Processing. How much is too much?

[goldenIrishman]

How much processing of your materials is to much to you? Where does you draw the line? Lately I've gotten some PMs form others wanting me to detail out my full process for running materials and I figured that it would be easier to answer them all with a post instead of replying to everyone individually. (That post is currently being worked on off line)

While I have no problem with sharing my recovery method with others, these questions brought a new question to my mind. That being "How much is too much?" I'm sure that everyone here wants to get all the gold they can out of the materials that they've sweated to unearth and that those of us that do this for a living have learned on where to draw the line on processing so they can keep moving materials instead of spending more time on getting every last bit of gold out of those materials.

Here is my take on this and I'd like to hear from others just where they draw the line.

1. Dig, classify and sluice the materials down to concentrates.
2. Initial clean up of cons. Panning and removing magnetic sands and gold.
3. Grind then Shake N bake black sands but only when I have nothing else to dig or run in the sluice or pan.
4. Save B.Sands for amalgamation at a later date.

I feel that this is a reasonable amount of processing for a small timer like myself and the only time I get really obsessive with getting EVERYTHING out is during testing so I know just what to expect as well as figure out the best way to work an area. If I was to obsess about getting everything out of the materials I'd spend more time processing than doing actual mining. The black sands will still be there for more processing later like when the weather is rotten, but when the weather is good I spend most of my time digging and processing materials.

Where is YOUR line at and why?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[goldenIrishman]

Knowing you, you would have the gravel truck dump it all in front of the garage so you could run it first!

Nawww... I'd be getting like 1 inch gravel for the driveway so it's not even going to fit through my classifier. Now if I could get in good with the supply yard foreman....

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[DizzyDigger]

Knowing you, you would have the gravel truck dump it all in front of the
garage so you could run it first!

Know you said this in jest, but in all honesty that is something I have
seriously considered now for some time. Winters up here are cold and
wet, not to mention the problems I have getting around in a creek bed
filled with ice covered rocks and boulders.

There's several large gravel pits within 20 miles of home here, and I've
often thought about talking with one of them to see what they would
charge to deliver 10-20 yds of 1/4- material. Got a good spot on the
property to pile it up (close to the garage/shop), and then I'd have
material to keep me busy most of the winter....

The material would have to be test panned first, of course, but even
if there was just very small gold that would be enough motivation for
me to stay busy classifying, panning and running the cons on the
table.

This may be a very viable solution if/when the time comes that
I've lost my hearing and mobility completely, and it's no longer safe
to get down by the river.

 

[goldenIrishman]

That's what I like about you Dizzy! ALWAYS THINKING! If there's gold in there....

 

[Kruzman]

On the subject of keeping your black sand of mesh #?? and smaller for later whish seems to be a constant question of justification. The way I look at it is this; -150 to -200 and smaller is a wast of time to try to pan in any quantity except when testing a new site to see if there is ANY gold in it. however, that is NOT so say there is no value in it, as there is a LOT of value in it when processed in bulk, just not in the pan so to speak. I recently dumped (small shoveled)my years worth of accumulated black sand through my drop riffle hibanker attached to a bilge pump and on cleanup my pan had a beautiful golden rainbow. is that all the gold in it? probably not, -400 is near impossible to get using hydraulic gravity processing unless that's using a centrifuge, plus I didn't exactly try very hard to tune the hibanker first, nor did I tightly control my feed rate. I just didn't have any time to get out that week and needed a fix and know where to find one at home! so how come there was good 200+ gold in there in the first place? I would rather spend my time at the creek feeding material than checking to se what I got. sucker off the easy stuff and save the rest for a rainy day, this policy will leave you with more gold at the end of the year, than nit picking your pan at the river.