Mining platinum

[Dr. Meh]

Found a very rich bit of land but the platinum is super fine/trapped in iron, etc. Material is sandy clay that gets super dense when wet. What is the best way to extract platinum from this type of stuff?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Portadrillmini]

Roast,.. grind,.. classify ,.. pan it out

 

[Dr. Meh]

Roast?

 

[lastleg]

If you know how to pan gold you know it stays on the bottom, plat is even heavier than gold so just pan it
like you would gold.

 

[Dr. Meh]

If you know how to pan gold you know it stays on the bottom, plat is even heavier than gold so just pan it
like you would gold.

Two problems with that. First, the material becomes very dense and compact when wet. Second, unlike gold, platinum tends to bond with other metals. Sometimes the platinum is very very small and bonds with a lighter metal that can cause it to float out. Because it can be bonded, drywashing also doesn't always work.

We were thinking the same way you are until we really dove in on this particular chunk of land. Not as easy as it sounds.

 

[DDancer]

Roast means to take your ore put it in an oven or under a hot fire *all outside* to cook off any sulfides in the ore and it also breaks up the clays. This frees up the base metals.
Then take the ore and grind it fine in a dolly pot or other milling device. Classify the material thru screening, regrind any large stuff and classify again. Large bits may be pure metals so pan them separately. The resulting material should pan out easily enough or if you have a small dry blower you can flip most of the clay dust off the heavy's and pan then.

 

[Dr. Meh]

Roast means to take your ore put it in an oven or under a hot fire *all outside* to cook off any sulfides in the ore and it also breaks up the clays. This frees up the base metals.
Then take the ore and grind it fine in a dolly pot or other milling device. Classify the material thru screening, regrind any large stuff and classify again. Large bits may be pure metals so pan them separately. The resulting material should pan out easily enough or if you have a small dry blower you can flip most of the clay dust off the heavy's and pan then.

Awesome, thanks!