How do you get gold out of clay?

[KurtB]

I brought a bunch of clay home that I know has gold in it but it's a pain in the you know what. Is there any tricks for dealing with this stuff?

Thanks for any advice.

Kurt

 

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[strickman]

you can use clay-b-gone ,or depending how much material . you can use classifier screens.put the material in and use another one to scrub the clay. i have that some have even boiled the material to release the fines out of clay. you can also read the thread about blue clay.....by hmmmmm hope this helps.

 

[Hoser John]

El cheapo paint mixer blade in a drill=less than $3 at home depot and your GOLDEN -jOHN

 

[bedrock bubba]

Put all the clay into a plastic laundry tub, with lots of water. Toss in extra heavy granular sand. Put 5-10 drops of Jet Dry into it. Now put 1/2
teaspoon full of non-sudsing ammonia in it. Break it all up with one of those construction potato masher things.

Now slowly pour off the milky water, and replace with clean water, over and over, until your tub gravel is fairly clean. Now sluice it, pan it, or whatever for your recovery.

Also, sodium silicate(liquid) also works well, I am told.

Clay is a real good gold catcher! Always test it out!

 

[stefen]

liquid detergent will work as well...maybe even better to release the bonding aspect of clay...

 

[chadrack]

Lather, rinse, repeat. And as stated above, the paint mixer or drywall mud paddle is indespensible on larger amounts.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Had an idea. Why not ask someone who works in clay everyday how to dissolve it ? Like artists who work with pottery for instance. I'd think theyd have to know the easiest, safest and most cost effective way to dissolve clay. Maybe even arts and craft stores have some product or ideas. I'll let you know if i hear anything interesting.

 

[russau]

Had an idea. Why not ask someone who works in clay everyday how to dissolve it ? Like artists who work with pottery for instance. I'd think theyd have to know the easiest, safest and most cost effective way to dissolve clay. Maybe even arts and craft stores have some product or ideas. I'll let you know if i hear anything interesting.

you were given the cheapest/easiest way to bust up clay and get rid of it! why go ask someone else unless you dont beleive it

 

[stefen]

Had an idea. Why not ask someone who works in clay everyday how to dissolve it ? Like artists who work with pottery for instance. I'd think theyd have to know the easiest, safest and most cost effective way to dissolve clay. Maybe even arts and craft stores have some product or ideas. I'll let you know if i hear anything interesting.

you were given the cheapest/easiest way to bust up clay and get rid of it! why go ask someone else unless you dont beleive it

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Got it. This is a cheap and simple solution. One sm. bottle of hydrogen peroxide to half a tube of toothpaste. Add a squirt of Dawn and a quart of water. Cost is about $2 dollars a gallon. Clay will liquefy, release the sand, gold and heavies and just pour out as muddy water. Got the tip from the geology department at Tulane University. Hydrogen peroxide and fluoride together liquefy clay. The Dawn just helps with separating things a little more. You don't need a bunch of expensive chemicals.

Tried this mixture out yesterday on some really thick nasty red clay that was driving me absolutely crazy. Works like a charm. Even thinking about patenting it under the product name "Clay Away".

 

[TheNewCatfish]

P.S.

Figured guys who were interested in rocks would know how to get em outta clay. The professor guy was really helpful. I asked if i'd need something stronger more industrial to break up really hard, dry clay.. and he said yea. Try a hammer.

 

[stefen]

Don't ya just geotechnical humor...

 

[2cmorau]

i take the clay home let it sit in the sun for a couple of weeks
then load all of it in a 45 gallon drum
put a bunch of river rock in and tumble for 24 hours (eummmmm use a plastic drum, i learned the hard way)

I then use a dry washer ( i use a large fan to blow the dust away )
or you can do it wet as well and then run over a shaker table but i fine that i have to change the water a lot

 

[Doug Watson]

Cement mixer with some rocks. Doug.

 

[Gramps43]

I like the hammer idea, it's very low tech plus you get to work out your aggression.

Gramps

 

[B H Prospector]

Hey Catfish,
Is that mixture a quart per gallon or will it do several gallons?

B H Prospector

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

I had some dirt the other day adn of course most of it when it got wet was a lot of clay like dirt that would not break up. This was several issues in the past when bringing home buckets of dirt. What I decided to do was fill another bucket of about 1/3 full of dirt, then I added laundry detergent and mixed up by hand and got it really foamy. What made me think of laundry detergent was what happens wjhen you wash clothes? It breaks up any dirt material. So I tried it and believe me it worked amazingly well. I ran my material and all the dirt was broken up. I then ran the maerial through my sluice and caught a lot of black sands. I did find some heavy black sands an a couple of gold specs, (really small), but it did the deed!

 

[Lala]

Thank you!

Got it. This is a cheap and simple solution. One sm. bottle of hydrogen peroxide to half a tube of toothpaste. Add a squirt of Dawn and a quart of water. Cost is about $2 dollars a gallon. Clay will liquefy, release the sand, gold and heavies and just pour out as muddy water. Got the tip from the geology department at Tulane University. Hydrogen peroxide and fluoride together liquefy clay. The Dawn just helps with separating things a little more. You don't need a bunch of expensive chemicals.

Tried this mixture out yesterday on some really thick nasty red clay that was driving me absolutely crazy. Works like a charm. Even thinking about patenting it under the product name "Clay Away".

I just used this and it WORKS quickly and easily. Thank you SO much!
I live in Middle GA. I'm 29 and I love looking for gemstones and gold.
I joined this site because of this thread and this is probably the most helpful forum I've seen yet.

So... I have a hunch that Red Clay pretty much stops gold from sinking too far into our dirt here in GA... and that all I have to do is rifle through a bunch of it. Am I accurate in this assessment?
I'm still not that great at panning. I don't have my nice black rubber pan anymore. I'm working on it! But I can't wait to share my finds with you guys! I just wanted to say hello and thank you!

 

[Dagger Woods]

Re: How do you get gold out of clay?

Wait until he gets pizzed off at the gov't and throws his medals off the bridge...?

 

[russau]

I like Gramps idea on the hammer! just keep saying to yourself , "another damocrap gone , another damocrap gone!" until you feel better and post back here in the morning!