Clean up proccesses

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Cuckoowaif

Stephen Gibson
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
107
Reaction score
27
Location
Rossmore, NSW
I have a bit of trouble with the final step in processing my finds . That is .... Getting the fine gold out of my sniffer bottle , dried and into my storage jar .....Do you fellows with years more experience than me have an easy way to do this ? Currently I pour out my sniffer onto an A3 sheet of white paper with the edges folded up , then put it somewhere to drain and dry , then very carefully - using a small paintbrush - separate the last of the contaminates . But I find that laborious and not very secure .... I've lost some gold behind the bookcase , and into the bristles of the brush ....
Any tips ???
Thanks , Steve .
 
Cuckoowaif said:
I have a bit of trouble with the final step in processing my finds . That is .... Getting the fine gold out of my sniffer bottle , dried and into my storage jar .....Do you fellows with years more experience than me have an easy way to do this ? Currently I pour out my sniffer onto an A3 sheet of white paper with the edges folded up , then put it somewhere to drain and dry , then very carefully - using a small paintbrush - separate the last of the contaminates . But I find that laborious and not very secure .... I've lost some gold behind the bookcase , and into the bristles of the brush ....
Any tips ???
Thanks , Steve .

You should be able to get your gold clean with the backwash and tap method in your gold pan. A little practice and you'll get every tiny flake.

Wal.
 
See if you can get hold of an old film canister or a medical specimen jar, Place the canister /jar over the neck of your snuffer, creating an almost watertight seal. Then over a goldpan invert so that the gold in the snuffer falls through the water column & with a bit of a swirl ends up in the film canister / jar. Then carefully allow the excess water to leak out of the seal created by the 2 necks. then drain off almost all of the water in the canister/ jar & place it on a sunny window sill to evaporate & dry off the rest. If your gold isn't clean enough just put it back in the pan & pan off over a second pan and pick up the gold that goes into the tail with the snuffer again & repeat the process.

Film canisters work best as they are black and warm up quickly in the sun.

Jethro
 
Much easier to just put the sniffer contents into a vial full of water, just let it overflow as you add more gold to it, sinks straight to the bottom. I just pan it off as good as I can, and separate the gold out in the pan. A magnet might also be advantageous for any magnetic heavies that keep on covering up the gold when you get to the stage of having a bit of a tail. I also have a blue bowl separator, works pretty well when set up properly, just need a level surface, nally bucket for the gangue material that falls through the centre, and a hose with a nylex type connector on it. Then you just fine tune the water flow, and sit there marvelling at the separation process. :)
 
the quickest way I have found to do this is to pan the snuffer bottle contents clean then snuff out the black sands in one snuffer bottle and then snuff up the gold in another snuffer and transfer the gold to a small frypan about 4 inch wide and cook it on the stove boil off the water and then when dry tip into a folded peice of paper then into a gold vial with the help of a little funnel.
cheers
Skip
 
Cuckoowaif said:
I have a bit of trouble with the final step in processing my finds . That is .... Getting the fine gold out of my sniffer bottle , dried and into my storage jar .....Do you fellows with years more experience than me have an easy way to do this ? Currently I pour out my sniffer onto an A3 sheet of white paper with the edges folded up , then put it somewhere to drain and dry , then very carefully - using a small paintbrush - separate the last of the contaminates . But I find that laborious and not very secure .... I've lost some gold behind the bookcase , and into the bristles of the brush ....
Any tips ???
Thanks , Steve .

nice question mate , i am not too proud to admit i had stumbles and bungles with that too in the early days , blowing gold over the workshop floor , kitchen sink , all over my toolbox , lol

two of the methods above are okay , get the gold and water into a small jar or film canister / vegemite jar and slowly heat it up , either in the sun , with a frypan , or a hair dryer to boil off the water
 
hereskip said:
the quickest way I have found to do this is to pan the snuffer bottle contents clean then snuff out the black sands in one snuffer bottle and then snuff up the gold in another snuffer and transfer the gold to a small frypan about 4 inch wide and cook it on the stove boil off the water and then when dry tip into a folded peice of paper then into a gold vial with the help of a little funnel.
cheers
Skip

I'd hate to hear your LONG way!
 
Thanks guys ... I knew I'd get some good ideas .....( Now , where did I see that film canister ?)
Merry Christmas to all ! ( I probably won't get to the forum tomorrow !)
Steve .
 
I 2nd hereskip, go and buy a small saucepan from Woolies and a very small funnel,
Good luck.
Cheers
Brad
 
You could tip your finds into a stainless milk jug that they use for coffee machines and just heat it on the stove to evaporate off. They usually have a small lip for pouring. Just let it cool down before handling.
Go to places like red shield or other thrift stores and you could get it for just a few cents.
 
WalnLiz said:
You should be able to get your gold clean with the backwash and tap method in your gold pan. A little practice and you'll get every tiny flake.

Then to dry it, just put your pan in the sun or spread the gold out in the pan & it'll dry over night.
With a metal pan you can put it over a low heat(BBQ/stove/fire) to dry it.

Then just tip it on a piece of A4 paper & make a bit of a funnel out of it & pour it into what ever you want.
 

Latest posts

Top