At what point do I stop washing black sand out of my pan?

[geolover]

I ran material through my sluce and then I started panning. After a while I realized that there was a lot of black sand (more than a cup). Am I supposed to keep washing it away until I get it down to a small amount? Or should I have kept the sand for any reason? I guess I'm afraid that I could lose super fine gold by washing it out.

I'm new

 

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[Oregon Viking]

I always thought it was Fat Old Guy.

 

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[geolover]

F##king Old Guy!

I don't get it, what's that mean?

Okay, now I get it. I asked what F.O.G. meant. Shoot!

 

[KevinInColorado]

I always thought it was Fat Old Guy.

Well, I'm getting to be an FOG but I'm not fat so...

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Myself being a F.O.G., when I went out id always screen the big stuff off and try to pan off most of the blonds at the creek side. I did this at the end of every day to keep from possibly leaveing anything in my sluice. this keeps anyone from takeing /dumping my days work! And I don't end up with a big load to carry back to my truck when done. I used to go out for 2 weeks at a time...... Maybe this Summer ill be able to get back with it!

Well, I hope this is the summer you make it !!

 

[Goldwasher]

I stop right around here

 

[geolover]

I stop right around here

Sweet!

 

[goldenmojo]

Being a FOG is bad, but being a FFOG is really bad. I pan down to black sand then beat the side of my pan into submission until the gold is on one side and most black sand is somewhere else. X3 equals a processed pan.

 

[QNCrazy]

I'm pretty confident in my panning skills now but when I was starting, I would pan my concentrates into a safety pan until I got all the black sands (usually 3-4 times through) and dump into a small bucket creating super concentrates to run through my blue bowl later. That's a thing of the past now. As you develop your technique, you'll gain confidence. after a good day, I end up with about a quart of material to classify and run through the Blue Bowl.

 

[Oregon Viking]

I'm pretty confident in my panning skills now but when I was starting, I would pan my concentrates into a safety pan until I got all the black sands (usually 3-4 times through) and dump into a small bucket creating super concentrates to run through my blue bowl later. That's a thing of the past now. As you develop your technique, you'll gain confidence. after a good day, I end up with about a quart of material to classify and run through the Blue Bowl.

They recommend a 750 GPH pump for the blue bowl, Is that what you are using?

 

[QNCrazy]

They recommend a 750 GPH pump for the blue bowl, Is that what you are using?

Yes. That's the one that came with it. I classify to 30, 50, and 100, running each separately.

 

[meMiner]

A couple of other things. Careful with magnets as they can trap gold with the magnetic black sand, especially where there is quite a bit of black sand and really fine gold. Also, some guys roast their black sands to release additional trapped gold.

 

[goldenIrishman]

A couple of other things. Careful with magnets as they can trap gold with the magnetic black sand, especially where there is quite a bit of black sand and really fine gold. Also, some guys roast their black sands to release additional trapped gold.

That's why I draw the magnetic sand up through the water. I "tease" the magnetic sand out without actually touching them with the magnet It helps to allow any trapped gold to drop out. Then I will run the magnetic sands through my rod mill to crush them. Shake and Bake (aka roast and quench) the crushed magnetics and then run everything over a miller table to get that micron gold out.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Exactly.

 

[Ragnor]

I don't like washing any black sand out of my pan when working with sluice concentrates. Therefore I use a catch pan. It's easy to get rusty and lose some surprisingly large flakes if you don't do it every day.
When running sluice cons or production panning I prefer to put them all in a gatoraid bottle with a funnel and pan down when I get home.
I suggest never panning more than a quarter cup at a time when panning cons.

That's how I do it, can't speak for anyone else.