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Thanks for the note and ore sample...
Sorry not to have responded sooner..but just got back from an extended trip thru the South..Georgia,
NC,SC,etc. Met some great folks, got some gold, and had a great time. We took a look at your samples this
morning and they look good.
Two things come to mind; First; through the use of a very slow shaker table you can recover a greater
portion of the above-micron level of the fine gold..that which is in the visible range. Great patience is
required, plus very low-flows of water, and very shallow angles to effect separation. The "Gold Wheel" is
too crude to do this. Secondly, the recoverable portion that will dissolve is blocked by a high sulfur content
in the powder ore samples. The sulfur locks up the gold as gold sulfide.
It is easy to identify, owing to the obvious "rotten-egg" small as you work with it. You realistically need to
pre-treat the ore by heating it to over 400 F to burn off the sulfur, leaving the gold as oxides behind.
From there........I think I would put the entire treated ore then into a 1/2 yard cement mixer, adding twice as
much water as material, then a cup of Citric Acid Wash into it to remove and cancel the iron content that is
typical in most ores. This is allowed to rotate for several hours, then settle. The water/iron/citric acid is
drained off... 5 gals of fresh water is added, rotated for a few minutes and then drained off as well. This
waste water is ok for the garden, environment or drain.
Now make up a batch of at least one volume of "Homemade Halox" leach and add it to the mixer/ore
combination, letting it rotate for up to a day...adding a few smooth river rocks to help pound the sands and
mixture, removing any remaining oxides of iron. Use your ORP meter and PH meter to adjust the levels for
leaching at optimum levels. Next, after settling, drain off the leach into a large container. Leach can now be
precipitated into gold. Remaining "Heavies" can be separated by tabling or panning.
Optional gold recovery can be accomplished by placing 1 ounce mercury per gallon of materials (charged or
un-charged) into the mixer and rotating until all gold is collected, often turning into a dark grey mass as it
rotates. Mercury can be recycled and removed by placing in a retort and heaterd to drive off mercury, then
gold heated separately or nitric-acid-washed to remove trace mercury.
Sorry not to have responded sooner..but just got back from an extended trip thru the South..Georgia,
NC,SC,etc. Met some great folks, got some gold, and had a great time. We took a look at your samples this
morning and they look good.
Two things come to mind; First; through the use of a very slow shaker table you can recover a greater
portion of the above-micron level of the fine gold..that which is in the visible range. Great patience is
required, plus very low-flows of water, and very shallow angles to effect separation. The "Gold Wheel" is
too crude to do this. Secondly, the recoverable portion that will dissolve is blocked by a high sulfur content
in the powder ore samples. The sulfur locks up the gold as gold sulfide.
It is easy to identify, owing to the obvious "rotten-egg" small as you work with it. You realistically need to
pre-treat the ore by heating it to over 400 F to burn off the sulfur, leaving the gold as oxides behind.
From there........I think I would put the entire treated ore then into a 1/2 yard cement mixer, adding twice as
much water as material, then a cup of Citric Acid Wash into it to remove and cancel the iron content that is
typical in most ores. This is allowed to rotate for several hours, then settle. The water/iron/citric acid is
drained off... 5 gals of fresh water is added, rotated for a few minutes and then drained off as well. This
waste water is ok for the garden, environment or drain.
Now make up a batch of at least one volume of "Homemade Halox" leach and add it to the mixer/ore
combination, letting it rotate for up to a day...adding a few smooth river rocks to help pound the sands and
mixture, removing any remaining oxides of iron. Use your ORP meter and PH meter to adjust the levels for
leaching at optimum levels. Next, after settling, drain off the leach into a large container. Leach can now be
precipitated into gold. Remaining "Heavies" can be separated by tabling or panning.
Optional gold recovery can be accomplished by placing 1 ounce mercury per gallon of materials (charged or
un-charged) into the mixer and rotating until all gold is collected, often turning into a dark grey mass as it
rotates. Mercury can be recycled and removed by placing in a retort and heaterd to drive off mercury, then
gold heated separately or nitric-acid-washed to remove trace mercury.
| From the Archives: |
| Mike's response to a tricky ore sample: |
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| Updated 9/28/2009 |
This information had been previously published though temporarily missed when we switched
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