If this gold you have is as small as mine, then you need millions of the gold particles to make an ounce. I collected this tiny stuff for 2 1/2 years, and managed only 6.6 grams. I haven't even melted it down to rid if of some of the impurities. I'll probably be lucky to get 5 grams. Each speck counts towards your total. But these will only supplement your normal finds. Probably why I went back to placer mining. Just collect this gold dust for a few years, then see what you get.
We get grams from each rock sometimes an once or more. I try and anyways place something for size comparison and what's still in the sands I use mercury to pick up the small stuff. If the detector sounds off its a pay day rock. I don't try to weigh the fines they just go into the amalgam. When it gets thick its retort time. In my spare time I crush random rocks trying to find where this local gold is coming from without digging the whole mountain.
This gold is too tiny (smaller than 180 mesh) to be caught with a drywasher. It has to be carefully sluiced sluiced.
Working slowly with classifying screens just experimenting with micro gold I think it's starting to pass through a screen marked 100 microns? and one smaller I took a few macro photos with my phone if there weren't hundreds of specks they're not visible without a loupe. Same sample as above I need a new stack of screens. We normally run everything through stacked screens on a five-gallon bucket with soap and water on larger samples then pan or micro sluice each layer slowly. There's still micro gold hiding in the white sands I can melt out or mercury and a retort or with chemistry that takes some careful study.
Maybe rain tonight? I soaked the concentrations in a phosphoric acid solution overnight. Cleaned with water and jet- dri panned with a little mercury made a nice ball. I have tablespoon or so of dirty concentrates that I'm drying in the sun Headed for a smelt / melt.
