Very Fine Gold Recovery?

[Konrad]

Very Fine Gold Recovery?
Hello,

This is my first time at Treasurenet so bear with me if this is a repeated question.

I live in Western Washington close to the Puget Sound. The gold in my back yard and in local streams is very fine dust. In fact, sometimes the only way you can see it is under magnification (hand held lens). This is after classifying and running through a 5 inch sluice.

I have been strongly considering the purchase of the Desert Fox automatic panning machine along with a set of fine classifiers from e-bay but have not followed through.

My question is: What is the best way to extract very fine gold? It is there. I just can’t get it separated from the other debris reliably.

Thanks,
Konrad

 

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[NeoTokyo]

Take a look into the Gold Cube, it was made for fine gold recovery from sands.

 

[NeoTokyo]

Oh and welcome to Tnet.

 

[wa-au-nut]

:Konrad I bought a Black Magic to clean up my black sands, seemed to work when I tried it out but haven't got around to really running much through it. Got to get some finer classifiers. It's slow but I got plenty of time. Know what you mean about the dust, can see it in the black sands with a loop but can't pan it out. I feel it's my Gold, I worked for it, I want it all Dangit! By the way I live North Sound.

 

[Goodyguy]

The gold cube is not a finishing sluice, it is a concentrator. It is great at taking 100's of pounds of 1/8" material and reducing it to a couple of cups or so of super concentrate, but you will still have to separate the gold out of that concentrate.

If it's not easily visible gold or can only be seen with magnification then mercury is the way to go for final separation.
Study up on the process and you will be able to recover all that micro gold easily and safely.

Amalgamation: Using Mercury to capture fine gold, retort, charged mercury

GG~

 

[Konrad]

Thanks Guys,

It seems the consensus on this and a number of other sites are the Gold Cube and then a Miller table of some description is the way to go. I’m not sure I could swing the amalgamation process past my Chief Financial Officer. I’m thinking if I have to resort to amalgamation, Mother Nature can have it back or it’ll find a home in a large container until I find a local processor I can trust.

I have found a demo video on You Tube for the Black Magic sluice but have not been able to locate their web-site.

I also found an “Alluvial Sluice” marketed on E-Bay but it has very fine ribs (rubber) on the working surface. Of course, everyone claims to be the best.

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks again,
Konrad

 

[mattfink]

i've seen the black magic in action and its pretty good at separating the gold from concentrates you just have to be quick at sucking it up off the table with a snuffer bottle and for what it is its not too expensive at $125.

 

[Goodyguy]

Thanks Guys,

It seems the consensus on this and a number of other sites are the Gold Cube and then a Miller table of some description is the way to go. I’m not sure I could swing the amalgamation process past my Chief Financial Officer. I’m thinking if I have to resort to amalgamation, Mother Nature can have it back or it’ll find a home in a large container until I find a local processor I can trust.

I have found a demo video on You Tube for the Black Magic sluice but have not been able to locate their web-site.

I also found an “Alluvial Sluice” marketed on E-Bay but it has very fine ribs (rubber) on the working surface. Of course, everyone claims to be the best.

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks again,
Konrad

I like the idea of using a miller table for the visible fines and then stockpile the tailings from it for later processing.

 

[mattfink]

it all depends on if your a hobby prospector or a small scale minner and how much money you have to blow

 

[kadookid]

Hello everyone I'm new here and to prospecting, I have the same problem with very fine gold,I'm in eastern kansas and the samples from a local creek had a lot of +50 and +100 hundred (hope I said that right) but I just can't get it panned out, I've added a very small amount of dish soap and still no luck. would the blue bowl be the answer will it get gold that small successful thanks Mike

 

[Goodyguy]

The blue bowl will definitely recover gold that size and smaller like down to 200 mesh. Just know that it requires much in the way of classifying so that the material being run is of the same size. That way it's much easier to separate the gold due to the difference in density of the same size particles.

GG~

 

[kadookid]

thanks for the info, Mike

 

[Oakview2]

No matter what manner of separation you use, classifying is the key putting the specific gravity of gold to work for you. JMHO...

 

[Goodyguy]

thanks for the info, Mike

Also do not use dish soap, while it will reduce the surface tension of water it also produces suds. Suds or bubbles will cause flour gold to ride right on out of your pan. Use a couple of drops of jet dry instead.

 

[Konrad]

I saw an interesting video from the Philippines using borax in a crucible to amalgamate gold from other heavies. It looked like a good way to get that last bit without the use of mercury.

 

[Goodyguy]

I saw an interesting video from the Philippines using borax in a crucible to amalgamate gold from other heavies. It looked like a good way to get that last bit without the use of mercury.

The process is called "direct smelting" works best when you are dealing with no more than 50 to 100 grams of super concentrate (containing at least 25% gold) at a time.

GG~

 

[Doug Watson]

If you can stop by or call Prospectors Plus's store in Gold Bar. They have fine gold recovery equipment to try out in the store.
Beach Prospecting Weekend [Flash in the Pan Blog]

 

[Konrad]

Woo Hoo!

Thanks for the heads up.
Seeing things working "In the Flesh" is always nice.
Plus its a great excuse for a ride in the country.
Thanks again,
K

 

[Goodyguy]

Very Fine Gold Recovery?
Hello,

This is my first time at Treasurenet so bear with me if this is a repeated question.

I live in Western Washington close to the Puget Sound. The gold in my back yard and in local streams is very fine dust. In fact, sometimes the only way you can see it is under magnification (hand held lens). This is after classifying and running through a 5 inch sluice.

I have been strongly considering the purchase of the Desert Fox automatic panning machine along with a set of fine classifiers from e-bay but have not followed through.

My question is: What is the best way to extract very fine gold? It is there. I just can’t get it separated from the other debris reliably.

Thanks,
Konrad

Here is an invention from Australia seems to work great! (a bit pricey though)

 

[LP13]

Chances are if you are using a standard sluice that you are missing a lot of the fine gold to begin with. I am the developer of a new type of sluice that excels at recovery of fine gold (and large gold too!). I live in a gold-rich area of Arizona that has a lot of very fine gold, and that is what prompted me to develop this sluice. A completed run through the sluice yields only a small amount of material (less than a cup, mostly black sands and gold). A typical cleanup takes me about 10 minutes or so. After large gold removal, I keep the black sands and reprocess them through the sluice when I have a large quantity, thereby concentrating the super-fine gold to a point that it is more easily separated and recovered.

I have processed concentrates that have been put through spiral wheels and blue bowls and have recovered gold that was missed by them. I have processed nearly pure magnetite and recovered flour gold from that as well. Although it is not a final recovery system, it will greatly reduce the quantity of unwanted material to a more manageable amount. It can be used as a primary sluice or a cleanup sluice.

This sluice works by creating vertically oriented vortices, the top 'bed' of which is constantly in motion. When something heavy passes across the top of it, it drops away through the material on top into the low velocity area below. Imagine a bucket full of ball bearings being vibrated around and dropping a coin in it. It's going to the bottom. Material should be classified to 1/4", however I have used it with raw material without much problem. The horizontal slots across the sluice are 'mixing wells' that accelerate the separation of the light and heavy material so that it flushes out quickly. They will grab a nugget or large flake as well. If this seems like it might fit your needs, PM me.