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 ?

 

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[southfork]

So, this mine dump is really clean little to no iron trash so if the machine beeps more than likely you have Gold. Did not regrind just panned a little dirt out heavy gold on side of the pan the small quartz sand on the other side has a lot of gold in and on it. Love to have a five-gallon pail of this. Starting to rain let's see how long Seth lasts out there today lol. I have the furnace set up indoors in the barn so I can play through the series of storms this week.

 

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[arizau]

So, this mine dump is really clean little to no iron trash so if the machine beeps more than likely you have Gold. Did not regrind just panned a little dirt out heavy gold on side of the pan the small quartz sand on the other side has a lot of gold in and on it. Love to have a five-gallon pail of this. Starting to rain let's see how long Seth lasts out there today lol. I have the furnace set up indoors in the barn so I can play through the series of storms this week.

Wow. You guys are living my dream.
You say dump. Is it mine waste or mill tailings?

 

[southfork]

Wow. You guys are living my dream.
You say dump. Is it mine waste or mill tailings?

Mine waste

 

[southfork]

Excellent couple of trips out to the old mine dumps small ore samples but real rich. It will take some smelting to clean it up my son used the torch on some of the samples it broke up really well. The heat softened the rock and made it a lot easier to crush with the mortar and pestle. My son found what looked like coal in the waste pile maybe the old timers were heating rocks also. 18 grams of nice gold should make a nice button. I'm out digging with a screwdriver to get the slag out of the bottom of used cupels and smelting it again. And ended up with a pea sized button and one the size of a BB. Still a little dirty outside acid bath time. Seth left here with a backpack and two detectors to be young again his older brother was the same way every chance out prospecting.

 

[southfork]

I placed the 18 grams of crushed ore/dirty gold on a cupel without any flux and melted it. Ended up with a black layer of impurities on one side and bright gold on the other weighs 16 grams now. Lost two grams on the melt time to smelt with flux to drive off that thin layer of black or drop in muriatic and see if that will do it. Just experimenting / fooling around with precious metal.

 

[southfork]

Seth and friends are out prospecting I'm cleaning gold I have the button in Whink now the muriatic left these black freckles. And crushing by hand a rock I hauled up from the back of our place the last photo I think I see gold in the shadows right side bottom. This is also a test my computer updated but my mind hasn't it's a long journey from the camera to here.

 

[southfork]

Macro with shaky hands I see little micro gold, can you?

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Macro with shaky hands I see little micro gold, can you?

Achoo! Oops, I’m sorry.

 

[Tnmountains]

I am enjoying this thread.

 

[firebird]

Does this look like gold ore? It's from an area near Mariposa CA that I already know has fine gold and even some pickers

 

[southfork]

Does this look like gold ore? It's from an area near Mariposa CA that I already know has fine gold and even some pickers View attachment 2055597 View attachment 2055598

Crush and pan easy to find out good luck

 

[southfork]

I removed the dirty freckled button out of the whink we have Gold 16 grams the black spots just fell off they were laying in the bottom of the jar. This gold was just melted out of the crush no flux was used.

 

[southfork]

Achoo! Oops, I’m sorry.

Made me laugh I did blow across the pan the specks of gold I see are in the shady side of the pan spread out.

 

[southfork]

Seth was out prospecting yesterday afternoon and spotted an open cut prospect under the brush. He kept sliding backwards before he was able to get his footing lots of duff and forest litter to rake off. But he got a nice loud signal on the SDC 2300 right away and dug this piece of vein and the little 2-gram picker in the bottom of the pan.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Seth was out prospecting yesterday afternoon and spotted an open cut prospect under the brush. He kept sliding backwards before he was able to get his footing lots of duff and forest litter to rake off. But he got a nice loud signal on the SDC 2300 right away and dug this piece of vein and the little 2-gram picker in the bottom of the pan.

OK, that’s enough to get my fever raised enough to plan a detecting trip! Thanks for sharing. Let us know how much it weighs after you crush and smelt it

 

[southfork]

OK, that’s enough to get my fever raised enough to plan a detecting trip! Thanks for sharing. Let us know how much it weighs after you crush and smelt it

This will get some light cleaning and kept as a specimen maybe 227 grams of gold and rock. Crazy right I've been walking past these piles for over forty years. I was out burning brush when he drove by on a quad it was only 30 minutes, and he had this one

 

[Tesorodeoro]

This will get some light cleaning and kept as a specimen maybe 227 grams of gold and rock. Crazy right I've been walking past these piles for over forty years. I was out burning brush when he drove by on a quad it was only 30 minutes, and he had this one

I was joking of course. Don’t forget to dig to bedrock below these deposits in the draws. The best locations are dry steep narrow draws. There is usually good gold less than 3-feet down. Those pocket miners would many times sample right past these deposits while on their way to the ore vein. Especially in the instance where there is a lack of water.

 

[Froggie6]

I’m new here, as of right now. Happy to find this forum. I house sit in the Sierra foothills on a large property with a year-roun creek running through. After watching many YouTube videos on panning, my friend gave me permission to try on his property. Is it legal to keep gold you may find on private property in California? Thanks in advance for the help. Haven’t found a clear answer.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I’m new here, as of right now. Happy to find this forum. I house sit in the Sierra foothills on a large property with a year-roun creek running through. After watching many YouTube videos on panning, my friend gave me permission to try on his property. Is it legal to keep gold you may find on private property in California? Thanks in advance for the help. Haven’t found a clear answer.

If your friend owns the property, and gave you permission to "pan" for gold, then it should be fine in California. You just cannot use a dredge or high banker (that discharges waste water directly back into the stream).

But wait until someone more knowledgeable replies. California is crazy when it comes to laws, especially where fish are concerned.

 

[Froggie6]

If your friend owns the property, and gave you permission to "pan" for gold, then it should be fine in California. You just cannot use a dredge or high banker (that discharges waste water directly back into the stream).

But wait until someone more knowledgeable replies. California is crazy when it comes to laws, especially where fish are concerned.

Thank you. Neither of us think this creek has been touched much. I’ll wait to see what people say. Googling didn’t clearly answer as you suggestEd.