What next?!

[Lucky Gator]

So I have found what I think is a pretty good bunch of Quartz with lots of minerals and ore in it. I am sending samples off to be analyzed, but it looks like everything from pyrite to copper, to silver and gold. I am in the process of crushing it, but am not sure what to do next. So far I have 5 x 5 gallon bucketfuls. We break the rock at the claim then bring home the most promising looking stuff 1st. There is plenty more in the area, so this will be a long time on going process. Since there is potentially more than just gold in the crushed rock, I am wondering how to best process it. I am looking at selling some of the nicer pieces as specimens. I am also wondering how to approach taking more of the quartz out of the vein. The stuff we have so far is just the quartz that has worked loose. The area is a combination of shale and quartz, and this stuff looks to be coming out of a line of quartz that I was able to locate about 2/3 of the way up the hill. Interestingly enough, a long time ago, someone prospected the hill, it is pretty clear where they dug, and unfortunately for them, they were about 15 feet above the quartz. A lot of erosion has taken place since then, so more rock is exposed now. I have found some of the heavily mineralized quartz sticking out of the hill and was thinking I would just attack it with a pick and rock hammer. It is just me and my kiddo (he is 8 years old) working it, and we aren't planning on getting into a lot of equipment. Suggestions?

 

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[Sheldon J]

Photos ;-)

 

[Lucky Gator]

Here you go...

Photos ;-)

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

yep...that's copper al right...in Arizona one gets copper, gold, silver, lead, an zinc from rocks like those.

...one needs to crush, grind, cook, an leech through chemicals to get the goodies.

 

[gold tramp]

I would go to where the old dig is( old timers more often new more than we do) start there dig in clean a good area off see if you can find where the quarzt come in contact with the wall rock (country rock) if you are gonna get gold it will probably be in the contact zone, that might be what the original miners were doing up hill from what sounds like the float your are getting?
look for the rusty looking ores and crush a couple rocks and pan for values do this every foot ore so if you don't see gold in 1 or 2 rocks forget it find a new dig.

always crush and pan a few pieces if its got gold dig if not walk away. ( Crush to a fine powder then pan no chunkys)
if I find ore like yours it usaly has no values. hope this helps.

keep hunting your getting close.
good luck....

 

[Lucky Gator]

So we have actually found the contact point. There is an area within about 50 feet or so from the original dig, that erosion has exposed some rock, this is the spot the quartz seems to be coming from, the quartz coming from below their dig doesn't show any ore staining at all. There is one spot in particular that the vein of quartz is clearly visible in the slate, and the quartz that is showing is heavily mineralized. I was thinking this might be a good spot to chip away. I was also wondering if it would be worth investing in some sort of a shaker table or spiral system to run the crushed and ground quartz through. I am not 100 percent confident in my panning skills, and was wondering if some automation might recover more.

I would go to where the old dig is( old timers more often new more than we do) start there dig in clean a good area off see if you can find where the quarzt come in contact with the wall rock (country rock) if you are gonna get gold it will probably be in the contact zone, that might be what the original miners were doing up hill from what sounds like the float your are getting?
look for the rusty looking ores and crush a couple rocks and pan for values do this every foot ore so if you don't see gold in 1 or 2 rocks forget it find a new dig.

always crush and pan a few pieces if its got gold dig if not walk away. ( Crush to a fine powder then pan no chunkys)
if I find ore like yours it usaly has no values. hope this helps.

keep hunting your getting close.
good luck....

 

[Lucky Gator]

Once it is crushed, how do you seperate the gold, form the copper, from the silver and pyrite?

yep...that's copper al right...in Arizona one gets copper, gold, silver, lead, an zinc from rocks like those.

...one needs to crush, grind, cook, an leech through chemicals to get the goodies.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

a nasty chemical solution...electric current...How to recover gold from cyanide solution, Learn To recover gold from cyanide solution

 

[Lucky Gator]

Since I am going to be doing this with my 8 year old, I am going to take a pass on the cyanide. I understand that Aqua Regia is not the nicest stuff either, but it seems a little safer. I don't think it seperates the gold from the silver and copper though.

a nasty chemical solution...electric current...How to recover gold from cyanide solution, Learn To recover gold from cyanide solution

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

yes...unless one wishs to handle nasty chemicals, the fire department gets fussy, one is stuck with panning or finding nuggets..

but you are in the right area..keep looking.

 

[Lucky Gator]

I am thinking for our purposes, we will crush, pan, and make buttons. I am now going to attempt to find out if MAP gas or Butane will create enough heat or if I need to go with oxy/acetylene. If we start finding anything with real vlaue, we can send it off to a refiner I suppose.

yes...unless one wishs to handle nasty chemicals, the fire department gets fussy, one is stuck with panning or finding nuggets..

but you are in the right area..keep looking.

 

[Dustedyou]

Lucky get ready for the Crush, pan crush pan, and Aqua Regia! mines the same way on my mine ... copper is the bane of existence ..lol but it will yield well.. you will have to Pre-etch your 1/8th grind with Muriatic Acid (HCL @ 30%) home depot or lowes.. then etch it out with Aqua Regia.. I can help with that end of the process! if you need Help hit me up PM..!! nice 'find!

 

[Lucky Gator]

Could you translate the 1/8th grind to a mesh size please, lol. Right now I am just crushing it almost to dust, and then pulling out the bigger pieces and crushing again. I was going to start running them through a sifter, like you would use for the kitchen and then recrush whatever doesn't go through. I have worked with muriatic before, when I was a kid. My grandpa had me clean rocks with them when we were buidling fireplaces or planters. I do need some advice on the aqua regia, I sent you a PM on it.

Lucky get ready for the Crush, pan crush pan, and Aqua Regia! mines the same way on my mine ... copper is the bane of existence ..lol but it will yield well.. you will have to Pre-etch your 1/8th grind with Muriatic Acid (HCL @ 30%) home depot or lowes.. then etch it out with Aqua Regia.. I can help with that end of the process! if you need Help hit me up PM..!! nice 'find!

 

[Dustedyou]

Could you translate the 1/8th grind to a mesh size please, lol. Right now I am just crushing it almost to dust, and then pulling out the bigger pieces and crushing again. I was going to start running them through a sifter, like you would use for the kitchen and then recrush whatever doesn't go through. I have worked with muriatic before, when I was a kid. My grandpa had me clean rocks with them when we were buidling fireplaces or planters. I do need some advice on the aqua regia, I sent you a PM on it.

The finer the grind the better, then pre etch it with HCL (muriatic acid) about 2 to 1 (2x the amount of your dust) for about 24 hours, then you'll want to put it thru coffe filters (i use 2 on glass wine bottles with the ends cut off to make glass funnels) plastic funnels work well too wash the "Dreggs" back into the main bottle with your the rest of your powder, then youll want to do the Aqua regia.. 1 part 67% nitric acid to 4 parts HCL (muriatic acid) and add a cap full of Bleach (the extra chloride atom helps the Aqua Regia rip the noble metals out).(the reaction between all of these is very subdued, till you add it to your powdered ore.) after 48 hours (unless you have a crock pot to keep it at 135 degrees then its like 24 hours) then you'll want to add UREA to the (now green) aqua regia till it stops bubbling stiring it throughout this helps immensely after the Urea stops bubbling it has now gotten rid of the excess nitric acid so that you can "Drop Out" the gold, Filter the liquid into a seperate container the purer the better. get Sodium metabisulfite (from your local brewery club or supply) and add 2 table spoons to 600ml of HOT water add this to the Green liquid.. the smell of these chemicals is extreme and the Chlorine can do major damage to your lungs, so i use a blast cabinet with a scrubber on it but you can just as easily do this out doors,, wear gloves and protective eye wear.. add the sodium metabisulfite (SMB) to the liquid ,, the reaction is minor but do this quickly because the stink is major. now wait for at least 24 hours.. you will see your gold drop into the bottom of the container after 24 to 48 hours has passed again set up your filter and filter the liquid 2x paying attention to the brown "Mud" in your 1st container and your filters (wash it thoroughly) to ensure you get all of your gold back, dry the gold now (your mud) in the coffe filter and build up enough to melt it in a crucible.. this will yield 99.9997% fine gold if done properly. the leftover green liquid i save until i have 55 gallons of it then i drop out the platinum, rhodium, and other noble metals with oxilate acid, thus getting you 1500$ an oz there too. (the green is copper if you want it you can use Aluminum to drop it but why?)
As with all chemical reactions use Caution, And what ever you do Don't Rush it! i have lost 4 or 5 OZ of gold rushing, and not having enough jars, clean items, and even my crock pot has munched it too.. if you would like pictures i can post them also. Probably should do a thread on it huh?

 

[Dustedyou]

Could you translate the 1/8th grind to a mesh size please, lol. Right now I am just crushing it almost to dust, and then pulling out the bigger pieces and crushing again. I was going to start running them through a sifter, like you would use for the kitchen and then recrush whatever doesn't go through. I have worked with muriatic before, when I was a kid. My grandpa had me clean rocks with them when we were buidling fireplaces or planters. I do need some advice on the aqua regia, I sent you a PM on it.

The finer the grind the better, then pre etch it with HCL (muriatic acid) about 2 to 1 (2x the amount of your dust) for about 24 hours, then you'll want to put it thru coffe filters (i use 2 on glass wine bottles with the ends cut off to make glass funnels) plastic funnels work well too wash the "Dreggs" back into the main bottle with your the rest of your powder, then youll want to do the Aqua regia.. 1 part 67% nitric acid to 4 parts HCL (muriatic acid) and add a cap full of Bleach (the extra chloride atom helps the Aqua Regia rip the noble metals out).(the reaction between all of these is very subdued, till you add it to your powdered ore.) after 48 hours (unless you have a crock pot to keep it at 135 degrees then its like 24 hours) then you'll want to add UREA to the (now green) aqua regia till it stops bubbling stiring it throughout this helps immensely after the Urea stops bubbling it has now gotten rid of the excess nitric acid so that you can "Drop Out" the gold, Filter the liquid into a seperate container the purer the better. get Sodium metabisulfite (from your local brewery club or supply) and add 2 table spoons to 600ml of HOT water add this to the Green liquid.. the smell of these chemicals is extreme and the Chlorine can do major damage to your lungs, so i use a blast cabinet with a scrubber on it but you can just as easily do this out doors,, wear gloves and protective eye wear.. add the sodium metabisulfite (SMB) to the liquid ,, the reaction is minor but do this quickly because the stink is major. now wait for at least 24 hours.. you will see your gold drop into the bottom of the container after 24 to 48 hours has passed again set up your filter and filter the liquid 2x paying attention to the brown "Mud" in your 1st container and your filters (wash it thoroughly) to ensure you get all of your gold back, dry the gold now (your mud) in the coffe filter and build up enough to melt it in a crucible.. this will yield 99.9997% fine gold if done properly. the leftover green liquid i save until i have 55 gallons of it then i drop out the platinum, rhodium, and other noble metals with oxilate acid, thus getting you 1500$ an oz there too. (the green is copper if you want it you can use Aluminum to drop it but why?)
As with all chemical reactions use Caution, And what ever you do Don't Rush it! i have lost 4 or 5 OZ of gold rushing, and not having enough jars, clean items, and even my crock pot has munched it too.. if you would like pictures i can post them also. Probably should do a thread on it huh?

 

[Fullpan]

I would like to see a thread on this, with step by step instructions and pics or video. You'd half to place plenty of cautions/warnings throughout, but it makes
fascinating reading and may be a way to make a small profit with HARD ROCKS.

 

[Lucky Gator]

I agree with Fullpan! You really do need to do a full thread on this Dustedyou. It would be great if you could throw in some pictures. The information you provided so far is outstanding, and I appreciate it!SOme further information on how to turn the mud back into gold wold be great too. Obviously, you go from hard rock to gold quite a bit, if you could walk us threw the process from field to finished product, that would be outstanding. Is there a book on hardrock mining in your future?!

I would like to see a thread on this, with step by step instructions and pics or video. You'd half to place plenty of cautions/warnings throughout, but it makes
fascinating reading and may be a way to make a small profit with HARD ROCKS.

 

[gold tramp]

this is just a tip but you should try to stick to ore that you can crush n pan yourself, as for the putting ores into solution, unless you have a mnt of ore 100 ton your wasting your time.
you aren't going to get any values out of a few rocks anyways, just my take

I live by the rule if you cant see it in the pan don't mess with there are plenty of veins that have values you can recover with a pan.
Keep on panning you will gain confidence when you see the yellow in your pan.

as soon as I can get my internet squared away I will have some how to videos on my site.

Good luck keep hunting and panning.

 

[Dustedyou]

lol ya .. i actually wrote a book and never had it published... lol "The **** done in GOD's name" Anyhoo I will get a thread done on the aqua regia and muck cleanup into bars..

Tramp im yielding 2 oz per 20 pounds of ore now with that same peacocking.. but your right i would and do see gold in the bottom of the pan before i process.. and i concentrate the hell out of my heavies before i even get to an etch..
all with pictures... speaking of which i have a couple for oakview on the mat for sluice.. uggg to much to do brb!