Fine Gold Recovery information and questions

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I am trying my best to refrain from using chemicals... don't want to mess the rivers. This is a remote site. But thank you very much!!
 
Ok, I see. Possibly you need to collect a concentrated sample & then take it home & refine it down to gold only in a more controlled environment. Ie the back shed. You may even be able to smelt it directly from your concentrates.
 
TenOunce Tone said:
Smelt is a good option. It sjould remove a lot impurities

G'day TenOunce, I've just recently joined the forum. I was looking through some of the posts n placed a similar question just a second ago...then saw this post here which is equally as relevant!
I've recently panned what seems to be VERY fine gold and have researched how to concentrate and then separate it so that's not a problem, but what I really hope you could help me with is how to know if I've found gold and not mica or pyrite. What would you suggest? I understand the differences in characteristics between them all however his stuff is so so fine haha
Any advice would be appreciated

Cheers mate

SB
 
Hi SB, Well I use a 10x jewelers Loupe and have a look at the fine particles, you will know the gold when you see it, it will always look gold no matter what the direction of the light is coming from. Pyrites etc will change from highly reflective from one direction but look like a piece of gravel at another..

Smelting would be an activity that you could do if you had enough to make a button with, at least a gram. that would appear like a lot of fine gold, you would also have problem of potentially blowing it all out of the crucible if you went about it the wrong way...

I will try and take some pics or a vid of how I separate super fine gold mixed with other minerals and gravels when I get some, hopefully over Easter.

Patience is the key when working with micro gold.

Cheers, Tone
 
Cheers Tonne!! Thanks for getting back to me, I recently bought a loupe so I'll have have another go at it! You are right though, about the amount powder gold to make a gram haha worse than that is the amount of pay dirt I'll have to move to accumulate a gram haha!
When I have a go at it I'm sure I won't be laughing 8.(

Thanks again
SB
 
Ben78 has the right idea. Build yourself a miller table.
I have used one for years and would have nothing else for fine gold recovery.
Slate is the best to use if you can get a piece large enough. If you can't get any slate, visit your local stone mason and get a slab of granite and paint it with blackboard paint, almost as good as slate. The water flow and angle are fairly critical to get it to work properly.
I have seen some tables that use those green cutting matts as a base, don't work anywhere near as well though.

Have fun
Jeff
 
Much appreciated Jeff, and of course Ben78, just had a look on YouTube at the general concept.
I think it'll be the way to go! When I get set up (which may be a few now because of Easter)I'll post a vid on how it went.

Many thanks

SB
 
I've just got home from a panning session, lots of tiny fine specks in almost every pan. My question is, how does people get these tiny small specks out of their pan and put it in their vials? I tried using my fingers and sucker bottles but it was pretty difficult. Do people have a special technique or use certain tools?
 
Hi Noah13,

I usually let it all dry out in the pan after I have carefully panned out and separated all the black sand and rubbish. Once the pan is dry you can tip your fines onto a piece of paper, fold it up and pour into your vial.

hope that helps
 
Cheers MJB, I'll give that a go, today was a nightmare with so much fine stuff, I recon I lost half of it haha
 
Lots of different techniques are used by the good panners if you have the time and patience.

A lot are using fine gold separators today such as blue bowls and the likes, you can make your own or buy one on the net.

I use a one of these fine gold filters that give you 'clean gold' down to 50 microns which is very fine!

http://www.finegoldsluices.com/clean-gold-recovery.html

Regards
 
Magnifying glass and tweezers for peckers mate helps to identify fine gold if its dirty. I let dust dry and use wet finger to put in vial.
 
Hi All,

I want to process a fair bit of concentrate which I get from a HB. This is for a small prospecting operation which I am starting up. After putting the concentrate through a blue spiral bowl, how can I do away with the panning. Panning becomes the weak link as it is slow and I could lose more fine gold... this would be done under field conditions.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Regards
 
Thank you Andynan.

Looks good. I have two main questions which you might be able to help with:

1. What about gold trapped inside the black sands? - will this be liberated with the a furnace or acid?
2. What is the approximate cost?

Regards
 
Shumba said:
Thank you Andynan.

Looks good. I have two main questions which you might be able to help with:

1. What about gold trapped inside the black sands? - will this be liberated with the a furnace or acid?
2. What is the approximate cost?

Regards

The wave tables will get pretty much all of the microscopic gold out. And then the purifying process will get rid of any other impurities
I have no idea on the cost . But Ian freeland is the man to talk to on this . His number is on the bottom right under international reps ... But I would say . When asking the price .. Be sitting down . Ian is very helpful and loves talking about all things gold .. When you call him just ask that you want to talk a bit about the wave table and if that's ok.. As he runs another company through the day .. :)
 

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