Activated carbon.

[C99]

Hello,

Jim in Idaho sent me a link to a gold test kit.This put me onto activated carbon.Life meanders which is cool. Have a close look at these mini bits of carbon.Gold is not visible to the eye and only barely with a 20x loupe but the camera flash did a better job than my eyes of seeing it.
Zoom the photo for a look. I only wanted to confirm this for myself before a bigger experiment.

This was my micro gold used in the experiment so it is nothing else. So the question I had is answered. Now to devise a way of stopping the carbon pieces from being spirited away by time and force. Then it is a big yes.Stuffing a big carbon filter underneath a rock in a micro gold river is viable...possibly.

I recovered the gold using ultrasound.Panning while I sleep is the goal.

So Jim from Idaho.Thanks for the new toy to play with.

 

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[pczim]

Interesting post, I have only ever used carbons to extract gold from a cyanide solution and in my experience the only way to remove the gold from the carbons is by doing an elution. I would be very interested as to how you would remove the gold from the carbons and your cost ratio. I have never heard of gold sticking to carbons without it being dissolved however your picture points otherwise.

If this is a route you wish to pursue and have a realistic way of removing gold from your carbons without deactivating your carbon pieces then I would suggest (after of course clearing this with your local environment agency) building a carbon box built into your river.

This could be done by building a box out of metal or wood than can be secured to the sides of the river by way of a pole or to the river bed by pegs. I would ensure the base of the box is below the height of the river bed. The front of the box I would cover with bird mesh wire and the back with fine mesh as to not lose your carbons. This way water and light debris can pass through your box and trap what you wish to trap.

As explained I have only used carbons with cyanide, not sure if my post has helped you at all, the idea stems from many small scale mines that I have seen who use a simple cyanide system passed through a carbon box as above.