First Foray into Processing Crushed Rock

[JohnWhite]

I think I'll stick with water. Too many chemicals is something I don't have room for. I live in an 800 square foot house, have no garage, have a 120 square foot shed, ans 1/16 acre. So I'm kind of limited on space. I'll just keep things as simple as possible.

I also decided not to purchase those sieves, as they're over $100 now. I'll do what Southfork mentioned, and try using my Blue Bowl for the super fine gold, and my Miller Table for mesh 76-400. The table is supposed to be able to handle those sizes

Right now I'm just going to classify things 99 mesh and larger, 100-199 mesh, and 200 mesh and smaller. That'll make working with things a little easier.

Like I said, I'm trying to keep things a little bit simpler. It's also cheaper.

Some old timers carried: nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide with them into the field…They seemed to have known much more than we ever will…

Muriatic acid is dirt cheap…it is basically the same as hydrochloric acid, though it contains iron…And if you do decide to use any chemicals…Be careful…One of my little areas has a large amount of sulfides and when exposed to muriatic acid h2s forms…

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Ed T

 

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[arizau]

"I wouldn't know how to crush something that's only 7.5 microns or smaller. That's the size I'm working"

Hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch, at point of contact, can be achieved by simply pressing down hard in the cupped part of a spoon. Doing that while rocking it can crush/shatter tiny brittle particles and may flatten malleable metals such as gold.

 

[JohnWhite]

IF a person were to chance upon a Carlin type deposit…And IF a person might want to work it on a shoestring budget…They could get one of these…

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And a few 5 gallon buckets or some plastic 55 gallon drums and have a go at it…

Oh…And a rock crusher and powdered zinc…

But what do I know

Ed T

 

[desertgolddigger]

Have you tried to crush the silvery things with a spoon yet? Do they act like gold while you pan?

I just tried a smidgen of material in a pan to check if the silvery stuff crushes. Took a while to do that with something so small. But no, the one speck I managed to try to mangle, survived. I had to scrape it out of the pan, as I had caused it to get embedded. So it's hard enough to do that when good pressure is applied.

And yes, I ran a magnet through the material before.

Still haven't a clue as go what these specks are. I'm not going to worry about them. If I can somehow find a needle valve for the Blue Bowl, maybe it will solve this. I'm guessing if it is a gold alloy, it will remain in the bowl. If not, then it's probably just junk.

I've asked for help on a good valve that's compatible with the Blue Bowl. I'm not very good at figuring things out that I have zero knowledge about, when it comes to mechanical stuff. Anyone out there ever put a precision valve on theor Bowl? Sure would like to know about it.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Proper classification makes easy work of panning. Don’t mess with acid unless you have a dedicated work area for it and have proper protective clothing. It’s easy to get hurt with the stuff. Mixing up chemicals with unidentified ores has potential hazards to your health. I know a geologist that used to work for Newmont out by Elko Nv working in Carlin Trend material. He has an ounce coin that was the result of several of those giant dump truck loads of ore. Those trucks are huge. There’s no way you could profitably operate with a 55 gallon drum mixer in such material.

 

[N-Lionberger]

You can get a garden hose to pipe thread adapter from the gardening department of a hardware store, you can use that to attach a gate valve. The valve should be extended from the blue bowl to settle out the flow. I have some PVC pipe and a 45 fitting to line up the thing. It really cleaned it up.

 

[JohnWhite]

Proper classification makes easy work of panning. Don’t mess with acid unless you have a dedicated work area for it and have proper protective clothing. It’s easy to get hurt with the stuff. Mixing up chemicals with unidentified ores has potential hazards to your health. I know a geologist that used to work for Newmont out by Elko Nv working in Carlin Trend material. He has an ounce coin that was the result of several of those giant dump truck loads of ore. Those trucks are huge. There’s no way you could profitably operate with a 55 gallon drum mixer in such material.

You may be right…I will keep on keeping on reading and learning more and more…

And you are right about mixing chemicals and unknown ores…That hydrogen sulfide gas is no joke…And aqua regia is no laughing matter as well…

I am certain of one thing…IF I had not wasted $300 on bogus assays I would not know that which I know now…lol Which is not very much…

Maybe…just maybe…I may get out and try to apply what I have learned from playing with some of the ores I have come across in my travels…We will just have to wait and see…

As I can care less IF anyone decides to ante up…I personally believe 15 million is a small price to pay to go to the end of the trail…lol…And IF I can’t make my way back there…oh well, life will go on…

Ed T

 

[Reed Lukens]

I use to use flow control valves all of the time, the banded style, but a long stem gate valve works fine also. You still need to watch water levels because a lot of the fluctuation come from the pump itself...

Valves like these, but I've never seen this brand...
Amazon product ASIN B0000AX3M1

 

[southfork]

I have a cheap plastic drip system valve with hose connections works great. The turbo mat is a recent addition seems to catch the fine gold. Reeds right on about watching the water level it speeds up as it classifies.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I use to use flow control valves all of the time, the banded style, but a long stem gate valve works fine also. You still need to watch water levels because a lot of the fluctuation come from the pump itself...

Valves like these, but I've never seen this brand...
Amazon product ASIN B0000AX3M1

Reed, Thanks. As always I don't sleep well, so I decided to fiddle with my Blue Bowl. I'll take a picture and post after my trip tomorrow..

I've everything I need except a strong enough pump. The one I got with the bowl could barely move any water, so Amazon got more business from me.

I had purchased a food grade needle valve, and a while ago when trying to get things to work, using that anemic pump, I couldn't get things to work. I thought it was the valve, bur like I said, it was the stock pump.

I also purchase a cheap side table, and cut a circle out of the center to put the bowl in. I than added four screws on the base rails so I can level it.

And, with a 12 volt pump to test things, it worked like a champ. I just need to wait for that new 120 volt pump, and I'll be ready to go.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I have a cheap plastic drip system valve with hose connections works great. The turbo mat is a recent addition seems to catch the fine gold. Reeds right on about watching the water level it speeds up as it classifies.

Not sure about the mat. I'll have to read, and watch videos to determine just how good it is. But from what I see, it not only traps fine gold, but the black sands also. But like I said, will research things.

 

[desertgolddigger]

@hollARDog Yes,I got discouraged, but I've found it was the way I was handling the crushed material. I was being too vigorous, and too quick, ending up dumping 90% of the gold those rocks contained. Since learning how to clean out the silt properly, I'm finding that nearly ever time I crush some rocks from our claim.I'm at least getting ultra fine gold.

 

[southfork]

Not sure about the mat. I'll have to read, and watch videos to determine just how good it is. But from what I see, it not only traps fine gold, but the black sands also. But like I said, will research things.

Most of these concentrates get smelted so hopefully I'm getting some values out of the black sands. That's why I'm trying the turbo mat I was losing ultra-fine black sands back into the tailings. The smelting thing is a learning curve but starting to figure it out. We have been recovering micro gold and able to make some nice buttons

 

[JohnWhite]

Back in the day…When I used a blue bowl…I kept it basic and used one of these to adjust the water flow… https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=water+hose+cutoff+valve&_trksid=p2380057.m4084.l1313

Ed T

 

[desertgolddigger]

Most of these concentrates get smelted so hopefully I'm getting some values out of the black sands. That's why I'm trying the turbo mat I was losing ultra-fine black sands back into the tailings. The smelting thing is a learning curve but starting to figure it out. We have been recovering micro gold and able to make some nice buttons

Yeah, I just made a double bucket centrifuge. Top bucket has a two inch plastic cap in the center. Fill it halfway with water and a few drops of JetDry. Swirl the water with a stick very fast to create a whirlpool, and drop a scoopful of material in. Then continue to keep the whirlpool going for another few seconds.. The heavies settle into the cap.

I did that with my cleaned, and already run material, and found more gold in the cap. I put a scoop of the dirt I cleaned out of the material, and also found more gold.

Just shows how lousy I am at processing my material.

 

[hollARDog]

Yeah, I just made a double buck centrifuge. Top bucket has a two inch plastic cap in the center. Fill it halfway with water and a few drops of JetDry. Swirl the water with a stick very fast to create a whirlpool, and drop a scoopful of material in. Then continue to keep the whirlpool going for another few seconds.. The heavies settle into the cap.

I did that with my cleaned, and already run material, and found more gold in the cap. I put a scoop of the dirt I cleaned out of the material, and also found more gold.

Just shows how lousy I am at processing my material.

Way to go👍

 

[desertgolddigger]

Here's my Blue Bowl Setup. It's just a little table with a hole in the top to hold the Bowl. I never could get the supports that came with the bowl to work.

The black tube below is a catcher for what the Bowl expels.

You probably can't see them, but there are four screws to adjust everything to level.

theres a plastic protective strip with a multi outlet strip mounted. I can have four devices plugged in, and each outlet had an on/off switch.

The water is controlled by a needle valve. I have a lot of control of the flow.

Except for the valve, it's all stuff I had laying around.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Our blue bowl set up is pretty technical when compared to most. It's shown at 16:min in this vjdeo. But check out the whole playlist for set up ideas.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I have a cheap plastic drip system valve with hose connections works great. The turbo mat is a recent addition seems to catch the fine gold. Reeds right on about watching the water level it speeds up as it classifies.

How high do you set the water from the top when using the mat inside the bowl. I watched a video of< I'm assuming, the guy who invented this mat, and he set the water very high. Of course his demonstration probably had pre classified material at a particular mesh, which I believe, made catching all the gold very easy.

I did order a mat, and hope it fits my Bowl, purchased about 15 years ago.

 

[desertgolddigger]

This past weekend, while searching for rock that has some chance of gold, a fellow club member came up, and we talked hard stuff.

Seems he does both placer and hard rock mining, and actually found a place the old timers missed, and has that claim.

He also did a lot of digging on the club's claim, uncovering several quartz outcrops. He says the old timers found the visible veins, but the claim probably has many more just below the dirt surface. It would just take someone an effort of digging here and there, to uncover more possible gold bearing ore veins.

Not sure if I have the ooompf to do such a search, but it's nice to know the old timers weren't finding it all. He said that the one he uncovered probably just keeps running downhill. So I may get out my pick and shovel and do a little exploration, and follow the one quartz outcrop this gentleman found, downhill. Maybe it'll turn into something with some mineralization in it.

I've done a lot of walking the claim since I started this hard rock thing. The place has many dozens to quartz outcrops that were dug. That's in addition to five or six real mine shafts, which, of course are closed, being too dangerous to work.