Found some silver like dust? anyone?

[jvan]

I am new to panning, and I live in placerville, ca I was panning and came across tons of black sand and below the black sand was much of this silver like shine dust... Does anyone know what this could be? any guesses?

also tons of mica, don't know if that helps to know what kind of minerals are around here

 

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[arizau]

Is it heavier than the black sand, in other words does it act like gold in the pan? If it does it may be small mercury globules or maybe amalgam (mercury coated gold). There was a lot of mercury used in gold recovery in times past and much of it was lost and is now being found by modern miners often coating the gold they find. If it washes away then maybe a mica or some other type of sand?

 

[Aufisher]

Found lots of silver gold in that area but no silver!

 

[jvan]

well I am only about 10 miles from where The California Gold Rush started near sutter mill / sutter creek. I live up in the mountains up about 2,500 feet elev... Have 6 acres of land and just moved up here so I do not know anyone around here but know there is so much gold panning going on up around here... Around the rivers and what not...

These pics are hard to see but to the left of the pan it looks white in the photo but it sparkles silver looking in the sun outside... Just not sure what it could be and how to find out... that was just one sample area i tried... and with it being always under the black sand when panning and still being there after about 20 strokes seamed it has some weight to it..

I am not sure if anything other than gold has been found here....

 

[arizau]

It is not clear if you know proper panning techniques so here is a good video that will show you how. How to Pan for Gold and another one here How to Pan for Gold
If you try this and your material acts like the gold in the video then you probably have mercury coated gold or a silver/gold alloy with a high enough percentage of silver to look silvery. Either case is good but if mercury coated then it requires some special techniques to clean the mercury off.
Good Luck.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Cleaned up the pics a bit:





Either natural lead (shows up white) or mercury covered gold?

 

[jvan]

I do know how to pan, have learned over a years time, But im no expert like some of you guys as I am still a newbie, however the silver dust does act like it is gold..... about trying to crush it I can't because it is like dust so no way to really test it easily..

I know it is not really worth saving, but just wanted to get others input to see if it would be worth further panning from the area i got this sample..

Cleaned up the pics a bit:

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Either natural lead (shows up white) or mercury covered gold?

 

[bakergeol]

As pointed out before probably amalgam. I have seen lots of amalgam but no to incredible amounts of very fine pure lead. Here is a photo of some common amalgam from Clear Creek Colorado from mining operations in the past.
Good panners can catch it but usually goes out the end of sluice boxes. The stuff in the photo was caught on one of my tables- just classified bank run. The amalgam is the silver stuff(you can see some fine yellow gold specks).

 

[KevinInColorado]

Could also be tin oxide if it has a slight yellowish tint. However I don't see that in the pics so mercury amalgam seems likely EXCEPT the particles are not sticking together which they should with amalgam. Weird. Could it be platinum?

 

[goldenmojo]

Can't tell what you got. Panned a creek a little further up from you once, more by Sly Park and everything in the creek was covered in silvery shiny specs. I figured it was mica or pyrite. Any Gold from it?

 

[arizau]

I do know how to pan, have learned over a years time, But im no expert like some of you guys as I am still a newbie, however the silver dust does act like it is gold..... about trying to crush it I can't because it is like dust so no way to really test it easily..

I know it is not really worth saving, but just wanted to get others input to see if it would be worth further panning from the area i got this sample..

If it is amalgam it is worth saving and probably further pursuing. If you heat it in a safe environment you can drive the mercury off (it vaporizes some where above 600 degrees but is highly toxic if inhaled) and leave the gold if that is what it is. If it is gold the silver appearance should change to maybe a brassy or goldish color. If it is gold it was probably lost in the process from an old mill upstream of your spot as bakergeol and I stated.

 

[bakergeol]

Could also be tin oxide if it has a slight yellowish tint. However I don't see that in the pics so mercury amalgam seems likely EXCEPT the particles are not sticking together which they should with amalgam. Weird. Could it be platinum?

Amalgam can be a solid or liquid. You might remember some photos posted by members from time to time showing their amalgam specimens. Another photo of silver looking amalgam-note individual particles.
The amalgam particles are 300 mesh- penny on the bottom for scale.

 

[DDancer]

Interesting. Separate it out and like others said heat it up and see if the silver leaves. If its still there bring it up till it melts. If its platinum you wont be able to melt it.

 

[TravyLeigh]

No it's not Mercury, if they were gold covered flake, they stick together like little magnets. Looks like platinum dust to me

 

[TravyLeigh]

Heat it with a small torch, lead will melt at only 900 degrees or less

 

[Jason in Enid]

You could have a zircon ore. I find material that looks the same here in OK. One guy had it assayed. I was hoping for Platinum, but it came back as a mixture of zircon, titanium, chorium and some other stuff.

 

[arizau]

Tiny droplets of mercury (also called mercury flouring) will not always coalesce with themselves according to this study from the University of British Columbia. Read the second to last paragraph of this study for an explanation. If all conditions are right they may be able to combine with gold though. http://www.jmeech.mining.ubc.ca/MINE290/proces/Amalgamation.php

Many of us "oldtimers" have observed flouring after accidentally (or on purpose) breaking a mercury thermometer, playing with that mercury at home or it being demonstrated in science classes in our time. I have done all of these in the past.

I'm not saying that what jvan has is mercury or amalgam but it seems to be a plausible explanation.

 

[TravyLeigh]

Hmmm that is possible then

 

[fowledup]

"..... about trying to crush it I can't because it is like dust so no way to really test it "

If I'm reading your post right and you are saying the silver stuff turns to dust when you try to crush it, then it is not gold, mercury, amalgamated gold, and most likely not lead. What is the country rock like your pulling your samples from?

 

[Aufisher]

Save it if it's heavier than the black sands. There are many friendly members near you who would love to take a look and maybe sample your property and assist you with learning higher production if your property has gold.