Gold In sands and dirt

[elijahhenry10]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to pan through bags of sand or dirt that you would buy at Home Depot/Lowe's.

Also, does anyone know if there is generally gold mixed with clay in a creek.

Thanks

 

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[mts]

Update: I panned half a bag of tube sand last night. No real gold to be found. I found about 1/4 teaspoon of black sand per pan but nothing of any real value. There was some very, very fine gold dust mixed with the black sand but you needed a 10X loupe to see it. I panned it twice just to be sure. I also threw some #9 lead shot (some round, some smashed flat) into each pan and was able to recover that easily each time. So I really don't think there was anything of value there.

I'm going to try one more tube this weekend but I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

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[russau]

HUMMMMMM? kinda like prospecting!

 

[elijahhenry10]

Update: I panned half a bag of tube sand last night. No real gold to be found. I found about 1/4 teaspoon of black sand per pan but nothing of any real value. There was some very, very fine gold dust mixed with the black sand but you needed a 10X loupe to see it. I panned it twice just to be sure. I also threw some #9 lead shot (some round, some smashed flat) into each pan and was able to recover that easily each time. So I really don't think there was anything of value there.

I'm going to try one more tube this weekend but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Can I ask one question? Do you think you found enought gold that there was a profit?

 

[Keppy]

make sure that you screen this sand and pan small amounts of it to see better results!

How far down should you screen the sand from home depot ? ... Over the winter it would be good practice i would be useing the.....Black magic fine Gold recovery sluice..... Or i might even use a.... Catch it 11.....

 

[russau]

Can I ask one question? Do you think you found enought gold that there was a profit?
[/quote] NO! not nearly enough for any kind of proffit! thats why i commented to NOT buy this unless you need the sand or your curiosity is just itching to try some. as far as screening,id screen just like any cons you do. i go atleast -20 or -30 and i should go further but it then goes into another bucket for furter concentrating anyway so i just dont do it right then.ive got screens down to -200 mesh but i can see that small of a speck unless you push it all to one edge of a pan to veiw them as a group.it can be fun for a beginer to practice with over the winter, but come summer time,hit the streams!

 

[mts]

Update: I panned half a bag of tube sand last night. No real gold to be found. I found about 1/4 teaspoon of black sand per pan but nothing of any real value. There was some very, very fine gold dust mixed with the black sand but you needed a 10X loupe to see it. I panned it twice just to be sure. I also threw some #9 lead shot (some round, some smashed flat) into each pan and was able to recover that easily each time. So I really don't think there was anything of value there.

I'm going to try one more tube this weekend but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Can I ask one question? Do you think you found enought gold that there was a profit?

Nope. Definitely no profit. I haven't really found any gold to speak of yet. These are old bags of tube sand that I bought a long time ago. So other than my time I'm not out anything. It has been good practice though. I'm finding black sand which helps me get better at panning.

If you are looking for some cheap practice it might be worth it. And who knows... you could potentially find some real gold. But so far it has been a bust for me. I don't think you could expect to get any sort of real profit out of it.

 

[Keppy]

Would you have to screen down the sand from home depot. ?? If you used the .....Black magic fine Gold recovery sluice.... or the .. Catch it ll ...??

 

[Ray D]

It just strikes me that the sand sold by most companies is from sand pits which are mostly surface sand. If they were to dig deep you might have more luck. The sand pits around here are all on the surface and if there were any gold it would be washed deep just from the rain and snow. Good luck, if anyone hits let us know and I will be the first one in line to buy some.

 

[Keppy]

It just strikes me that the sand sold by most companies is from sand pits which are mostly surface sand. If they were to dig deep you might have more luck. The sand pits around here are all on the surface and if there were any gold it would be washed deep just from the rain and snow. Good luck, if anyone hits let us know and I will be the first one in line to buy some.

I am up here in frezzing temps & Snow ... so it would be fun to try ...That is why i asked about screening....

 

[mts]

Screening: The level of screening will probably depend on what type of sand you buy. The tube sand that I used had some pretty coarse pieces in it. But all of it went through a half inch classifier without any problems. Most people don't even open the bag when it's tube sand. It's often just used for weight. So they don't have to give you super fine sand. I did classify my sand again with a 1/8" classifier which helped a lot. Most pebbles were around 1/4". Some were as big as 3/8". Obviously, other types of sand may be much finer.

It is good practice because there is a decent amount of black sand in those bags. I threw in a couple of small gold flecks of my own to practice my recovery techniques. I also used #9 lead shot that I flattened with a hammer which worked just as good as the gold. For people new to the hobby (like me) it seems to be a good cheap way to practice during the cold winter months. And there is always a possibility that you could find some real old. Just not that likely. Although I'm sure that my technique will not pass muster when I get out on a real stream, I know that I'm a lot better now than I was before. My first pan took me about 10 minutes from start to finish. I just have to laugh when I look back to how gingerly I was sloshing that pan. Now I can do a pan in about 30 seconds or so (depending on how much time I spend classifying). So I'm a lot more comfortable with what I'm doing even though I know I have just started scratching the surface of what I need to learn about panning. Considering that I already had the sand, it has been well worth the price I've paid for the experience.

Right now I'm working on getting the flour gold out of the black sand that was left over from my panning practice. There isn't much there but you can see a few flecks scattered inside of the black sand. I would guess that there is no more than about 10 cents worth (if that much). So it is not profitable for me. But it is fun and hopefully I can learn something from it.

 

[kccj76]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

 

[mts]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

Interesting. You did better than I did. How much did the bag cost? If you at least found some gold then it would be a decent alternative to spending $60+ on some concentrates online just for the sake of practicing. You won't get rich but you can likely practice for just a few bucks.

 

[kccj76]

Less than $3/bag. I must add that I ran another bag last night and got skunked. Can't go wrong with a couple hours of entertainment for $6. And a few flakes.

 

[Keppy]

Less than $3/bag. I must add that I ran another bag last night and got skunked. Can't go wrong with a couple hours of entertainment for $6. And a few flakes.

You never know you might find $10.00 worth.. That's getting paid for entertainment.... I will run some next week let you know how it turns out....

 

[russau]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

goto one of your local sand and gravel plants close to you and you can get the material cheaper than H-D or Lowes,plus youll know where they are getting the material!

 

[ohiochris]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

You asked the wrong people. I emailed the quickrete company headquarters and they said all the sand you buy in your area came from a local source , they will not pay big bucks to ship sand from Georgia when sand can be had very cheaply right down the road form the store , they just put local sand into their bags. Home depot was misinformed.

 

[mts]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

You asked the wrong people. I emailed the quickrete company headquarters and they said all the sand you buy in your area came from a local source , they will not pay big bucks to ship sand from Georgia when sand can be had very cheaply right down the road form the store , they just put local sand into their bags. Home depot was misinformed.

That would explain the absence of gold in my bags.

 

[elijahhenry10]

Just thought I would update everyone on my experience. I have been panned probably somewhere around 2-4 lbs of my sand so far and I would guess that I have somewhere between $0.25-$0.50 in gold. I am also finding a lot of black sand and some really neat rocks that don't look like that could have come from around here.

Thanks to everyone who has been sharing there experiences!!

 

[ohiochris]

I asked Home Depot Corporate Headquarters if the All-Purpose sand was bagged locally where I live, or bagged up elsewhere and shipped. I didn't say why I was asking. They told me that it is bagged from the area around their headquarters in Atlanta and shipped to my area. I am in KC Missouri. I tried one bag and found 3 flakes. I will try another just to see.

You asked the wrong people. I emailed the quickrete company headquarters and they said all the sand you buy in your area came from a local source , they will not pay big bucks to ship sand from Georgia when sand can be had very cheaply right down the road form the store , they just put local sand into their bags. Home depot was misinformed.

That would explain the absence of gold in my bags.

They do find gold in Missouri , so its possible for it to be in the bags. I dont find gold in every bag of Ohio sand but there are tiny flakes in some of them , and of courseif you do find a couple visible flakes then its a good bet that there is some in there that is just too small to see with the naked eye. Thats why I have started to save allmy black sand so that I can try to extract it with chemicals some day when I have enough built up.

 

[russau]

[They do find gold in Missouri , so its possible for it to be in the bags. I dont find gold in every bag of Ohio sand but there are tiny flakes in some of them , and of courseif you do find a couple visible flakes then its a good bet that there is some in there that is just too small to see with the naked eye. Thats why I have started to save allmy black sand so that I can try to extract it with chemicals some day when I have enough built up.
[/quote] yes, ive found gold in the sand bags. although very small, its there. and Quickcret is a better choice to pan than the regular sand. the sand and gravel plants in MO/Il that i goto use a clamshell bucket and go down 130/150 feet into the old anceint Mississippi River channel and they bring up all kinds of neat things that get classified off to different piles.so you need to be creative in your thinking proccess and where you look!