more questions

[tommag]

I finaly got out today and ran four or five buckets through the sluice. I brought a cup or two of concentrates home and started to pan it. Lots of panning videos on youtube, each one with it's own technique. I see lots of silvery sparkles in the last couple of teaspoons of black sand after running a magnet over it. I am having trouble segregating the flour-sized sparkles from the black sand.

I also got 5 (nugggets?) about the size of #2 shot that were slightly magnetic. They were heavier than the rest of the stuff I panned out. They are black in color.

Now, I'm starting to think that the sparkles I'm seeing in the black sand is the sand itself. Does black sand reflect light and fool one into thinking that these are flakes when the light hits it right?

When I watch vid's on the net, it looks so easy, I'm beginning to feel like an idjit.

[EnigmaticEngineer]

I finaly got out today and ran four or five buckets through the sluice. I brought a cup or two of concentrates home and started to pan it. Lots of panning videos on youtube, each one with it's own technique. I see lots of silvery sparkles in the last couple of teaspoons of black sand after running a magnet over it. I am having trouble segregating the flour-sized sparkles from the black sand.

I also got 5 (nugggets?) about the size of #2 shot that were slightly magnetic. They were heavier than the rest of the stuff I panned out. They are black in color.

Now, I'm starting to think that the sparkles I'm seeing in the black sand is the sand itself. Does black sand reflect light and fool one into thinking that these are flakes when the light hits it right?

When I watch vid's on the net, it looks so easy, I'm beginning to feel like an idjit.

Panning takes practice. Many different techniques that can be practiced...a popular one is to use Actual bird shot lead pellets and put them in a pan of dirt/sand/etc and practice panning them out....count how many you put in and make sure you recover all of them....

Another would be to use small gold flakes (again, count how many go in, etc....)

As far as what is in your black sand, pictures would help but even then it might be hard to determine.

Nathan.

[whats4supper]

If it was me, I'd look at the refiner's ad on the back of an ICMJ issue and send the stuff there for analysis and recovery. I have saved my black sand for that in the past, and they not only did a great job, but clued me in on other stuff that I didn't know. Besides, I got a check too.

Okay, they do get a clip for their services, but they have machines and methods to do stuff, along with chemical licensing, that would kill any 'profit' were I to sit around and dink with this myself. They also do ore that was once thrown away for being too low grade to make money at $20/oz, but now, at $950/oz, may be semi productive.

There's 2 ways to do that. one is to have a univeristy with a geology department perform assays and other tests to see if what you are finding is worth the work to get more. or two, send it in to the ICMJ places for an assay (or any local soils testing lab that also offers assaying). Unlike gold nuggets, ore coloration may obscure high grade gold. Suffice to state that most 'miners' nowadays haven't developed the eye of the 1890-1930's type miner in identifying good paying ore. There are a few on this site that could do it, but that is because they work towards that means every day.

If you plan on re-looking old mining sites, bear in mind that most of the 19th and early 20th centuries sent only the highest grade to mill, and and stockpiled the lesser grades outside, in the form of fingers on mine dumps. one finger or pile that juts away from the portal may be waste rock, but if there are two or more fingers on a mine dump, one is waste rock and one is graded ore that would have been processed after milling facilities or metals prices became better or more convenient. graded ore, in any one locale can be radically different than some other locale.

Comparing Goldfield, NV, with Chloride, AZ, Goldfield milling for low grade was done in close proximity, and higher grades were either sent to Utah or San Francisco. Chloride, AZ ores were initially loaded onto a RR car, sent to NJ, reloaded on a boat, and milled in Swansea, Wales. Milling facilities in Chloride, along with competent millmen did not exist until later years, therefore the ore shipped to england, milled, and the return check would take about 6-8 weeks, and only the best paying ore justified shipping. Many other districts in AZ, NV, CA were in the same boat as Chloride, while other districts had custom mills that cut costs when working with locals.

Depending on the district history, some fingers may provide a decent bonanza to one who sorts, tests, and ships.

The problem with black sands are there are particles that add up in value, which are either obscured by coatings, minerals, or too small to be distinguishable to human eyes, hence the challenge to get the values, and not get thrown in jail over chemical use at home, including mercurial and other reduction means.

as for the panners on TV, most use a stacked deck. that is, the background material works and looks good on camera, as well as the retrieval. granted, there are those around that can pan anything, but if you were paying the production crew to film your exploits, likely you wouldn't want any failures on camera.

just my thought

[tommag]

I finaly got out today and ran four or five buckets through the sluice. I brought a cup or two of concentrates home and started to pan it. Lots of panning videos on youtube, each one with it's own technique. I see lots of silvery sparkles in the last couple of teaspoons of black sand after running a magnet over it. I am having trouble segregating the flour-sized sparkles from the black sand.

I also got 5 (nugggets?) about the size of #2 shot that were slightly magnetic. They were heavier than the rest of the stuff I panned out. They are black in color.

Now, I'm starting to think that the sparkles I'm seeing in the black sand is the sand itself. Does black sand reflect light and fool one into thinking that these are flakes when the light hits it right?

When I watch vid's on the net, it looks so easy, I'm beginning to feel like an idjit.

I stopped by a guys place today with my black sand. He worked it for a minute and I learned a lot by watching him. It appears the "pt" I thought I might have found was only the light reflecting off the black sand. He put a few bits of lead in the pan and showed me how it acts as you pan it. That was worth a bunch of videos.

He did think I had a lot of black sand, for no more than I had done.

Maybe next time.....

Thanks.

Tom

[whats4supper]

a lot of areas with a lighter granite base, produces a lot of black sand- cajon pass, CA for example. the gold is there, but one has to customize the riffles to allow some black sand to wash off and not pack into the traps, otherwise the gold will flush away also when hitting the hard packed black sands.

I had some luck by using 3/4" angle iron with the top edge angled downward, say 22 degrees, separated by 4 inches off the leading edge, both angles opposing each other. also use some ribbed carpet, miners' moss, and covered by raised expanded metal. Still, even there, was found some PMG grains. In places like these, the gold is small, sort of like ground pepper or salt grains. that was the sort of stuff I sent elsewhere to refine. if you plan to pan the stuff, this is why there are graduated sizes of gold pans.

OR, you could simply buy a desert fox, and run your stuff 3 times, and then ship the leftover to the mill. this way, you get the 'bigger' values, and leave the fines to someone with the right machinery.