6 Ounce Payday 70 minus

[Sam Burgin]

I wish the gold you see was mine, but it belongs to a friend. All of this gold was recovered as -70 mesh or smaller, fine gold by any definition. The gold was taken from a thermal vent with a silicified host rock of some type with heavy mineralized quartz veins mixed with cassiterite (tin ore). The gold was smelted, then poured into a bucket of swirling water to produce the coronets shown. There are thousands of tiny gold spheres that will be classified out and sold at premium retail. Absolutely beautiful stuff.

The 6 ounces shown has some silver and some oxidation that has not been fully cleaned off. The dark material is slag from the smelt.

If you have an interest in accessing and working the raw ore, send me a p.m. I can arrange an all-you-can-eat session at this MSHA compliant mine.

Sam

​

 

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[mrs.oroblanco]

Nice!

B

 

[strickman]

ok i'll bite-please explain,what are you elluding too?what state?

I wish the gold you see was mine, but it belongs to a friend. All of this gold was recovered as -70 mesh or smaller, fine gold by any definition. The gold was taken from a thermal vent with a silicified host rock of some type with heavy mineralized quartz veins mixed with cassiterite (tin ore). The gold was smelted, then poured into a bucket of swirling water to produce the coronets shown. There are thousands of tiny gold spheres that will be classified out and sold at premium retail. Absolutely beautiful stuff.

The 6 ounces shown has some silver and some oxidation that has not been fully cleaned off. The dark material is slag from the smelt.

If you have an interest in accessing and working the raw ore, send me a p.m. I can arrange an all-you-can-eat session at this MSHA compliant mine.

Sam

​

 

[Sam Burgin]

It was not my intent to get anyone to bite. I was trying to not violate forum etiquette by seeming to be a commercial venture.

The mine is located in Stanly County, North Carolina, smack in the middle of the Carolina slate belt.

The owner of the mine will allow access to vein stock, not the mine, and will provide small jaw crushers, roller crushers, fine grinders, mill grinders, and concentrating tables for use by the prospector, all for a reasonable fee. With large groups, he will fire up the commercial equipment, fine crushers feeding into cascading Diester tables.

This is one of the few, if not the only, operating MSHA compliant gold mines on the east coast. This is a great opportunity to learn something about our hobby. Again, if you need further details send me a p.m.

 

[kilnmaint]

I have my MSHA papers , but the 8 hr drive makes it a bit too much candy for the nickle!!

 

[Sam Burgin]

It is indeed a pretty good haul from Ohio, but I do remember seeing a big GPAA group from Ohio there this spring, they did pretty well. I remember groups from Pennsylvania and Indiana as well.

I think it was the Ohio crowd that came down for three days, the campground was full.

I'll try to find out where the Ohio group was from. I'm thinking Columbus, but I'll check.

Sam

 

[djui5]

That 2nd specimen is stunning!

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

This looks nice - and even better now that its not making me cross-eyed!!!

Hope you don't mind.

B

 

[Sam Burgin]

I've had some inquiries about the gold in the original post, so I'll try to explain them in no particular order.

The gold shown was indeed smelted, but when the smelt was poured and the noble metals stratified by specific gravity, the Dore had about a pound of fairly pure gold removed. Yellow, just like we've all seen. What's left in the Dore are the other noble metals and some gold. This particular ore had a fairly high Ag content, thus the silver tone. Maybe 70% of the remaining dore is gold.

Why the coronets? No amount of smelting, melting, or annealing, will separate the remaining noble metals. They must be separated chemically, so the rest of the pour is made into coronets so the chemicals can more readily react with the metals to affect that separation.

And thanks for the re size Mrs. O, much easier on the eyes.

Below is some of the -70 before smelting.

Sam

 

[strickman]

-70 is very small,a lot of trouble to separate .

 

[Sam Burgin]

-70 is very small,a lot of trouble to separate .

Not a big isue if smelting is the final step. If you make the gold the heaviest thing in the pan, by classification, it is very easy to pan.

 

[FiresEye]

-70 is very small,a lot of trouble to separate .

Not a big isue if smelting is the final step. If you make the gold the heaviest thing in the pan, by classification, it is very easy to pan.

You forgot to mention that micro fine gold can be lighter than other items that can end up in the pan of micro screened pan.

But nice rocks

So, can anyone tell me if lowes or home depot sells screens, and what sizes are there? Or do you just buy it online.
One more question: is it better to heat and fracture concentrate sands before or after using vinegar and salt to clean iron oxides from them?

Yes it's true, some micro gold appears to be like rust dust.. but's it's gold.

 

[Darshevo]

I have bought 2 rolls of screen at Home Depot. I got a roll of 1/2" and a roll of 1/4" mesh. That's as small as they go before you go to window screen. As a side note, the window screen I have seen at the home stores is typically a plasticy (is that word?) mesh and isn't all that durable. If you go to a place where they sell windows and glass cut to size they should have some much nicer heavier window screens. We are slowly replacing out old aluminum windows with vinyl. I stole one of the old screens for a small mesh classifier

-Lance

 

[FiresEye]

I have bought 2 rolls of screen at Home Depot. I got a roll of 1/2" and a roll of 1/4" mesh. That's as small as they go before you go to window screen. As a side note, the window screen I have seen at the home stores is typically a plasticy (is that word?) mesh and isn't all that durable. If you go to a place where they sell windows and glass cut to size they should have some much nicer heavier window screens. We are slowly replacing out old aluminum windows with vinyl. I stole one of the old screens for a small mesh classifier

-Lance

Nice Job Ever since I start prospecting, I can't walk through the carpet section without thinking about fine gold sluicing, or this or that can be used for this or that whatever prospecting method.. It's so fun. Those free scores are always the best.

Yeah, thos typical window screens are weak and will warp and tear with too much use. Looks like for the fine stuff I will just have to hit up ebay or online company.

Right now, in the area that I prospect, I've heard as much as 50% of the gold you can see is fine micro gold that you can't.. If this is true, that's a substantial ammount I've been missing

Cheers

 

[63bkpkr]

McNichols manufacturers wire mesh as well as expanded metal in a variety of sizes, google the name, they also make/sell sieves. There are other companies who sell sieves, Keene does.

63bkpkr