Borax, Mercury, Blue Bowl or Sluicing?

[John_Arizona]

I have a lot of arizona flour gold to process, although I know Mercury is a little dangerous and I heard Borax takes the danger out.

Will the Keene Super Concentrator work for flour gold or should I just use the blue bowl with jet dry?

I tried to take this photo with my cell, it's a little blurry.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm not finished processing this yet, just taking a short break.

It's hard to get a good shot to see the flour gold.

View attachment 1006370

View attachment 1006376

View attachment 1006377

Finished Result: 22 Troy oz, from 15 lbs of Ore on 6/10/14

View attachment 1007455

continue reading to understand how this was done.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[Goldwasher]

way too much material in your bowl. are you classifying ?running it about 1/4 below rim.....add a tablespoon at a time let material clear before adding more.

 

[jair]

I use mercury for my flower gold and let it build up all season before I extract it from the mercury .
A little mercury goes a long wY .
Just keep it under water and use rubber gloves .

 

[John_Arizona]

Thank you for the info. I bought a pound of mercury a while back. Using the bowl is an art
View attachment 1006469

 

[Fullpan]

I see the writing on the wall - I'm out of this one, lol

 

[John_Arizona]

I use mercury for my flower gold and let it build up all season before I extract it from the mercury .
A little mercury goes a long wY .
Just keep it under water and use rubber gloves .

I'd like to see how you do that, have a video?

 

[John_Arizona]

way too much material in your bowl. are you classifying ?running it about 1/4 below rim.....add a tablespoon at a time let material clear before adding more.

Yes I have it classified to about talcum powder size

 

[John_Arizona]

My little set up and some hard rock gold from my mine, before break I it down and classify it.

View attachment 1006480

View attachment 1006481

View attachment 1006483

just an experiment room, before I go bigger

 

[John_Arizona]

I believe that the saying for mercury is...It can absorb up to its own weight in gold...So, if you went out and bought a pound of mercury...You can amalgamate up to a pound of gold with it... So, if you are going to use it in your blue bowl... You should only need about 1/4 to 1/2 oz of mercury in it to amalgamate 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of gold... Like jair mentioned...a little does go a long way...

Ed T

I heard some one say somewhere once that they put the mercury in a rubber barrel rock tumbler and a lot of fines and run it around in there for a week before they use a retort. Has anyone on here done that?

 

[John_Arizona]

I have heard that some people do that with their black sands John...

Ed T

I don't have any black sands, just the hard rock found here in the Arizona Desert

 

[John_Arizona]

What about Borax? Anyone here gone that route? I have over a hundred tons of this, so I'm trying to find the best way possible to run this... and looks like I will have to go bigger and get more trusty worthy people or something. It's hard to find that without people getting greedy or willing to pump you full of lead for it

 

[John_Arizona]

I'm sure it will work with your fines John...If you don't want to classify everything down further than 40 to 50 mesh... Get yourself a triangular piece of copper the width of your sluice... Get you some charged mercury and coat the top of the copper plate and runs your fines over it... But you must be sure that your flour gold does not float away... Add your dawn or jetdry to make sure that the flour gold makes contact with your charged mercury on the plate... If all is well...Your flour gold will amalgamate with your mercury on your copper plate in your sluice...

Or so I have heard...hehehe



Ed T

will a miller table make the fines not work as well?

thanks for the info Ed

 

[jair]

Thank you for the info. I bought a pound of mercury a while back. Using the bowl is an art <img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1006469"/>

I to have the blue bowl , I admit it that I'm not any good at re covering with it either .

 

[John_Arizona]

Hey John... Here are a couple of agitators that would prolly work gr8 for cyanide leaching in a 55 gallon drum... 55 Gallon Drum Paint Agitator Local Pickup Garland Texas | eBay I had read someplace that they actually sold such a thing to miners long ago to rework the goldfields... Who knows

Ed T

Charge the mercury electrically?

I'm hesitant on the cyanide lol

can you draw a diagram on the copper plate and the mercury in a sluice?

I'm not getting it connected right in my brain without visually seeing it

You've been a tremendous help Ed!

John

 

[John_Arizona]

for every 2 pounds of ore, I'm getting 1.5 ounces of gold from my spanish/jesuit mine.
I will add more photos tomorrow. I'll post better photos of the gold loaded ore and take the photos in the sunlight.
I have 50 lbs of ore to process until next Sunday when I go get more.
View attachment 1006541

 

[John_Arizona]

I found this location on my claim using G.E. and a GPS, and my Fisher Gemini 3, it detected a large ore body below the ground and pegged out. I didn't have to move overburden as it started on top and about 2 feet down I got into this dark greenish clay and that stuff if packed with fines. Not to take photos of my claim as to give it away in case anyone knows that area... as the saying goes; "not where you think it is"

 

[ecmjamsit]

Personally I'd just smelt it. That is melt it in a crucible! I heated some mercury up once and it made me feel crazy for a few days.

 

[John_Arizona]

Personally I'd just smelt it. That is melt it in a crucible! I heated some mercury up once and it made me feel crazy for a few days.

How much can you get in a crucible?

Ok Thanks for that info, I like that idea a WHOLE lot better

 

[John_Arizona]

The Borax Method (I'd Prefer over Mercury)

 

[Bonaro]

Coating a copper plate with mercury...hat you are making is called a sickening plate. When the coated plate becomes saturated with gold it is said to be "sick" and need to be cleaned and recharged with fresh HG. Ww all have heard the stories of the pioneer miners contaminating the streams with lost HG and creating a environmental catastrophe for generations to come, well, this is exactly how they did it. Sickening plates and mercury should never be used in a open system. If you are 100% self contained with some method of secondary containment then it is plausible.

If you have a couple hundred pounds of crushed ore, you can deal with this in a DIY amalgamation system. If you have a hundred tons...or even one ton, you are going to need MUCH better equipment.

Tumbling the cons in HG is a easy solution and you can scale up by using a cement mixer. You only need to tumble for a hour or so but each batch is only going to be 100 pounds. That will take 20 hours for a ton with non-stop work

You need another way