A. K. Wiliams Basement Chemistry. Great reading for prospectors.

4Strokes1Pick&Poke

Full Member
May 3, 2016
163
105
Arizona, California, Alaska, Oregon, Florida, Loui
Detector(s) used
Garret Pin pointer pro AT. "Other" methods.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting

austin

Gold Member
Jul 9, 2012
5,360
3,501
San Antonio, Texas
Detector(s) used
Garrett 250
Primary Interest:
Other
I taught Chem for 30 years in high school. I'm guessing that there is a nice warm jail cell and 3 meals per day for using a great deal of this in today's environment. Not to mention that some of it is a bit hard to obtain, at least here...
 

kcm

Gold Member
Feb 29, 2016
5,790
7,085
NW Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
Other
Operations like that in a basement? That's begging for trouble.

Chemical means should NOT be used by anyone who does not know and understand the dangers involved and who takes every precaution possible. Even so....a basement?!?!? AK Williams needs to change that to "Front Yard Chemistry"!

This guy seems to have years of experience. Putting this kind of info and the temptation in front of inexperienced and/or untrained persons is a really, REALLY bad idea!!
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
4Strokes1Pick&Poke

4Strokes1Pick&Poke

Full Member
May 3, 2016
163
105
Arizona, California, Alaska, Oregon, Florida, Loui
Detector(s) used
Garret Pin pointer pro AT. "Other" methods.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Yeah right I know. It's more of a FYI on the assaying and the process. You have to pick some info and leave some from it using common sense. Boy times have changed. Can you imagine all miners knee deep in all the chemicals back in the gold rush? Probably common knowledge back then, compared to the average prospectors today. The Mercury charging cell is interesting for pulling gold from black sands and consitrates. The way K. C. talks about cyanide and how harmless it is I don't agree with, best leave it to professionals unless your licensed. Geared towards older miners with a little experiance.
I remember playing with Mercury as a kid rubbing it on coins to make them shinny. We didn't know the effects it was no big deal, my dad let me play with it from his consitrates! Can you imagine letting your kid play with that now!
 

OP
OP
4Strokes1Pick&Poke

4Strokes1Pick&Poke

Full Member
May 3, 2016
163
105
Arizona, California, Alaska, Oregon, Florida, Loui
Detector(s) used
Garret Pin pointer pro AT. "Other" methods.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Operations like that in a basement? That's begging for trouble.

Chemical means should NOT be used by anyone who does not know and understand the dangers involved and who takes every precaution possible. Even so....a basement?!?!? AK Williams needs to change that to "Front Yard Chemistry"!

This guy seems to have years of experience. Putting this kind of info and the temptation in front of inexperienced and/or untrained persons is a really, REALLY bad idea!!

Kids today learn everything on YouTube with video! Are you kidding me this is old material. K. C. Was the leading SORCE of info for us older miners. Kids today find anything they want on YouTube! You would have to start a campaign on fighting YouTube if you this this is bad! They get more ideas from the average YouTube video with 2 million hits than this old time reading material. This is old reaserch. If you haven't heard of K. C. Williams I'm surprised. If you think this is bad for kids to know, then you don't know your kids or what they are look at on the computer! They are smarter these days with more resources than they know what to do with and know where to find anything they want. We didn't have World Wide Web when I grew up, this is history of prospecting and methods in America.
 

kcm

Gold Member
Feb 29, 2016
5,790
7,085
NW Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
Other
In past days, you actually had to go into a store in person in order to buy most of those chemicals. Most people wouldn't know what to buy without some amount of tutelage. Now, the info is out there for any yahoo to get himself into trouble with. And while chemistry is taught in school, most schools that I know of don't teach anything about extracting metals from hard rock. Maybe in mining states, but not in SE Texas!! So in this day and age, it's a bit irresponsible to post such info for anyone to get ahold of without further instruction - ESPECIALLY when they're talking about doing it in your basement!! I haven't read through the text, but just advertising this being done in a basement suggests to people that there is no danger at all, and that if it's safe enough for a basement, it should be safe enough to do anywhere - ventilation or not.
 

OP
OP
4Strokes1Pick&Poke

4Strokes1Pick&Poke

Full Member
May 3, 2016
163
105
Arizona, California, Alaska, Oregon, Florida, Loui
Detector(s) used
Garret Pin pointer pro AT. "Other" methods.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Silver mining documentary. How silver is mined, reformed and refined. History Video.

Hope this isn't too offensive to someone they show explosives in a operating mine, good lord cover the kids eyes! I rather have my kids watch a learning show than "adult swim" and "Comedy Central" on TV. Same methods and info as what was posted above by K. C. Wiliams.

https://youtu.be/CFl8NLVo6ss
 

Last edited:

kcm

Gold Member
Feb 29, 2016
5,790
7,085
NW Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
Other
Offensive? No. Irresponsible? Not when combined with further study/understanding.
 

austin

Gold Member
Jul 9, 2012
5,360
3,501
San Antonio, Texas
Detector(s) used
Garrett 250
Primary Interest:
Other
Relax. It is a GREAT text, nothing wrong with reading it and you will find though that most kids want to build bombs of any sort and would probably never read the book anyway. Most, if not all of those chemicals are never in a high school lab. Even here in South Central Texas, we do teach what the chemicals are/were used for.Since I also had a master's in Spanish Borderlands History, had been a geology major, was certified to teach ALL sciences in the Texas schools and could out bs any other science teacher, I gave the lecture on mining every year. Don't worry about our kids. They tend to be free thinkers these days and will surprise you with their intelligence, honesty and responsinility...
 

kcm

Gold Member
Feb 29, 2016
5,790
7,085
NW Minnesota
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
Other
**ROFL** Hey Austin, you got it right there, boy!! "responsinility" ROFL - Copy.gif
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top