IS GOLD MAGNETIC?

[christaylor]

I am trying my hand in a very sandy creek in gold country
Up to now I am just getting lots of what look like mica flakes
How do I get rid of it? It is not magnetic---can gold be attracted with a magnet
thanx
chris

 

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[coinshooter]

You've got to be kidding, right? If Gold was magnetic, then everybody would be prospecting for it with a magnet! If you wear a gold ring and you put a magnet up to it, does it stick? If it does, I would be talking to your jeweler! By the way, I have a bunch of "gold" I'd like to sell you! Only problem is it's black and sticks to my magnet!
Black sand will stick to a magnet, and many prospectors do use it to separate out their "concentrates", but this can be tricky too since gold can get stuck in between chunks of black sand and pulled up onto the magnet with it. This is not too common though unless you have a lot of black sand mixed in with the gold.
If you are digging where there is a lot of mica, you either need to dig a lot deeper, or leave that area for better pickings. Gold does not sit on the top of the sand and is usually at the bottom of a layer of sandy soil, resting on the bedrock. Just dig down to where it gets hard and then use a wisk broom and a dust pan to sweep the rock clean of dirt. If there is any gold anywhere it will be here. Most people do test pans first before they invest alot of time in an area. No gold in the test pan, move on until you can get some color. Black sand or lead shot in your pan is a good indication you are in an area that "could" produce some gold if it is there. No black sand, move on until you find some.
Best place I have found is in the cracks and crevices of nice fractured rock that water will go over once in 100 yrs or so. A good flood can move gold into these cracks and many prospectors only look in the broken rock closer towards the water. Good luck, couldn't resist giving you a hard time!

 

[christaylor]

Than you guys for the quick response--it answers my question and I will follow your advbice (I like your style, man!!!!)
A quick anwer again---Where can I get a plan of building my own, plain, down-to-earth gold detector without frills and spills and gadgets
(WANT TO BUILD IT BECAUSE I AM FROM S.AFRICA WHERE WE CANT GET ALL THE LUXURIES EXCEPT IMPORTING FOR THE PRICE OF A HOUSE)

 

[goldfinder]

Is gold Magnetic? NO!

If you look up gold in a chemistry handbook it will tell you a lot obout gold. Gold is "anti-magnetic" to a small extent.

If you want to build your own detector I suggest going to Geoteck.
http://www.thunting.com/cgi-bin/geotech/forum/view.cgi?action=index&forum=tech

I have built several of their detectors and the best one is Gary's pulse induction (PI) detector.

These are good for gold and ground rejection.

 

[christaylor]

gold leaching

NOT A PROSPECTING QUESTION, BUT SURELY TREASURE!!
FOR SOME TIME NOW I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET THE "RECIPE" FOR LEACHING GOLD WITH THIOUREA. THE BEST SITE SEEMS TO BE ASAT PUBLICATIONS IN NEW MEXICO. THEY HAVE A PUBLICATION CIP 4 THAT DEALS WITH THIS.
BEING FROM S.AFRICA(NO $-CURRENCY) I CANNOT PURCHASE THIS AS THEY ONLY WORK IN DOLLARS
hAS ANYBODY PERHAPS GOT THAT INFO AS I AM PREPARED TO PAY ALL COSTS AND SHIPPING?

 

[goldmann6]

Hello, I have many recipes for gold extraction that I could help you with, are you sure that the one you mention is a good one for your ore? is there visible gold? I can also send you the site by Minnie Lange,he is the master of it all, I am a private gold refiner but do lend a hand as long as you use caution and dont burn yours off...by the way, I have personaly processed hundreds of pounds of gold ore that was magnetic ,please never overlook any gold that sticks to a magne,have it tested,there is quite a chunk of change in so called fools gold!!!!

 

[lostriver]

where do you get your thiourea, everything I have found is expensive, damn DEA is making so that you can't buy anthing anymore, it is not illegal to sell it is just that they harrass the supplier so much they just won't carry certain products, don't want put up with the bulls..t

 

[Hoser John]

Just google search " Basement Chemistry for the Prospector" by Ken from CR-it has MANY different ways to treat ores for leaching.Had a few relatives from down S.A. way but they left WITHOUT their fortunes!!Tough country!!Tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Earl]

I've done a lot of gold dredging in northern cal. No, gold is not magnetic. The only thing gold is attracted to is mercury. So I guess mercury could be called a gold magnet. Don't get caught using mercury in the streams as it is illegal. Sounds like what you have is mica. Gold is very heavy and believe me, when you find gold you will know it's gold. If you want to test your finds to see if they are gold, buy a small bottle of nitric acid. Pour a small amount of nitric acid on the item you want to test. If it starts smoking and dissappears it is not real gold. Nitric acid will not affect gold. We used to pan down our dredge concentrates and when we got to the fine stuff that was too hard to separate out we would put the fine cocentrates in a plastic gold pan and pour nitric on it to clean it up. Then we would flush the nitric out, put a little water in the pan, enough to cover the concentrates in good shape and then pour in a glob of mercury and roll it around in the pan and it would pick up all the fine gold and leave the black sand. We would then place the mercury button in a cheese cloth and squeaze off the excess mercury back into the merc container. Then we would take the gold saturated merc and put it in a metal gold pan. Set the pan on a gas camping stove which is outside in a well ventelated area and cook off the merc. Make sure you leave the area and don't breath the fumes. When the merc is cooked off you have your gold lef in the pan. The gold will be a little discolored from the heating action and the nitric acid so put it in a small bottle with some strong vinegar and shake it for a while and it will get it's pretty golden color back. hope this helps you out. thanks Earl ps don't touch the merc with your bare skin as it it might penetrate your skin and get in your blood stream and lodge in your heart.

 

[parttime_miner]

I've done a lot of gold dredging in northern cal. No, gold is not magnetic. The only thing gold is attracted to is mercury. So I guess mercury could be called a gold magnet. Don't get caught using mercury in the streams as it is illegal. Sounds like what you have is mica. Gold is very heavy and believe me, when you find gold you will know it's gold. If you want to test your finds to see if they are gold, buy a small bottle of nitric acid. Pour a small amount of nitric acid on the item you want to test. If it starts smoking and dissappears it is not real gold. Nitric acid will not affect gold. We used to pan down our dredge concentrates and when we got to the fine stuff that was too hard to separate out we would put the fine cocentrates in a plastic gold pan and pour nitric on it to clean it up. Then we would flush the nitric out, put a little water in the pan, enough to cover the concentrates in good shape and then pour in a glob of mercury and roll it around in the pan and it would pick up all the fine gold and leave the black sand. We would then place the mercury button in a cheese cloth and squeaze off the excess mercury back into the merc container. Then we would take the gold saturated merc and put it in a metal gold pan. Set the pan on a gas camping stove which is outside in a well ventelated area and cook off the merc. Make sure you leave the area and don't breath the fumes. When the merc is cooked off you have your gold lef in the pan. The gold will be a little discolored from the heating action and the nitric acid so put it in a small bottle with some strong vinegar and shake it for a while and it will get it's pretty golden color back. hope this helps you out. thanks Earl ps don't touch the merc with your bare skin as it it might penetrate your skin and get in your blood stream and lodge in your heart.

KIDS, Please do not try this at home!


Hey Earl,
Why do you first clean the concentrates with the nitric acid before you make your amalgam?
Im not familar with that step...

 

[nebraskadad]

I saw a guy make a black sands magnetic with a film canister, a round magnet and a dowel.

He glued the dowel through the hole in the magnet.

drilled a hole in the lid of the film canister big enough for the dowel..

Snapped the lid back on the canister.

Run the bottom of the canister over your black sands (wet), with the dowel to the bottom of the canister
It'll pick up the magnetite, and pyrite, hematite is not magnetite.

Pickup the whole thing move it out of your pan, and pull the magnet back, It may not hurt to do this over another pan if you are as anal about losing gold as I am.

Kind of cool, and why pay $10 for a Keene sand magnet??

 

[brla]

gold is not magnetic for sure



Regards

 

[ARCOMANDPURPLE]

HEY,EARL sorry but youre MERCURY post is bad advise!! Quite a few youngsters might see it and try it. In any case why waste the MERC when you can recover it in a much safer way and re-use it. Just an opinion

 

[nebraskadad]

Better ways to recover fines then mercury. If you decide you want to play with Mercury then do it at home and make sure you recover ever last BB...

Put your black sands in your 3 lb Lortone tumbler with a couple cups of white vinegar, tumble for 8 hrs an then run it through a D.A.M Bowl. from http://www.golddredgehog.com/catalog.shtml


BLUE CONCENTRATING BOWL

This bowl is very effective for separating the heavy black sands from the gold,and is easy to operate. Requires very little water.Couples to any garden hose so it can be used at home or in the field with water from the fusher port on a dredge punp.
List Price: 59.95
Our Price: 54.95

This is the way to go, or get a Tom and Perry fine kit from the GPAA..

 

[bowlan]

Re: no

I know very little about prospecting but I can tell you that gold will not be attracted by a magnet.

Magnets only attract Iron, and 2 other things. I'm guessing the two others are Cobalt and Nickel but I could be wrong.

Would be nice though if it did. I'm just getting into metal detectors but you might be able to use one specificly made for gold that is water proof to search the stream.

Someone with more experience should respond since I know nothing about prospecting.

Abbadon
right,gold is nonferrous and nickle is also nonferrous the same with copper they are not attracted to a magnet