty much agree with him on the mesh sizes he considers "flour gold" and, unfortunately, that is about the size of most of the gold that I find.
.

 

[johnedoe]

Here's some more flour, John. Courtesy of the Snake. Most of it would squirt through 100 mesh...LOL

View attachment 1557143 View attachment 1557144

This was recovered with my "sweep" jig. Have 3 units about ready to ship.:-)
Jim

Nice recovery looks like -200 at least. I have recovered down to -325 mesh with My beach system..... there isn't much of it but I can catch it...... Most all my beach gold runs through a 100 mesh screen like water also.
I am anxious to hear more about your recovery unit...

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Yes, I'm sure most of it is sub-200. Every now and then I find a flake that won't go through #50, but it's rare. Along with being small, this stuff is also extremely thin. That just makes recovery that much tougher. I'm actually surprised my sweep jig recovers it. I read a paper written by a couple of doctoral grads that said real flour actually won't sink in dirty water. They said that the amount of dirt in the water was the greatest determinant of the sink rate.....even more than the shape factor. I've spent hours trying to find that writeup again...to no avail. I'll be posting some pics and video links to my unit next week, if not sooner. Time to let this cat out of the bag...LOL
Jim

 

[goldog]

Most of the gold I get is over 100 mesh. The under is flower in my opinion. And really a waste of time. I prefer to call it sport. Not done for economic impact but to test the system. The recovery, the separation, the eyesight and the storage or capture.

For me, It’s all an operating loss. Vary rarely I cover gas much less labor. So in that respect it’s all sport. That said , I consider it based on a dollar. How much cost/time for a dollar? Not in a greedy way but just to keep score.

I honestly can’t say how much my losses are once the particles are -100 or -200. Or if it’s just not there.

Question for you flower guys. Do you figure in # of particles?

Quick maths let’s make it ez. 1.325 million specks per oz. or so. 1000 colors per dollar. Ish. Or around 40,000 a gram. That would be 2500 a grain for us purists.

On the name/term subject, how many others make u a new classification name for each piece?

Spuglet throws a lil shade 1 cent. A splake not so much. Half cent. Now a flugget might be a flake to some or a nugget to someone else. Or is that just my personal madness?

BTW MineShaft, where are you working in SoCal? Head to the EF , you’ll get something.