how to recover gold from 100 mesh

[GlenS]

I have 25 gallons of material that has been classified through a 100 mesh screen. when i flipped the bucket over it had gold in it. So i ran it through my mini sluice and I recovered nothing. I did all the tricks like using jet dry, I think the problem is it has a lot of clay in it, so when i slow the water down the clay builds up. is quick silver the only way? speaking of quick silver I am working a tailing pile from the 1800's and it is full of it. How do I stop it from grabbing gold in the finishing process.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

On materials that fine I'd strongly suggest using a Miller Table instead of a regular sluice. Much slower water flow but everything must be classified to the same size.

On the Mercury, if it's already in the materials there's not much you can do except to keep any "contaminated" gold in a separate container. Proper handling of Mercury is important due to health hazards. Any gold that has it on it should be run through a retort system to safely remove and recover the Mercury without releasing it into the environment. As with any "lab procedure", be sure you understand it before attempting it and use proper protective gear.

 

[bakergeol]

What you have is hardly unusual. Same here in large parts of Colorado- a lot of - 100 mesh gold which has already gone thru a sluice box ( or several sluice boxes) from miners in the past. If you had run this stuff thru a regular sluice box you would probably would never had seen most of it. That is why testing areas I just look at pure classified bank run and not sluice box concentrates. Popular gold gizmos everyone uses for final separation will not work for gold this fine.

Well as mentioned above a miller table might work providing the gold does not have good shape(rounded) and one uses good classification. However, I would not have the patience to classify and run 25 gallons of material on a miller table. Sounds more like a winter project with lots of time on one's hand. Not something you would want to do on a regular basis coming home from the tailing pile.
First- I would think- Is this fine gold worth the effort? If it is worth the effort- I would consider a small wave table. You could run the 25 gallons pretty quickly and you would get a pure gold line. Here in Colorado we get a lot of 300 to 500 mesh amalgam. It is not in liquid form but solid pieces. On a wave table it forms the front edge and is separated from the coarser +300 mesh pure gold. The gray material on the outside edges of the bright gold in the photo below is amalgam(300 mesh) An upper edge of a penny for scale. I posted plans for a small wave table awhile back on this forum.


George

 

[ygmfmh]

Anything that fine, you will need a shaker table to recover it. You ~might~ try a blue bowl, but be prepared to not get in a hurry. A blue bowl will get some of it if all the material is classified to a specific size and then only run that size material at a time.
good l

 

[arizau]

Google cleangold.com. Those sluices are designed to concentrate even the tiniest particles of gold imaginable. They are controversial since there is a secret recovery technique only divulged to original buyers and many are skeptical because of that. A bonus would be that you could set one up and mine beach gold there on your coast. Also google fossickers.com. He is licensed to sell his version of sluices using the same cleangold technology and some of them can be used in a highbanker mode. There are some videos on his site too. Calling them might help you make a decision.

You might also consider using one or some of the Goldhog mats for concentration. http://www.goldhog.com/sluice_mats.htm

Good luck.

 

[Hoser John]

Amalgamate it with mercury in a ball mill/big tumbler, retort and done. Electrowinning to plate out the precious metals. Cyanide leach and electroplate out on and on. John

 

[GlenS]

wow thanks for all the ideas. But maybe i need to explain a little more. The tailing pile i work out of has a lot of clay in it. so I use a trammel to wash it and run through a 14" x 48" sluice. I take the fines and classify it down, finishing to 100 mesh. I run #75 up 1/16 through a blue bowl, and watch the quick silver grab my gold so i got a small mini sluice to try and save it. it works pretty good still have to separate the the gold from the mercury. now about the material that goes through the 100 mesh still has both really fine clay and quick silver in it. Blue bowl did not work clay just makes a ball with the mercury and picks up the talc gold. so i tried my mini sluice for black sand. If i slow the water down the clay just builds up in the mate and i'm back to square one. I would say forget it. witch was what i was doing when i dumped the bucket. I could see at least a couple grams so i think its worth saving.

 

[arizau]

Not to beat a dead horse but this goldhog mat may be your solution. Gold Washer Mat - Concentrator Sluice Mat One guy, rayzer13, on Doc's forum goldprospectingforum.com dredges tailings from an old mine in Juneau runs the cons over these mats and gets the gold (mostly 100 mesh and smaller). Maybe join the forum and pm rayzer13 with some questions and/or get some answer from Doc himself.

 

[GlenS]

arizau i would love to join this awesome group. But I don't do banks and pay pal wants a credit card or bank account. sorry just don't trust banks. so if someone would send me a address i'll send a money order. oo wait can't trust people online. maybe the person in charge can e-mail me and i'll risk it.

 

[arizau]

arizau i would love to join this awesome group. But I don't do banks and pay pal wants a credit card or bank account. sorry just don't trust banks. so if someone would send me a address i'll send a money order. oo wait can't trust people online. maybe the person in charge can e-mail me and i'll risk it.

Not sure what you are talking about?? Cash only and in person? Gold Hog is a very reputable firm and one of the sponsors of this forum and here is their contact info for email. http://www.goldhog.com/contact.htm

 

[GlenS]

sorry i was referring to joining treasure net,

 

[Oregon Viking]

sorry i was referring to joining treasure net,

You are already a member of Treasure net.

 

[pczim]

Mercury will be your most effective way. Place your concentrates in a large bucket and then drop a teaspoon of mercury in it. Then give it a good mix with a stick and then try to grind it down with an object like a bottle. Gold will stick to the mercury, then you squeeze out the excess mercury through a silk cloth. what you are left with will be 80%+ gold. This can then be smelted with a blowtorch or furnace.

*Disclosure* Mercury is not legal in some countries, not sure of your countries mining laws please check it out. Mercury if not handled correctly can be hazardous towards health, please ensure you have the correct safety equipment....... especially when smelting..... some folks burn the mercury out in a potato before smelting, instructions to do this can be found on many sites online.

 

[Gold Cube]

Bottom line with gold is a gold pan will get gold any machine can recover. If you cannot pan it out, it more than likely is not gold. I have seen way to many seasoned miners get caught by the glitter of mica. Gold will always act like gold. If there was enough gold that you where able to see it and none of it was captured? I say it's not gold.
First thing I would do is de-silt the material.
Put a quart of material in a 5 gallon bucket with just a trickle of water in it running and overflowing.
Now reach in with a stick and stir it like soup. Just sir it around keeping it moving, not making a big vortex.
When the water clears up you will have a better time getting the material to process.
What you need to be observing when stirring is the material leaving the bucket. If it is the gold you were seeing, it is not gold. Micro gold will suspend in water and take longer to reach the bottom but any gold that is visible is too large to stay suspended. You will not see this gold until you pan it or use another type gold recovery method.
Now the material is able to work so choose your machine. Or as I started with here, Pan It
Have a look at my method of panning in our Fine Gold Challenge videos The Golden rule is "If all your material is the same size, Gold Rules!" Have a look and let us know how it all comes out. I see you have Mercury as well and it will all act the same (by weight) But to put it all together, tip your pan away from you about 20º and slowly swing your pan left and right. Just a rolling motion is needed. This will roll all the mercury together and you will easily be able to suck it out and safely contain it.

 

[Gold Cube]

Mercury will be your most effective way. Place your concentrates in a large bucket and then drop a teaspoon of mercury in it. Then give it a good mix with a stick and then try to grind it down with an object like a bottle. Gold will stick to the mercury, then you squeeze out the excess mercury through a silk cloth. what you are left with will be 80%+ gold. This can then be smelted with a blowtorch or furnace.

*Disclosure* Mercury is not legal in some countries, not sure of your countries mining laws please check it out. Mercury if not handled correctly can be hazardous towards health, please ensure you have the correct safety equipment....... especially when smelting..... some folks burn the mercury out in a potato before smelting, instructions to do this can be found on many sites online.

To add to the disclosure, the best way to remove and recapture your mercury is a retort. If you don't know what this is or how to use it, you are not ready to mess with mercury. Do your research and stay safe

 

[pczim]

To add to the disclosure, the best way to remove and recapture your mercury is a retort. If you don't know what this is or how to use it, you are not ready to mess with mercury. Do your research and stay safe

100% correct

 

[GlenS]

I won on the clay, locale shop turned me on to Clay be gone, long process. now i am down to the mercury in the concentrates. built a retort yesterday. but when i went to build a kiln my wife flipped out about the price of that high temp concrete at a 142$ for 50pound any ideas people?? hopefully if i don't blow my self up i should have so pics next week for you all. then my next ? is how to you get all the other metals out of the button. with out chemicals ? or can I

 

[meMiner]

For educational purposes and insight Google "potatoe mercury gold".

 

[KevinInColorado]

For educational purposes and insight Google "potatoe mercury gold".

But DO NOT try it. Only a retort is safe.
(Is that obvious? I hope so!)

 

[KevinInColorado]

I won on the clay, locale shop turned me on to Clay be gone, long process. now i am down to the mercury in the concentrates. built a retort yesterday. but when i went to build a kiln my wife flipped out about the price of that high temp concrete at a 142$ for 50pound any ideas people?? hopefully if i don't blow my self up i should have so pics next week for you all. then my next ? is how to you get all the other metals out of the button. with out chemicals ? or can I

Why do you need to get the other metals out? It won't change what $$ you can get for the gold.

Instead of refractory cement, just use fire bricks with no mortar to build your little furnace...it's gonna be tiny anyway right?

Also, please read up on safety before you start melting metal. Liquid gold hitting a concrete floor can be explosive due to moisture in the concrete for example!