Platinum Drywashing

[Customx_12]

Take a balloon and rub it on you head to build up a good static charge then stick it in your cons and you will see it does not work --- if it did you would see guys with lots of balloons in the gulches(do they sell camo balloons).
Weight and gravity is how a drywasher works. Keene makes a nice drywasher and the hot air I can see working but I'm not sold on the static charge.
Mike

Actually, I think I have seen camo balloons for sale somewhere. I think the idea behind the static charge is that it uses the weight of the heavies in conjunction with the static primarily for the fine dust pieces of gold. Where I'm at is mostly fine gold and not the fun chunky stuff.

 

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[DDancer]

I have to agree with Kevin in Colorado on trying your idea and reporting back.

I had an argument/debate with a member some time ago on a thread called ; gold is magnetic ; or something like that. That member was hung up on the idea of using electrets and diamagnetism for gold recovery. If your experimenting try looking into those areas of research. But take that thread, if you read it, with a healthy dose of research on your own.

 

[Customx_12]

I have to agree with Kevin in Colorado on trying your idea and reporting back.

I had an argument/debate with a member some time ago on a thread called ; gold is magnetic ; or something like that. That member was hung up on the idea of using electrets and diamagnetism for gold recovery. If your experimenting try looking into those areas of research. But take that thread, if you read it, with a healthy dose of research on your own.

While I appreciate the encouragement to try my idea, I'm not sure what idea people are referring to. I didn't propose an idea. I was asking if people thought platinum would be attracted to a static charge as gold is. Instead, I have people telling me gold isn't attracted to a static charge which contradicts the research I have done and what physics says. So that makes me more confused.

Can some of you check the fabric on your drywasher and tell me if there is one sheet or two. If two, from what I've read elsewhere, the purpose is to have two pieces rub together for a static charge that helps with fine gold recovery. If not two, again from what I've read, you may be blowing out some of the fines.

I had one person here tell me they haven't recovered any platinum in their drywasher. What about others of you? Any platinum recovered?

 

[utah mason]

Since Platinum is heavier than gold I'm sure your drywasher would catch it if it's in the ground.
Good luck, I hope it goes well

 

[arizau]

Have you done any research as to who is willing to buy what you may find? If you find platinum nuggets then that shouldn't be a problem (collectors) but if you have just concentrated fines then it probably will be unless you have a large quantity of it. Native platinum is always naturally alloyed with other metals/contaminants and thus it requires a complicated process to refine it to a usable purity that is then marketed for industrial or jewelry usage.

Good luck.

 

[Customx_12]

Have you done any research as to who is willing to buy what you may find? If you find platinum nuggets then that shouldn't be a problem (collectors) but if you have just concentrated fines then it probably will be unless you have a large quantity of it. Native platinum is always naturally alloyed with other metals/contaminants and thus it requires a complicated process to refine it to a usable purity.

Good luck.

I'm finding out about the refining process and actually found a place that does it and buys it off of you (for a generous fee, of course). We have a lot of it. When we had the land assayed in numerous locations, the assayer sent his machine out to get recalibrated because he thought something was wrong with it because it tested for so much. He got the machine back and retested our samples and was so excited at how much registered, he wrote "WOW!!" and drew fireworks all over the assay report. Certainly not the most professional thing to do but his enthusiasm was motivating.

We thought about trying to refine it ourselves but it seems super complex with a lot of dangerous chemicals involved. Something I don't feel comfortable messing around with.

 

[DDancer]

Custom I can understand your confusion. Fine gold is attracted to static charges but so are a lot of things. Its just not considered a feasible recovery method. As to platinum I dont know of any reports on recovery of it with static's. So if you want to try it I'm sure we are all ears.

Fine gold recovery from milled materials using flotation and various spiral pans/blue bowls are a preferred method and work with platinum as well.

 

[chlsbrns]

Customx look up triboelectric

Get some leather. Platinum and gold run over it will stick to it.

 

[chlsbrns]

Materials that Cause Static Electricity by Ron Kurtus - Physics Lessons: School for Champions

 

[DizzyDigger]

I found this to be an interesting read...

Selective attachment processes in ancient gold ore beneficiation

 

[chlsbrns]

Thomas Edison experimented with gold recovery using static electricity and failed. Luckily for him he used investors money.
story of thomas edison's venture into gold mining

Did any of you who liked this post read the article?

A few quotes..

"Edison's arrival on the scene a dozen years later followed his invention of a machine designed to separate non-magnetic iron ore from sand-like particles in the absence of water." Did you notice absence of water?

"Edison's arrival on the scene a dozen years later followed his invention of a machine designed to separate non-magnetic iron ore from sand-like particles in the absence of water. He was heavily engaged in iron ore mining and processing in the east. His electrostatic separator Accepted a thin film of dry particles to pass over an electrically charged drum. He learned that gold, like his iron ore, would stick to the drum while sand was repelled by it. When Mr. Edison heard about the Ortiz Mountain placer gold perched high above available water, he obtained a sample for testing. It was an immediate success.". Using his machine in the laboratory, the New Mexico gold was separated from sand without the use of water."

"One of the first results, a decided departure from the laboratory success, indicated that the sand an inch or two below the sun-baked surface contained enough moisture to short-circuit the electrostatic drum. The feed to his machinery would have be dried."

"The electrostatic separator did not go the way of the Ortiz project. A now vastly improved machine serves a wide variety of metallic and non-metallic industries around the world."

In other words it works if the material is dry. It doesn't work if the material is moist or wet.

I guess you guys who liked the post would also say that drywashers don't work? Because dry washers also have to be fed dry material?

 

[arizau]

I found this to be an interesting read...

Selective attachment processes in ancient gold ore beneficiation

Wow! Leave to the ancient Romans to find a use for one on the nastiest plants on Earth.....Gorse, the bane of the Oregon coast. Dense growth, extremely prickly, originally imported and planted along the Oregon coast line for sand dune stabilization but found to be a major fire hazard. https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/bandon-fire-1936/#.WN04JPnyuUk

 

[DizzyDigger]

Wow! Leave to the ancient Romans to find a use for one on the nastiest plants on Earth.....Gorse, the bane of the Oregon coast. Dense growth, extremely prickly, originally imported and planted along the Oregon coast line for sand dune stabilization but found to be a major fire hazard.

Yep, seen it and it's nasty stuff.

Was surprised to see that, among the "Hydrophobic biocollectors", they listed:

"Oil plants and plants with waxy surface coatings, such as gorse (Ulex europaeus),
hemp (Cannabis sativa), and grass.

Left over Sativa stalks might actually be available in the states where MJ has been legalized,
but I certainly don't recommend anyone use it in a non-legal state.

If you get stalks grown hydroponically, then you'd have have the perfect set-up with
"Hydroponic Hydrophobic biocollectors". If they worked, you would make a mint..

 

[arizau]

Yep, seen it and it's nasty stuff.

Was surprised to see that, among the "Hydrophobic biocollectors", they listed:

"Oil plants and plants with waxy surface coatings, such as gorse (Ulex europaeus),
hemp (Cannabis sativa), and grass.

Left over Sativa stalks might actually be available in the states where MJ has been legalized,
but I certainly don't recommend anyone use it in a non-legal state.

If you get stalks grown hydroponically, then you'd have have the perfect set-up with
"Hydroponic Hydrophobic biocollectors". If they worked, you would make a mint..

Whodathunkit. A friend I met in the Navy in the 60's grew up in northern Iowa and said that that stuff grew wild along drainage ditches when he was a kid. It was originally cultivated there for rope production particularly for hawsers during one or both of the world wars. After hemp growth was banned they continually tried to eradicate it and probably still are. Maybe some of the Iowa glacial gold prospectors should read the study too.

 

[DDancer]

Now does any of that work for platinum?

 

[Goldwasher]

none of it matters in the field with real material being run. The size of gold that will attract and hold is super fine.It is quickly pulled off by the abrading material moving downward. Tuning to it is problematic. as is the way it jacks up your moving parts.
I'd rather run a big wood puffer with cloth, over an over priced mylar lined keene.
The serious guys avoid static whenever they can. Gravity and the air do way more for the processing than a static charge ever will in recovery.

 

[chlsbrns]

Dry air causes static electricity so every drywasher that doesn't have metal legs that ground the unit will create static electricity. For example a wood puffer with cloth would generate static electricity because it isn't grounded.

Warmed or hot dry air creates more static electricity. The polyester rayon fabric used in keene 191 and some of their other drywashers combined with heated air creates a powerful electrostatic charge that attracts and holds gold and platinum that other drywashers would not retain. The 191 uses heated dry air that dries some moisture,, gravity and a powerful electrostatic charge to capture gold

If you have significant amounts of platinum it would be best to put out the cash and get a keene 191. They can process a lot of material fast and will recover more than other drywashers.

Good Luck!

 

[cherishpaul12]

yes dry washing will separate Pt because Platinum is even more dense than gold.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Yep, seen it and it's nasty stuff.

Was surprised to see that, among the "Hydrophobic biocollectors", they listed:

"Oil plants and plants with waxy surface coatings, such as gorse (Ulex europaeus),
hemp (Cannabis sativa), and grass.

Left over Sativa stalks might actually be available in the states where MJ has been legalized,
but I certainly don't recommend anyone use it in a non-legal state.

If you get stalks grown hydroponically, then you'd have have the perfect set-up with
"Hydroponic Hydrophobic biocollectors". If they worked, you would make a mint..

But I wouldn't want to smoke it! Hemp also bioaccumulates other things like mercury, so toking local grown stuff if mercury is present could be very bad in the long run.

 

[Mitch Dickson]

Back to the question. A drywasher works by vibration, air, and gravity. Yes it will catch platinum but understand that most gold is less than 100 mesh and platinum runs smaller!!!!!!! Almost all platinum is micro. Drywashers are notorious for not holding fine to microfine gold. Expect it to do no better on smaller platinum. Platinum is paramagnetic, not diamagnetic. The way you seperate it is by running a regular magnet over the sand until all magnatite is removed. Then you go over it with a neodynum which will pick up the platinum and ferrite which is also paramagnetic. You put that in a beaker and hit it with nitric. That will eat the ferrite leaving the platinum. Easy peasy LOL! I have to agree with Clay that talk of static is just that...static LOL! You got to be tougher than a woodpeckers lips to try and make gold with a drywasher I wish you luck.