Help Gold with silver and galena

[nmhunter]

Another Noob question. I need some help from you all again.

I have been prospecting in an area known to produce silver, copper, and gold. I have several "pebbles" that range in color from pale yellow to near white as well as some black and dark grey that are much denser than magnetite. I have also found galena at this location.

As I pan, these pebbles (-8) and the fly speck gold are left behind as the black sands wash away. I then need to remove the pebbles with tweezers in order to snifter up the fly poop. I believe that some of these pebbles contain a large amount of gold that I cannot see and wanted to know if there was a way to clean away the other minerals or if I should continue to save them as is until I wish to have them tested to sell.

Please let me know if I am just a fool with golden dreams or if I may be right and how you would proceed.

Thank you and happy hunting

 

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[diggerdoug2]

hay there im diggerdoug2. i went to high school there in t or c nm. i know the minerals you talk about. i use to go to the mount and look for the gold mines.the stuff you are talking about could be tellurides gold and silver. i d try crush some and see what you get. where you at

 

[lastleg]

Yeah, put the pebbles in the pocket of some old jeans, wrap jean legs around it and pound with a .
hammer. If you know what gold looks like? pan it out. If you don't know buy some genuine gold
concentrate and learn what gold looks like and how it will always stays in the pan unless you
slosh it out.
I knew a guy who fished there, met a prospector who worked the canyons west of the lake, found
gold there. So gold was washing down from above and settled behind rocks, vegetation.

 

[KevinInColorado]

I agree that you should keep anything that heavy for later testing as you learn more.

If it is telluride a, crushing will not free the gold as it is chemically bonded. Google "Processing gold telluride" a to learn more

 

[nmhunter]

I agree that you should keep anything that heavy for later testing as you learn more.

If it is telluride a, crushing will not free the gold as it is chemically bonded. Google "Processing gold telluride" a to learn more

Thank you everyone. I should have stated earlier that my first step after panning was crushing some thinking it was an ore. These were either obtained from a dry washer from ancient deposits or from sifting gravels in recent arroyos. Both spots are in the Caballo Mountains between Caballo Lake and Turtleback. After classifying to 8-, I ran the material through a goldcube to concentrate and then panned.

I have done extensive panning, but am not an expert. I do know how the gold behaves and in my crushed rock I do not find gold but suspect it is there due to density and behavior of host pebbles.

I am very ignorant in regards to tellurides. Are there any particular videos you would recommend? Those familiar with the area and minerals do these sound like tellurides?

 

[nmhunter]

When I started, an old timer told me to save all my black sands and to roast them in a cast iron skillet over a camp fire. After heating, he said to grind it up and pan it to be sure I got every bit of gold. With only a quick search, it looks like I need to do this with the pebbles as well.

Have any of you done this and if so how are your results? I had forgotten this advice, although I do save my black sand since the kids love to play with the magnetite.

 

[golden ray]

If you suspect tellurides/sulfide, roast in a furnace (or cast iron pan) for a good 30 minutes. Shake pan occasionally.
Material should be ground down to at least 1/16 of an inch. This will drive off the sulfides, & unlock a good bit of
the trapped gold. Roasting will not damage your material in any way, telluride or not.

 

[KevinInColorado]

If you suspect tellurides/sulfide, roast in a furnace (or cast iron pan) for a good 30 minutes. Shake pan occasionally.
Material should be ground down to at least 1/16 of an inch. This will drive off the sulfides, & unlock a good bit of
the trapped gold. Roasting will not damage your material in any way, telluride or not.

And do it outside, avoiding the fumes!!

 

[nmhunter]

Thank you guys so much. As always great info and much appreciated. I am going to hold onto the pebbles with my other concentrates and take with me on my next camp out. A cast iron skillet on a very hot fire/ bed of coals should do nicely.

On a side note, i was checking some of the really gnarly ones thinking they were more mangled bird-shot with lime on them and soaked them over night in Vinegar. This morning I was rewarded with my biggest picker yet. Very happy I did not crush those up Oh, and yes, more lead bird-shot has been removed from the environment.

I went back for a few hours today and also found my first Spur. I guess that makes sense since I pulled a horseshoe from the same crack a few days ago. I have not done the clean up yet but hopefully there is a little yellow in with all the trash.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Congrats on the picker! Your spot is turning out to be really interesting

 

[nmhunter]

Love the spot but very hard to get the gold. This area has been worked hard since the 1880s and I was very close to the foundations of several old miner's cabins. I have now moved to another area that is less interesting but producing better clean gold. Hoping to get some even bigger pickers in the new area since i am in virgin ground although further from the suspected source.

 

[yosefnoah]

I think so you should take help of any expert who can help you in these rather then trying it with yourself.

 

[nmhunter]

Welcome to tnet Yosefnoah.

One of the best aspects of tnet is the advice of the experts and I try to follow and research that advice as much as possible. In this case, both DiggerDoug and Lastleg are very familiar with the area I have been working and know the minerals I located. Kevin then helped with additional info on Tellurides and golden ray was able to inform me how he processes his tellurides.

I have worked this crack down over 18" opening up the bedrock and finding lower pockets. As the monsoons are here now I have moved and located a more productive location, but I have saved those heavies and will certainly return at a later date.

 

[LP13]

I know that the New Mexico area and a lot of the Colorado Plateu is a source of uranium ores. These are very heavy (note below that Uranite has a density similar to silver or lead.) I do not know if this is what you have in your pan or not, but you might have someone with a geiger counter test some of the pebbles to see if they are somewhat hot (most uranium ores are not significantly hot to be a health hazard in small quantities). The only reason I bring this up is that you are in the area where uranium is commonly found, and in fact, I have seen a video on YouTube that describes where to go in New Mexico specifically, and get ore, how to smash it and use chemicals to turn it into yellow cake uranium (first stage of usable uranium metal).

Here are the properties of Uraninite from Mineralogy Database - Mineral Collecting, Localities, Mineral Photos and Data ... one of my favorite places to look to identify minerals! Awesome site!

Physical Properties of Uraninite
Lustre: Greasy, Sub-Metallic, Dull
Diaphaneity (Transparency): Opaque
Colour: Black, brownish-black, greyish, greenish; green-gray (thin fragments)
Streak: Brownish black, grayish, olive-green
Hardness (Mohs): 5 - 6
Hardness (Vickers): VHN50=499 - 548 kg/mm2
Tenacity: Brittle
Fracture: Irregular/Uneven, Conchoidal
Density (measured): 10.63 - 10.95 g/cm3
Density (calculated): 10.88 g/cm3
Comment: Decreasing with oxidation to low as 6.5

One thing that can sure help anyone trying to figure out what an unknown mineral is, (combined with the information from this site), is streak color. For those of you who do NOT know what that is, it is simply the process of taking a piece of some unknown mineral and scratching it on an unglazed white ceramic or porcelain tile, then noting the color of the streak it leaves. You may be surprised because a mineral say that looks black may actually streak red or green or some other color! That helps to figure out what mineral it might be by using mindat.org's search engine to look for minerals that streak with whatever color you have noted! You can buy mineral streak plates on ebay or amazon, but I just got a few unglazed tiles at Habitat for Humanity next door for a quarter each. On ebay or amazon they aren't so expensive either. You might also check Legend, INC. out of NV for them.

And here is the link to the uranium ores that could be involved if in fact it is uranium ore.

Uraninite: Uraninite mineral information and data.

And here is a link to mindat.org's main search page for minerals. Enjoy!

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