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| Black Sands |
| Updated 10/9/2007 |
| Most miners know by now that more gold might be hidden in the black sands that collect right along with the gold that is so well illustrated in this picture of Alaskan Nuggets. |
The way we treat our black sands
There are many good machines for separating black sands. Some seem to work better than others.
My preference for the first run-through is the "Blue-Bowl", which delicately separates the yellow
stuff out, moving the rest over the lip to a waiting tub below.
Some might say to chuck out the magnetics, or discard the lighter portions...but as we all go to so
much effort to get the gold as it is...it seems reasonable to take the remainder through another
step, if you could wring a little more gold out of it, No?
Recall, that the basis of our recovery is to collect where others passed it by, so this is just one
more step you can take, if you like.
After the obvious gold has been separated out of the sands..we put about 5 gallons worth of the
"Leftovers" black sands into our 5-gal plastic-tub cement mixer, add some nice round flint rocks
or agates to batter the sands with, and start it rolling.
First wash of the sands is with our Citric Acid Wash and Oxalic Acid, both of which go to work
neutralizing and consuming the iron in the mix, which is considerable. This whole thing rotates for
several hours, often overnight, then drained out, the sands rinsed again and drained.(the used wash
waters are recyclable)
Then our standard "Homemade Halox" is added, and the batch goes round and round again, for 24
hours. The leach is finally drained off, rinsed and added to the leach liquor, and strained of
debris.
Finally, precipitant is added, and the gold falls as a fine powder, sand, sponge or flake, depending
on choice of precipitant.
Precipitated metals are filtered with a coffee filter, then smelted.
"Halox" leach is recycled for another batch.
There are many good machines for separating black sands. Some seem to work better than others.
My preference for the first run-through is the "Blue-Bowl", which delicately separates the yellow
stuff out, moving the rest over the lip to a waiting tub below.
Some might say to chuck out the magnetics, or discard the lighter portions...but as we all go to so
much effort to get the gold as it is...it seems reasonable to take the remainder through another
step, if you could wring a little more gold out of it, No?
Recall, that the basis of our recovery is to collect where others passed it by, so this is just one
more step you can take, if you like.
After the obvious gold has been separated out of the sands..we put about 5 gallons worth of the
"Leftovers" black sands into our 5-gal plastic-tub cement mixer, add some nice round flint rocks
or agates to batter the sands with, and start it rolling.
First wash of the sands is with our Citric Acid Wash and Oxalic Acid, both of which go to work
neutralizing and consuming the iron in the mix, which is considerable. This whole thing rotates for
several hours, often overnight, then drained out, the sands rinsed again and drained.(the used wash
waters are recyclable)
Then our standard "Homemade Halox" is added, and the batch goes round and round again, for 24
hours. The leach is finally drained off, rinsed and added to the leach liquor, and strained of
debris.
Finally, precipitant is added, and the gold falls as a fine powder, sand, sponge or flake, depending
on choice of precipitant.
Precipitated metals are filtered with a coffee filter, then smelted.
"Halox" leach is recycled for another batch.
Black sands yields
Some sands I have worked with have hidden treasures, with platinum metals...telluriums and even
gemstones..so it's always worthwhile to look.
When it comes to recovery of "Extra" gold from this method..sometimes it is unbelievable, once the
varnish, mercury, carbon and iron oxides are scrubbed off the sands.
Sometimes it is just a little...
But I never get skunked.
There is always more gold than I had before, and it pencils out when figuring my time and costs...
Some sands I have worked with have hidden treasures, with platinum metals...telluriums and even
gemstones..so it's always worthwhile to look.
When it comes to recovery of "Extra" gold from this method..sometimes it is unbelievable, once the
varnish, mercury, carbon and iron oxides are scrubbed off the sands.
Sometimes it is just a little...
But I never get skunked.
There is always more gold than I had before, and it pencils out when figuring my time and costs...