Gold Ore

[southfork]

A little sample that was found with a metal detector. Crushed by hand then panned to wash away some of the dirt and clay? The photo is macro so real small particles, but the quartz shows and what looks like iron and free gold. I think we need a small smelter to retrieve the values trying to speed up the recovery what's your thoughts ?

 

[southfork]

Storm on the way we had to go to town for propane and gasoline for the generators. The light rain that had been falling let up, so Seth went out to the claim to finish detecting a pile of red dirt this was on the bottom laying on bedrock. It's loaded with gold he was doing the happy dance the rock weighs 200 grams +

 

[bigckerman]

A little sample that was found with a metal detector. Crushed by hand then panned to wash away some of the dirt and clay? The photo is macro so real small particles, but the quartz shows and what looks like iron and free gold. I think we need a small smelter to retrieve the values trying to speed up the recovery what's your thoughts ?

Needs to be crushed fine and all particles needs to be about equal in size

 

[JohnWhite]

Storm on the way we had to go to town for propane and gasoline for the generators. The light rain that had been falling let up, so Seth went out to the claim to finish detecting a pile of red dirt this was on the bottom laying on bedrock. It's loaded with gold he was doing the happy dance the rock weighs 200 grams +

You should have seen the beauty I left at the airport in Culiacán…I am not positive IF the specimen had small emeralds on it or not…I did not have much time to do a thorough analysis of the ore in question…It pretty much made me want to cry when I had to part with it…Oh well…Maybe some day I might try to return to search for its siblings…

Ed T

 

[southfork]

We crushed the new sample with mortar and pestle 8 grams of free gold and still some fines to crush again. Not bad for one small rock.

 

[mikep691]

I would have loved to seen some slices of that. Might have made some beautiful jewelry.

 

[southfork]

I would have loved to seen some slices of that. Might have made some beautiful jewelry.

Most of the gold was on the outside with oxidized pockets and fractures on the inside with micro gold.

 

[JohnWhite]

Most of the gold was on the outside with oxidized pockets and fractures on the inside with micro gold.

At least your son got to do his happy dance…There are some small rocks that may contain quite a bit of gold…

When they told me IF I wanted to keep the ore, at the airport, I would have to check it…I began thinking it may have a value of over 10k and I thought I could get in trouble…So…I just left it at the airport…

Oh well😭…

Ed T

 

[southfork]

We haven't crushed any specimens off the new claim just the big rocks with little spots of gold showing

 

[southfork]

These are some old finds that need a little more cleaning to brighten the gold up a little. We will lose a little weight, but specimen buyers like to see the gold

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

These are some old finds that need a little more cleaning to brighten the gold up a little. We will lose a little weight, but specimen buyers like to see the gold

How do you lose weight? Can't you catch the cleaning debris?

 

[southfork]

How do you lose weight? Can't you catch the cleaning debris?

We don't lose any gold that's all caught but the host rock is dissolved making a smaller specimen weight wise. Both weight and size of specimen come into play when selling.

 

[desertgolddigger]

We don't lose any gold that's all caught but the host rock is dissolved making a smaller specimen weight wise. Both weight and size of specimen come into play when selling.

I've looked at some of these specimens on EBay, and some really don't look like they have gold. But then, some are outstanding examples of gold in rock..

I've got half a dozen so called specimens found during my placer mining. They are just curiosities, as they are very tiny pebbles with one speck of gold attached, though I have four different type rocks in those tiny specimens. But they are basically worthless, except to myself.

 

[desertgolddigger]

southfork, Does Whink dissolve the quartz, or just remove the rust stains? if it does dissolve quartz, how long would it take for a 1/4 inch thick quartz shard. It's time for me to experiment on one piece I think has a tiny bit of gold in it. Oh, yes, I've got the peanut butter jar ready. :-)

 

[JohnWhite]

southfork, Does Whink dissolve the quartz, or just remove the rust stains? if it does dissolve quartz, how long would it take for a 1/4 inch thick quartz shard. It's time for me to experiment on one piece I think has a tiny bit of gold in it. Oh, yes, I've got the peanut butter jar ready. :-)

20 years

Ed T

 

[southfork]

20 years

Ed T

It dissolves the quartz I give it a week and brush then back in but check it every day not all quartz is the same. Sometimes it starts getting into the cracks and works a little faster. But if you can get the real 30 percent acid it will work over night or sooner.

 

[desertgolddigger]

It dissolves the quartz I give it a week and brush then back in but check it every day not all quartz is the same. Sometimes it starts getting into the cracks and works a little faster. But if you can get the real 30 percent acid it will work over night or sooner.

No way, as this acid is highly invasive and deadly. Apparently, even the 5% version isn't to br taken lightly. You need a laboratory, and all the proper equipment for handling it. I'll give Whink a try, and use the equipment I now have on hand.

 

[southfork]

No way, as this acid is highly invasive and deadly. Apparently, even the 5% version isn't to br taken lightly. You need a laboratory, and all the proper equipment for handling it. I'll give Whink a try, and use the equipment I now have on hand.

In the past we would take specimen pieces to a jeweler /gold buyer, and they would clean with high concentrated hydrofluoric more cost to us. And trust comes into play we started using Whink it takes a lot longer but is a safer method.

 

[JohnWhite]

It dissolves the quartz I give it a week and brush then back in but check it every day not all quartz is the same. Sometimes it starts getting into the cracks and works a little faster. But if you can get the real 30 percent acid it will work over night or sooner

If I ever come across any more wire gold I will have to give wink a try…

Ed T

 

[southfork]

I finally got around to cleaning the concentrates from my burn pile finds. I had around 4 grams of black sands with pyrites and gold used a magnet to help clean the black sands. I poured the concentrates with a little borax and flour on to a red-hot melting dish. The mixture quickly melted enough to keep from blowing off the dish. I carefully placed the melting dish back into the furnace to melt the concentrates. It took two melts but I ended up with 2 grams of gold. I guess I need to buy a little commercial flux for the next batch.

 

[southfork]

None stop rains our chain mill is outside because of dust we have it covered until better weather. A little hand crushing with a mortar and pestle on small samples from the new claim. We melted the panned gold in a graphite crucible without any flux in our propane furnace it resulted in a nice clean button 26 grams. So far most of the samples are metal detector finds quartz with free gold little to no pyrites. Break in the weather tomorrow four of us are going out and hit it hard raking a few piles to see what the Oldtimers left us. I'm waiting on a small jaw crusher to be delivered it should help the processing breaking the ore down for the chain mill.