BLUE CLAY

[hmmm]

HI ALL
can any one enlighten me on blue clay, i have found a small gully, when i pann the blue clay i get lots of black sand.

 

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[freddy williams]

I would almost run this blue clay through a high banker and make it so the material stays in the HB instead of fallen away this way it would get washed free of all the gold in it You may even find some silver. Roast all your black sand and dump in cold water this fractures the flour gold from the sands, and then run this material through a blue bowl if you have one... HH freddy

 

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[Hickory1]

Problem with this, as I know from bringing clay up from gravel pit, in order to pan it you must add water to it to break it up; it becomes quite hard. So drying clay will require you re-wet it for panning purposes as what can you get from balls or chunks of dry clay in terms of gold, galena, etc.,? NOTHING!

 

[goldnugget]

Thanks-Thanks-Thanks for the information on the Blue Clay. I was panning a stream near my house. It was in a wooded area and the property is on land that belongs to a Church . I didn't find anything that Day, but now will go back, I guess I will have to go down stream just a little way to maybe find some Gold. I could fill up 5 gallon buckets of the Blue Clay. I went just before Winter set in and the water was Cold-Cold & Cold-goldnugget-Charlotte,North Carolina

 

[MrLee]

I would almost run this blue clay through a high banker and make it so the material stays in the HB instead of fallen away this way it would get washed free of all the gold in it You may even find some silver. Roast all your black sand and dump in cold water this fractures the flour gold from the sands, and then run this material through a blue bowl if you have one... HH freddy

Freddy, thank you for this advice. I just bought a blue bowl. I've also got lots of black sand after someone had mentioned there are usually other precious metals mixed in. If you roast the sands I take it that the other PMs would be released as well?

 

[hmmm]

Any one want a up date, it took us 2 days to get to this point.
Now it begins.
Its like opening a treasure chest.

WAAHOO

 

[strickman]

of coarse we do .

 

[nuggy]

Hi from the deeeeeep south.

Easiest way I know to process and extract most trapped au from black sand is to use a plastic bowl cement mixer - add about 8 fist size, rounded, hard as you can find rocks - about 4 gallons of your black sand - a half cup of caustic soda - 6 gallons of water - and let it roll for an hour or two - then flush with fresh water till it runs clean - take out all of the rocks - add an ounce or two of mercury let it run again, as slow as you can get it to turn (check that mercury is not being over agitated so it goes into tiny flour grains). Recover mercury by panning or blue bowl etc.

Wear rubber gloves squeeze amalgam through a chamois cloth ( used for car washing) heat the lump of hard amalgam in retort ( make sure you know how to do this safely) Or use a potato if you know how (this also needs some basic safety precautions).

Dirty gold remaining can be put in crucible with some borax and melted. result should be some nice clean gold once you break off the borax which will have turned to a dirty glass like substance. Don't know what will happen if you have silver - platinum or other minerals in the mix.

This a cheap, but effective way to test if your black sand is good. Better than spending big bucks on a ball mill and what not for testing what could prove to be a non profitable proposition.

AND YES - AN UPDATE WOULD BE GOOD

Good luck Nuggy

 

[hmmm]

new up date, last week we went back to the hole. next week we start to go down, should be fun.
this time i will not do like i did a month ago, not being a woossie, but lifting and moving big boulders caused a
old back injury to flare up. 10 years ago i compressed 3 vertebra and it does not like big boulders.
Better now so Last weekend we built a dam and worked on the trail, next weekend we go in the hole and head down to bedrock.
i did get a new claim, it was a artesian spring i lost to another prospector 4 years ago, he sold it to the big company and the big guys screwed up again and let it laps. i got it back very cool , the view is amassing.
.

 

[hmmm]

we had to get the cosmetic clay for the cruise line, we dug out 32 5 gallon buckets and slid them down to the truck in 2 hours. thats about 1800 pounds . wahoo

 

[Gold Cube]

keep the story rollin

 

[Oakview2]

I have been monitoring this thread for awhile hoping to see you start processing this hole. Looks like some great material and I hope you have more success than your back can handle and you can sit in the shade and oversee the operation.... Best of luck....

 

[hmmm]

Anyone up for a up date, we dugon the weekends.
took in a jack hammer,
made the hole wider and after 13 feet down and 9feet of clay we never hit the bedrock.
we closed the hole for the monsoon season and are heading for the other spot to dig clay for the cruise lines.
they want our clay on 120 ships within 6 months.

waaa hoo

 

[419GottaMinute]

Hmm: I was just thinking about you and your cosmetic clay the other day. Thanks for keeping us posted! Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[strickman]

Turn 'em blue !

 

[XDSA40]

This entire thread has been both enjoyable and educational (for me at least), truly a pleasure. Thanks for sharing HMMM. I'll keep an eye for any updates you might post; good luck man.

 

[Lanny in AB]

It sounds like you've found "blue" gold, by selling your clay to the cruise lines.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[JohnGalt]

I just started reading this thread, and initally did not notice it started nearly 4 years ago. I had also never heard of blue clay. This is all very impressive .... I am getting quite an education on this site.

 

[hmmm]

Its been a long road and after 2 years of negotiation we finally have the clay on the cruise lines. if you take a cruise on the queen Elisabeth you can try the clay. We went mining this weekend, ill post pictures tomorrow. Sunny yesterday and nasty today, blowing heavy rain sideways yet we still got 55 , 5 gallon buckets of raw material. that works out to 2000 pounds after processing, not bad considering we get $4.50 per pound. waahoo

 

[Fullpan]

What a coincidence! - I'm booked on the QE next week for an around the world cruise. Does your clay have a brand name yet? I'll be sure to ask for it!!

 

[hmmm]

What a coincidence! - I'm booked on the QE next week for an around the world cruise. Does your clay have a brand name yet? I'll be sure to ask for it!!

cool cool cool
i just mine the clay and do the first process.
The first picture is the mine, next we slide it into a trailer and take it home.
Once at home, we add water and mix it in a mixer.
It is then pored into buckets and let to settle for 15 minutes. The clay has grit and a blue sand in it, this proses mimics nature and creates a very fine product.
Next step it is pored in to another bucket through a screen that screens out any woody material that is in the clay.
It settles for 3 days, the water is pored off and it is dried, crushed and screened.
This is when i send it to the processor. They mix it with scents, moor mud, oils and tube it.
Then its off to the cruise lines . The QE took 40 kilos for the first sample.
Thought If you go look for the clay and find it in the QE spa pass this thread on and tell them you know the miner, could give me some exposure.



I am working on a history paper to go with the clay, Its about the mountains blue clay miners and evidance shows it has been mined by the seafaring peoples who's descendents traveled the worlds oceans in the ancient rowing ships , powered by the people the Indians called " the people from the beginning of time"
Indian legend states "they will be back"