Gold silver core sample

Huntsman1975 · Nov 3, 2018

I acquired several trays of cut core samples in an auction and although some of the labels indicate upwards of 56g/t AU and 9000g/t AG I don’t know what I’m looking at. Can anyone tell me if there’s any visible gold or silver in these pictures?

Johncoho · Nov 3, 2018

I don't know about silver, but that does look like gold in quartz.

vpnavy · Nov 4, 2018

Huntsman1975 said:
I acquired several trays...

I noticed this was your very first post - so, Welcome Aboard Huntsman1975! You didn't list your state (or country) in your profile. So, you might consider jumping over to Sub-Forum: Select Your Area.... for information (i.e., clubs, hunts, finds, legends, maps, etc.) directly related to your state (or country).

A2coins · Nov 4, 2018

Wow that's freakin awesome grab it up!!!!!!!

A2coins · Nov 4, 2018

Welcome to tnet Tommy

Huntsman1975 · Nov 4, 2018

I wasn’t quite sure because of the amount of colours in these pieces. Some of the pieces I have obviously have coper in them and some pyrite but I’m just not knowledgable enough to identify Silver and gold deposit. I’ll see if I can post some more pictures tonight

tamrock · Nov 4, 2018

Looks kinda like a breccia. There have been several higher grade gold deposits found in that type of formation such as what was found in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Those are some awesome looking cores. They might produce some really cool looking polished cabochons of quartz gold jewelry. I'm thinking they had them labeled correctly.

Huntsman1975 · Nov 4, 2018

A few more pics.

Huntsman1975 · Nov 4, 2018

I went out and bought myself a full shop of lapidary equipment after I got these. It will take me a lifetime to go through all the material I have though. lol I have 20 full core trays two polished and the rest are just cut. Cabochons are definitely the way to make some money off of them. Three five foot trays of high end material and the rest all have visible mineralization but not like the high end trays. They come from British Columbia’s golden triangle

Reanm8er · Nov 5, 2018

They now make diamond tipped hole saws, available at Lowes, etc. They come in a nice variety of small sizes with no center quides.

You use them at low speeds in a drill press with a constant flow of cooling water. You can cut rounds or mount the sample in a vice on a 30 0r 45 degree angle and cut ovals. I've used them for cutting hieshi beads out of seashells. Very slick but let them do the cutting without a lot of pressure. Save the dust, it may contain enough gold to be worth it!

Congrats on a very nice acquisition and good luck!

tamrock · Nov 5, 2018

I sell these things. They're pneumatic and the water flushes through the center of the diamond cutting tip. They're used to reshape the tungsten carbide buttons on a rock drill bit, such as this one I took a pic of last week in Wyoming. That bits made in Sweden and cost almost $450. Tomorrow I'm taking a bit made by Mitsubishi up there for a free demo, as it cost just under $300. and I hope I can demonstrate and more efficient cost per foot and get that business away from the Sweds, who I used to work for.

Huntsman1975 · Nov 5, 2018

Thanks for the tip! As far as saving the dust goes, In the auction I also acquired about 3 tons of drill tailings and pulp from when they tested the cores. I bought a gold cube and a blue bowl to help me sort that out. What I need to figure out is a cheep efficient way to crush the drill tailings into finer material. So far I’m thinking ball mill or chain flail style rock crusher.

Oddjob · Nov 5, 2018

pretty cool, I would crush them and pan it out.

Reanm8er · Nov 5, 2018

Also huntsman welcome to TNet!

That 9,000 grams per ton seems pretty tempting!

Reanm8er · Nov 5, 2018

My father in law was a lapidary and he used to separate gold and gemstones from matrix rock by boiling at low temperature in hydrochloric acid. I'd want to check that methodology with another source before I tried it.