smelting gold from sand?

[mac75]

i have been putting sand into stainless steel cans and heating it in a kiln to about 1600 deg f for 24 hours. after it cools, when i empty the sand from the cans there are heavy gold colored pieces of "stuff" in the bottom. is this gold? and what do i need to do to further refine it?

 

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[Keppy]

I do not know if it is gold …. And this is the first time i have heard of this process

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

If your getting good concentrations of gold from sand, then I'm moving to FL...!!

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[DFX DAVE in M.D.]

Try swinging a metal detecter over the stuff in the bottom, see if it tells you that it is metal or not. You could have glass, because heating and melting sand is part of the process of making glass.

 

[Rawhide]

have to be mighty good sand to justify the cost.

 

[Doubter in MD]

Why are you heating sand? You wound up with "stuff in the bottom" that you think might be gold but you seem surprised by that. What was the reason for heating the sand in the first place?

 

[Silver Searcher]

Why are you heating sand? You wound up with "stuff in the bottom" that you think might be gold but you seem surprised by that. What was the reason for heating the sand in the first place?

I would like to know how he got to 1600 degF..

SS

 

[Rawhide]

I would like to know how he got to 1600 degF..

SS

I can melt aluminum with a wood fire and air assist. He must have map and a good way of controlling it. Even a torch can do it with a rosebud but you could easily evaporate the gold that way. I guess he is thinking and doing which is more than I have done lately. Good post.

I would rather wash the sand in a sluice and pan the the cons. Could you post a picture of the gold please?

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Gold melts several 100 degrees hotter than aluminum. Its really hard to get up to the 1200+ degrees F to melt gold. You must have an air assisted forge, just saying.

Keep it and HH!!

 

[hvacker]

You can Google a guy that claims he processes sand from Home Depot and retrieves gold. Not sure how much or if it's certain sand from a particular area or even if the cost of the sand is more than the gold.
Like Casca says, just sluice and pan.

 

[mac75]

ok, so heres the story. the factory i work in, i am a kiln (gas fired) operator. i pack product into stainless cans and pack sand in around it and vibrate it till its full. i load the cans into the kiln, and fire it. over the course of 24+ hours the temp builds up to in excess of 1650 deg F. after a cooldown period of 12+ hours i flip the cans over to remove the product. i do this over screens so i can recycle the sand. as i stated in my original post, in doing so from the bottom of the cans, (sometimes as many as 1 in 4, sometime only 3 or 4 cans in over 100) there falls out of the bottom chunks, some as big as a dime, most only 1/8" in dia., of gold colored material that is heavy. the dime size pieces weigh more than a quarter. i want to have it tested but haven't had the chance and in the 4 mos that i've been collecting it i have amassed about 7 oz or so. basically what i wanted to know was if it were possible that it might be gold.

 

[Rawhide]

I would have it tested, simple acid test by a jeweler can tell you what you need to know.

 

[coinman123]

I'd love to see photos of the "gold on the bottom", also it would be cool to see the melted together clump of sand.

 

[Keppy]

ok, so heres the story. the factory i work in, i am a kiln (gas fired) operator. i pack product into stainless cans and pack sand in around it and vibrate it till its full. i load the cans into the kiln, and fire it. over the course of 24+ hours the temp builds up to in excess of 1650 deg F. after a cooldown period of 12+ hours i flip the cans over to remove the product. i do this over screens so i can recycle the sand. as i stated in my original post, in doing so from the bottom of the cans, (sometimes as many as 1 in 4, sometime only 3 or 4 cans in over 100) there falls out of the bottom chunks, some as big as a dime, most only 1/8" in dia., of gold colored material that is heavy. the dime size pieces weigh more than a quarter. i want to have it tested but haven't had the chance and in the 4 mos that i've been collecting it i have amassed about 7 oz or so. basically what i wanted to know was if it were possible that it might be gold.

It has been 4 months what are you waiting for to get it tested? You will find out if it is gold by getting it tested…. On here all you are going to get here is a wild guess..And you will still not know..Give us some pictures ...

 

[Keppy]

You can Google a guy that claims he processes sand from Home Depot and retrieves gold. Not sure how much or if it's certain sand from a particular area or even if the cost of the sand is more than the gold.
Like Casca says, just sluice and pan.

Yes but he was panning the sand from Home Depot … And he said you will not find any gold in play sand it has been processed to much .. But the other sand he finds gold in ..

 

[Frankn]

OK, I use to do enameling. That is the melting of colored glass to make jewelry and I did some glass 'paintings' also. The glass melts close to sand which is 1800 degrees. It is a sudden process where the glass suddenly melts and glazes over. I had a special, front loading kilm that I bought for the process.
It maxed out at about 2000 degrees.
In the situation described I would be more inclined to run the sand in my Gold Magic wheel to seperate out the gold. It would probably be a faster process.
Note, brass melts just below glass, I know, I tried to enamel some and it turned out to be a big mess. Also there is glass available with different melting points for different metals.
Frank

 

[mac75]

so, i had it tested. it tested for 22k and held. the place i took it to is sending a "sample" to the people they use to smelt/purify to see how much gold it contains. I'm hoping for good results as I have 18 oz of it. woohoo

 

[Higgy]

Something about this is fishy.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Good for you! WTG! That's creativity in action!
Where the Saco River empties into the ocean up here there is supposed to be gold in the sand.....mmmm!

 

[mac75]

just saying what the "gold" buyer told me. but i was always under the impression that when "panning" for gold you scoop up sand and gravel and with water in the pan swish it about to separate the gold from other stuff. thats what made me inclined to believe what i had could possibly be gold.