First Foray into Processing Crushed Rock

[N-Lionberger]

Until you find an a big specimen locked in a quartz matrix don’t bother with acid, when you find one seek help of an experienced operator not hearsay on an Internet forum. HF is as I previously have stated very dangerous to your health. Exposure can result in various painful results including having your bones decalcify.

 

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[russau]

AHMEN to that !!!

 

[desertgolddigger]

Just to let you know, the concentrated HF acid is not for sale to individuals, unless they run a registered laboratory.. At least this one manufacturer is doing that with this hazardous chemical, and I imagine all chemical manufacturers are doing that with all chemicals that are so toxic.

The idea that kitchen implements and HF are being used together is terrifying. If you don’t have a laboratory setup you should run screaming away from HF.

Not me. I'm trying to locate proper containers and mixing sticks that are needed for even less than 2% by volume HF acid products. They say you can clean regular plastic, but I'm not sure how any other plastic other than HDPE will contain it over any period of time.

 

[southfork]

Whink is a household cleaner not industrial strength Acid. Read the warning label and use proper precautions. This is just a way for a hobbyist to recover micro gold or clean specimens. After I remove the specimen pieces from the jar the bottom is loaded with fine gold. Loose finely disseminated free gold from the quartz / host rock.

 

[southfork]

Just to let you know, the concentrated HF acid is not for sale to individuals, unless they run a registered laboratory.. At least this one manufacturer is doing that with this hazardous chemical, and I imagine all chemical manufacturers are doing that with all chemicals that are so toxic.

Not me. I'm trying to locate proper containers and mixing sticks that are needed for even less than 2% by volume HF acid products. They say you can clean regular plastic, but I'm not sure how any other plastic other than HDPE will contain it over any period of time.

I've been using plastic PeanutButter jars outdoors no effect the sun will destroy it first.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Whink is a household cleaner not industrial strength Acid. Read the warning label and use proper precautions. This is just a way for a hobbyist to recover micro gold or clean specimens. After I remove the specimen pieces from the jar the bottom is loaded with fine gold. Loose finely disseminated free gold from the quartz / host rock.

Yeah I now have the chemicals, but I need to have good luck finding an old mine that the hobbyists haven't picked clean or metal detected. I have two possible places that are inaccessible by vehicle, so I'm hoping. I'd be willing to tote buckets the mile and a half round trip if there's actually gold.

But I will need help filing a claim from those on this forum, if that happens.

 

[arizau]

I guess you're saying not to be hasty, but to break those rocks, and check them. I guess you're right, but so far I've seen absolutely nothing in seven rounds of rock breaking, and crushing. I keep getting spoofed by the really little gold glints, even with a magnifying 30X loupe. I wish I could somehow disregard to gold pyrites, but I can't tell the difference when they're so small.

A usual foolproof way to determine if those gold glints you are seeing in the rocks or particles in your pan are actually gold is to view them in direct and shaded lighting. Anything other than gold loses it's gold appearence(color)when not directly lighted. Shading with my hand is what I usually do.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

 

[desertgolddigger]

I've been using plastic PeanutButter jars outdoors no effect the sun will destroy it first.

Just how do you clean those? I've never been able to, even with grease cutting dish soap.

 

[southfork]

Just how do you clean those? I've never been able to, even with grease cutting dish soap.

Hot water and dish soap with a big round brush bottle brush works for me but messy lol

 

[desertgolddigger]

Today was beautiful weatherwise. I went out to our far claim, but turned just short of it, and went up as far as the road was passable, and parked.

I hiked up to where I thought a big old time mine was, only to discover it wasn't a mine, just a slide. The other dig wasn't an old time o ne, but probably from the sixties or seventies. Needless to say, there was not a peep from my detector except once, and that was from a strange bullet remnant. It had a copper core, or some metal that looks like copper, and at one time was surrounded by lead. It has four of what must have been six 2mm grooves on the sides. It's very heavy.

And like I mentioned, the roads are pretty much impassable. But someone seemed to not care about the paint job on their truck, and forced their way through a bramble of bushes, to the end that was at one time a fairly large campsite for the old timers. It was totally covered by rusted empty cans, and other kinds of stuff I couldn't figure out. Of course there was the collection of shell casings, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, and all kinds of metal fragments. Not a friendly place for detectorists.

The road, if you can call it one now, was mainly bare bedrock. I imagine the old timers must have smoothed it out with fill back when they drove up the hill to the mines farther up (miles).

I returned to the road split, and went to another mine near our claim. I believe this one is abandoned, as the two claim posts are mostly rotted. This mine has an Adit about five feet high. I did not enter. Not only am I chicken, I'm alone, and do not know the mine condition past where I could see. On top of that, I hear there could be poisonous gases. And of course I'm alone. Going in would be stupid.

I scouted the areas around the two placer claims, and have come to the conclusion, after some 10 hours of fruitless detecting, that there's basically nothing to find. So I'm not going back there. It's too far, and the roads are, in some places, barely passable for my Nissan Frontier 4X4.

I'll just have to be happy with the Humbug claim until I can somehow locate something that will produce more gold than the dry washer tailings I've been working, and the hit and miss (mostly miss) hard rock foray.

In other words, the area I 've mined in sucks when it comes to finding any gold of any size or quantity. Southfork, you your son and his friend are very fortunate to have something that gives you a little pleasure for your efforts. Maybe someday, before I can no longer do mining, maybe I can work a place similar to yours.

I guess this pretty much ends this thread, unless, I somehow get lucky. Will be going back to placer mining.

 

[Assembler]

Today was beautiful weatherwise. I went out to our far claim, but turned just short of it, and went up as far as the road was passable, and parked.

I hiked up to where I thought a big old time mine was, only to discover it wasn't a mine, just a slide. The other dig wasn't an old time o ne, but probably from the sixties or seventies. Needless to say, there was not a peep from my detector except once, and that was from a strange bullet remnant. It had a copper core, or some metal that looks like copper, and at one time was surrounded by lead. It has four of what must have been six 2mm grooves on the sides. It's very heavy.

And like I mentioned, the roads are pretty much impassable. But someone seemed to not care about the paint job on their truck, and forced their way through a bramble of bushes, to the end that was at one time a fairly large campsite for the old timers. It was totally covered by rusted empty cans, and other kinds of stuff I couldn't figure out. Of course there was the collection of shell casings, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, and all kinds of metal fragments. Not a friendly place for detectorists.

The road, if you can call it one now, was mainly bare bedrock. I imagine the old timers must have smoothed it out with fill back when they drove up the hill to the mines farther up (miles).

I returned to the road split, and went to another mine near our claim. I believe this one is abandoned, as the two claim posts are mostly rotted. This mine has an Adit about five feet high. I did not enter. Not only am I chicken, I'm alone, and do not know the mine condition past where I could see. On top of that, I hear there could be poisonous gases. And of course I'm alone. Going in would be stupid.

I scouted the areas around the two placer claims, and have come to the conclusion, after some 10 hours of fruitless detecting, that there's basically nothing to find. So I'm not going back there. It's too far, and the roads are, in some places, barely passable for my Nissan Frontier 4X4.

I'll just have to be happy with the Humbug claim until I can somehow locate something that will produce more gold than the dry washer tailings I've been working, and the hit and miss (mostly miss) hard rock foray.

In other words, the area I 've mined in sucks when it comes to finding any gold of any size or quantity. Southfork, you your son and his friend are very fortunate to have something that gives you a little pleasure for your efforts. Maybe someday, before I can no longer do mining, maybe I can work a place similar to yours.

I guess this pretty much ends this thread, unless, I somehow get lucky. Will be going back to placer mining.

Try getting lucky with the simple pan as far as spotting enough colors goes.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Try getting lucky with the simple pan as far as spotting enough colors goes.

About 15 years ago, when a gentleman was nice enough to take me to the far claim with him, he let me use his dry washer while he went out and metal detected. I spent three hours digging all over, and running the dry washer. Not one speck of gold, not even the micro flour kind.
The area may've produced gold at one time, but it's void if it now. As I said, I will not go back out there. It's just too difficult with the roads being worse than bad.

I'll do some prospecting in the canyons adjacent to our big claim, but I doubt the old timers missed anything of significance.

Just to reiterate, I will not return to the out of the way area.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Well, I'm still learning the geology of our mining area. Remember I mentioned that there seemed to be lead in the rock I crushed. I've read more, and what this is, is apparently Galena. It seems that Galena also contains very small amounts of silver, but one mine in our area found it also contained trace amounts of gold.

So, if there is god or silver in the local Galena, you'd need quite a lot to process for what apparently would be less than 1/2 a percent per ton, probably a lot less when it comes to gold.

If the video I watched is correct, when processing gold with lead, the lead and other base metals first form together at a lower temperature than the melting point of gold. Then, when reaching the gold melting point, the cupel will absorb the lead and other base metals, leaving whatever gold there is in the form of a bead (button).

I'm wondering if you put in a lot of this Galena into the furnace, if the lead and other base metals will separate the same way

 

[Assembler]

Well, I'm still learning the geology of our mining area. Remember I mentioned that there seemed to be lead in the rock I crushed. I've read more, and what this is, is apparently Galena. It seems that Galena also contains very small amounts of silver, but one mine in our area found it also contained trace amounts of gold.

So, if there is god or silver in the local Galena, you'd need quite a lot to process for what apparently would be less than 1/2 a percent per ton, probably a lot less when it comes to gold.

If the video I watched is correct, when processing gold with lead, the lead and other base metals first form together at a lower temperature than the melting point of gold. Then, when reaching the gold melting point, the cupel will absorb the lead and other base metals, leaving whatever gold there is in the form of a bead (button).

I'm wondering if you put in a lot of this Galena into the furnace, if the lead and other base metals will separate the same way

I may sound like a broken record here try finding a reasonable amount of colors first in the simple pan. Then think of going out with other methods right near that spot.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I've spent the past 10 days, digging, lining with heavy plastic on the sides, and filling with fist sized rocks, then one inch gravel, for my waste water sump. Most of that time was spent digging, and hauling river rock found near our claim. At the same time, I worked on Old Humbug road, and the road leading down into that river/wash to make it more accessible to 2 wheel drive vehicles. Most of that improvement is almost finished.

What dirt and stuff I dug out of this 5x8x2 sump had to be sited, ridding it of the man made junk the previous property owner buried. I also save the rock for back filling the sump.

Now all I need to do is dig a trench for the waste water pipe going between the sump and my mining work structure. Won't be a big project, as the structure will be within a few feet.

I need to figure out something other than purchasing a sink for dumping the waste water down the pipe. Maybe someone will have a garage sale selling some kind of basin with a drain hole. I don't need a faucet as I will just run a hose to a pipe that will deliver water to a regular outdoor faucet I will put in the work area. I'm trying to keep things simple, and inexpensive.

 

[arizau]

I've spent the past 10 days, digging, lining with heavy plastic on the sides, and filling with fist sized rocks, then one inch gravel, for my waste water sump. Most of that time was spent digging, and hauling river rock found near our claim. At the same time, I worked on Old Humbug road, and the road leading down into that river/wash to make it more accessible to 2 wheel drive vehicles. Most of that improvement is almost finished.

What dirt and stuff I dug out of this 5x8x2 sump had to be sited, ridding it of the man made junk the previous property owner buried. I also save the rock for back filling the sump.

Now all I need to do is dig a trench for the waste water pipe going between the sump and my mining work structure. Won't be a big project, as the structure will be within a few feet.

I need to figure out something other than purchasing a sink for dumping the waste water down the pipe. Maybe someone will have a garage sale selling some kind of basin with a drain hole. I don't need a faucet as I will just run a hose to a pipe that will deliver water to a regular outdoor faucet I will put in the work area. I'm trying to keep things simple, and inexpensive.

Look up bulkhead drain fittings. One installed on a tub or bucket could probably be suitable for your use by attaching a hose.
Good luck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Look up bulkhead drain fittings. One installed on a tub or bucket could probably be suitable for your use by attaching a hose.
Good luck.

You got me thinking. I really don't need a large catch basin. All I need is a little water pump, and hose down to a small basin on the ground to get rid of the water on my sluice and Miller Table reservoir. That'll ensure I'm not pumping dirt into the sump, just dirty water.

Still need to design a bench with storage to hold the sluice/table/water reservoir when used. Also got to get the water and power to it all, without hiring an electrician or plumber. It'll happen. Will just take time and planning.

Sure will be nice to get all this stuff out of the house.

Oh yes, for those summer months, I will have an air conditioner (kennel A/C). I originally purchased this A/C to cool my little 4x6 camper trailer, but carrying all the stuff needed to get it working killed that idea. At least the unit will get some use.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I'm still going through some rocks that either had black banding, or were brownish with various other colors in them.

Today I tried one of the very large brownish ones. It probably measures 10x6x4 inches, and was basically a block rectangle. I found this in a wash, but think it was just a reject by the old timers.

It broke up really easily. And crushed just as easy, making a brown mess. I'm guessing this brownish mess is some kind of oxide. It had some pyrites, but not a lot, except in the smaller than 100 mesh.

I removed all the magnetics, but there is still a lot of blackish material mixed in with the brownish sandy material.

I didn't get skunked, but the return for the effort was tiny. I ended up with a very tiny line of what looked like 150 and smaller gold specks. If they amounted to a thousandth of a gram, I'd be elated, but it's probably significantly less than that.

I've a few more rocks to break and look at, then I guess I'm done with rocks until I discover where they might be hiding.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I finally found my old USGS 7.5 minute series topographic maps of the area where so many mines are in the 29 palms area. I thought I'd possibly tossed them a few years ago when cleaning house.

I downloaded the PDF document showing what all the lines and symbols are on these maps.

I also have looked at the locations pf old mines and prospects in the general area near Humbug Mountain, and found a feww locations I didn't know about. But I'm guessing that some enterprising modern prospector has already looked at maps like these and either staked a claim, or just gone ahead and mined or detected these locations.

I'm going to try looking at two nearby, one tomorrow, and the other the following day to see what they are. If no claim markers, I'll take samples, and run through the dry washer Both will require me hoofing out to and from them, though both, I think are on ly a short distance from a road.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Today was almost a bust. But it was a beautiful day to be outside. Along with my placer mining, I again worked on the claim roads. They're slowly becoming more passable.

My meager returns for my work netted me a tad over 0.06 grams, not a skunk.

I did finish early enough to head over to find one of the mines nearby. As usual, my map reading isn't that great, so it basically took me scouring the whole small mountain (about 3/4 x 1/4 mile in size) before I finally found this so called mine.

I took samples from both the mine tailings, and the wash below it, but got almost no heavies, and zero gold. Of course, this mine has been there a while, and I only dug down about six inches into the wash. have to return, and dig a few feet down, or maybe until I hit bedrock, if it isn't too deep.

I did notice a lot of green stone, and quartz float below the mine. I brought some home to beep, and break. Will let you know what happens, but if it's like my previous luck, nothing will come of the effort.