1/4 oz per ton gold assay in Arkansas!

[reptwar1]

Hope everyone has a merry Christmas to start off. Ok, so I recieved my fire assay results yesterday and it's nearly 1/4 oz per ton Au. Its located atop an ancient volcano, and I am KICKING myself for not spending an extra $20 to have it checked for PGMs as well. I found this outcrop and thought it had some Galena in it but the silver only came back at nearly 6 grams per ton. No visible gold with the naked eye, so is this worth chasing? I don't have the means of setting up a leach plant so my options are limited. Any suggestions?

 

[Mad Machinist]

First thing to do is find the minimum liberation point for about 95% recovery. This will determine the equipment and process you need to use. No point in leaching if it can be recovered by simple gravity seperation.

 

[arizau]

Hope everyone has a merry Christmas to start off. Ok, so I recieved my fire assay results yesterday and it's nearly 1/4 oz per ton Au. Its located atop an ancient volcano, and I am KICKING myself for not spending an extra $20 to have it checked for PGMs as well. I found this outcrop and thought it had some Galena in it but the silver only came back at nearly 6 grams per ton. No visible gold with the naked eye, so is this worth chasing? I don't have the means of setting up a leach plant so my options are limited. Any suggestions?

Your post is confusing to me since you say "I found this outcrop and thought it had some Galena in it but the silver only came back at nearly 6 grams per ton." That wording implies that Galena is a silver mineral. Was that your thinking? Galena is a lead mineral which also often has gold and silver associated with it.

It sounds like what you have is a sulfide deposit and sulfide ores are normally smelted and refined after mining and concentration from what I know.

 

[reptwar1]

Your post is confusing to me since you say "I found this outcrop and thought it had some Galena in it but the silver only came back at nearly 6 grams per ton." That wording implies that Galena is a silver mineral. Was that your thinking? Galena is a lead mineral which also often has gold and silver associated with it.

It sounds like what you have is a sulfide deposit and sulfide ores are normally smelted and refined after mining and concentration from what I know.

Yes, Galena is a lead mineral that hold silver values. Here in Arkansas, Galena that holds 1-2% Ag is considered decent. However, I have never seen, or heard of 1/4 oz Au per ton here in Arkansas. In fact, I've had geologists swear up and down that it's not possible. There's actually an article floating around the web, called "Sorry, no gold in Arkansas"

 

[Goldwasher]

how many samples did you send in for assay?

 

[reptwar1]

how many samples did you send in for assay?

Only one so far. I understand that many more are needed for an accurate assessment, but nonetheless exciting for me when geologists say there's no gold here. I will provide updates soon as I can get money together for more, and more thorough assays ie PGMs etc

 

[reptwar1]

First thing to do is find the minimum liberation point for about 95% recovery. This will determine the equipment and process you need to use. No point in leaching if it can be recovered by simple gravity seperation.

I agree 100% And yesterday, I finally got around to running a bucket through the gold cube. No visible gold. Bunch of sulphides though. Next weekend I will roast the sulphides and go from there