Gold Ore

southfork

Bronze Member
Jun 15, 2014
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California
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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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If there's a high enough concentration of the super fine gold, then maybe when you get it all turned to powder, you'll get that gold the detector said is there. I wonder if where the detector found that rock, that deeper might be something more.
We crushed the host rock then melted the powder and recovered 3.8 grams of gold. My son has been digging this spot and keeps finding specimen pieces and ore. We think that a lot of what been coming out is waste rock or unsorted ore that fell back into the pit. Hoping to uncover the actual vein or stringers carrying the gold. We need to rig up a hoisting system to clean out some of the waste rock / low grade ore. At least low grade to the old timers if we work at it we can recover a couple grams a day so far. Once in awhile a nice specimen shows up. This prospect was dry no water close by but we have quads and can haul a few buckets at a time back home. We have trailers for the quads but need to work on the trails a little so we can turn around some place flat.
 

We crushed the host rock then melted the powder and recovered 3.8 grams of gold. My son has been digging this spot and keeps finding specimen pieces and ore. We think that a lot of what been coming out is waste rock or unsorted ore that fell back into the pit. Hoping to uncover the actual vein or stringers carrying the gold. We need to rig up a hoisting system to clean out some of the waste rock / low grade ore. At least low grade to the old timers if we work at it we can recover a couple grams a day so far. Once in awhile a nice specimen shows up. This prospect was dry no water close by but we have quads and can haul a few buckets at a time back home. We have trailers for the quads but need to work on the trails a little so we can turn around some place flat.
and
This mornings crush about 50 grams of rock no gold showing. But it made the detector sing maybe a couple grams of gold. A pinch a day keeps us on the hunt Happy mining.

what do you need with actual veins or stringers? 3.8/50 = 7.6 % gold. It don't get much better than that. grab a couple tons and retire !!
 

Cleaning some dirty mercury that we use for micro gold loaded with contaminants. 45 minute run through the retort and one hour in the furnace with just a pinch of borax and washing soda. Needs a remelt but not bad 4 grams to add to the next melt. A few freckles but will cleanup nice in the next melt.
 

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Great little pickers. Just thought, that's more than I usually get in three months.
There's a line of micro gold next to the pickers. A lot of rock to move to get down to bedrock but its close by on our property. I hauled a quad trailer full of rocks up to the house to use around the greenhouse foundation. Another project almost complete. Rocks are to break the force of rain dripping off the roof no gutters.
 

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Seth swinging the beeper on a dry ravine nice shiny Gold. And he was back before sundown 8-)
Dang! There must be placer gold in the drainage too.
 

Just playing with crushed rock it's a long slow process to recover the values. Sledgehammer the big rocks then the jaw crusher next chain mill then micro sluice run the cons in the blue bowl. Then melt the cons or smelt I tried Chapmans flux left a dirty bead in the cupel but with a little scrubbing on a scotch Brite pad to remove the black coating on the bead I have Gold. I need to buy some nitric acid to speed up cleaning. I left out the snuffer bottle to pick up some of the gold and some days I use mercury and save the amalgam to retort. The mercury doesn't pick up all the gold because it's dirty and encapsulated with mineral so the cons need to soak in some drain cleaner or nitric. Then the mercury again to get the micro gold it all adds up in the end.
 

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This is my project for today I've been walking buy this outcrop / pile of quartz forever. I hope a speck or two will show out of one of the smaller rocks I crushed and milled now wet sluicing real slow on the micro mat. when I broke it open it looked like veins of red chili powder a good sign.
 

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I found Gold! in that fist sized rock I have a buckets worth to crush that might be the only bits I find but my curiosity will be satisfied. Or maybe not lol.
 

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