calgoldrecyclers
Well-known member
running a magnet is not such a good idea anymore, because most platinum in placer deposits has a high content of iron. best way to seperate is with a wheel or other gravity device.
olddannyboy said:Hi all I have a question or two I'm new at this, I don't know much about it. After watching Steve's videos I decided to try AP and muriatic acid on ore I had collected in Azusa CA.
This is what I did
I roasted an small sample( about 50 gr) of that screened ore, in a small glass container I added AP waited till the morning then I added an equal amount of muriatic acid, that produced a reaction, bubbling fizzing and a lot of golden and silver color flakes were floating on the liquid.
View attachment 2
Twelve hrs later there is nothing floating on the liquid anymore but when I stir there are many (like my daughter will say gazillions) particles of a golden and silver coloration, going around the trying to go to the bottom of the jar and on top of the gravel
View attachment 1
The sand at the bottom of the jar has now a lot black specks that it didn't have before and there are more visible lots of flakes of a golden/pinkish color they are big enough to see with the naked eye, there are bubbles going up from the sand I guess its still reacting the question is how long should I maintain the reaction going, will it be a good idea to smelt this small sample or to do fire assay first, but the main question is, do any of you guys think I'm doing anything wrong? I got gold fever and I cant think straight.
If this test proves successful I'm planning to leach with chlorine and muriatic but that will come later.
Thank you in advance
olddannyboy said:I'm trying to remove all base metals from the ore with AP/HCL and I was asking if I was doing something wrong. Am I? Idk.
Rarely will you be able to process an ore with acid and accompish your task at a profit. Consumption will be excessive, and results leaving a great deal to be desired.olddannyboy said:I'm trying to remove all base metals from the ore with AP/HCL and I was asking if I was doing something wrong. Am I? Idk.
Oz said:Calgold,
Ignore the file name these are under. These are not the greatest pictures for color and it was getting dark when taken. These are not representative of the stones found in the iron quarry they were hand picked from a mountain of overburden tailings that are piled up against an exposed rock face of solid magnetite several hundred feet tall. They are predominately green.
In the first picture you can see some of the copper has oxidized from a green to a blue around the iron pyrite crystals (upper cluster) and the lower cluster of coppery colored crystals.
The second picture shows the green at the bottom transitioning to a silver colored crystalline structure with a small core area of crystalline hematite? Forgot my magnet.
The last picture has bands of dark metallic crystals with the right side cleaved showing the iron face in the green stone.
There are also some stones that are a purer green that tend to be crumbly. This is just 10 minutes away from the sandstone pic location where the stream yields virtually no black sand. The geology is all shifted around here. There is also one of copper colored fine banding in it. I would love to hear your opinion on these 3 pics as you seem to know more than I and I am just guessing on some parts.
I wish I had more time there but it is now posted, closed off and patroled by the local police. They gave me an escort away. Its too bad as it is a neat area, I did get the new owners name from the officers and will attempt to get written permission to visit again.
blueduck said:Dealing with Arsenic is hardly worth the recovery unless you have really decent precious metal values to recover. The expense of recovery will eat into your efforts and the health risks are not usually worth toying with on a small scale lab experiment even in my opinion when you know it is there in quantity [especially via several trustworthy professional assay results]
It sucks knowing you have gold values and other possible metals to recover, best to either walk away or find a recovery millsite that is willing to deal with the arsenic and purchase your ore or ore body and then go prospect for a new life to exploit.
Blueduck
Idaho
Palladium said:
Richard36 said:Oz said:Calgold,
Ignore the file name these are under. These are not the greatest pictures for color and it was getting dark when taken. These are not representative of the stones found in the iron quarry they were hand picked from a mountain of overburden tailings that are piled up against an exposed rock face of solid magnetite several hundred feet tall. They are predominately green.
In the first picture you can see some of the copper has oxidized from a green to a blue around the iron pyrite crystals (upper cluster) and the lower cluster of coppery colored crystals.
The second picture shows the green at the bottom transitioning to a silver colored crystalline structure with a small core area of crystalline hematite? Forgot my magnet.
The last picture has bands of dark metallic crystals with the right side cleaved showing the iron face in the green stone.
There are also some stones that are a purer green that tend to be crumbly. This is just 10 minutes away from the sandstone pic location where the stream yields virtually no black sand. The geology is all shifted around here. There is also one of copper colored fine banding in it. I would love to hear your opinion on these 3 pics as you seem to know more than I and I am just guessing on some parts.
I wish I had more time there but it is now posted, closed off and patroled by the local police. They gave me an escort away. Its too bad as it is a neat area, I did get the new owners name from the officers and will attempt to get written permission to visit again.
Hello Oz,
Long time no chat.
I am surprised that I have not commented on these photos already.
I was just reading posts in this thread when I saw your photos, and about flipped out over them.
They're seriously indicative of a region that is of serious interest to me.
First off, these photo's indicate an extensive area of hydrothermal alteration.
The sulfides, and the green color produced from extensive heating of the parent Basalt into a version of Greenstone is obvious evidence of that fact.
Have you ever read about Gold associated with Greenstone Facies?
I have, and have prospected many zones associated with such outcrops, and in fact, that is the primary type of emplacement in my region. Greenstone Facies is one of the ore deposit models that have been extensively researched, and wrote about.
The green color, aside from being heated by contact metamorphism, could, and probably is being created by the presence of copper, manganese, and possibly nickel. The rusty color is Goethite, an Iron hydroxide produced by the breakdown and weathering of Iron Pyrite. This stain is associated with "Gossons", also called "Iron Hats", and indicate areas well worth further investigation. They often contain Gold, Silver, and Platinum group metals, as well as other metals of value.
This last photo is the one that turns me on. (Ore # 3)
The red band is some sort of iron stone, and is often a high grade gold ore, at least here it is. I panned a handfull of that same reddish ore as gravel from a stream close by, and assayed it. It contained 3 oz of Gold per ton of ore.
It is associated with that same gray to black material with the silvery luster.
I have not done any tests on that material to determine what its precious metal content is, or what metals it contains, but do know that it is associated with Gold, and will contain values the same as the red material. For all I know it may well contain Platinum, most of the PT group ores I have saw were the same silvery gray to black looking material.
I would love to have a chicken egg sized piece to look at that showed the gray to black material with the red material.
Further more, I would like to assay a piece of it just out of curiosity, in order to see exactly how much PM's it contained.
All that I have is marble and smaller sized pieces of the same material, and currently am prospecting natural traps as I go upstream looking for where it is being broke out of the bedrock, and being washed downstream.
I envy you Oz.
You have found a really good outcrop of material.
I want some, Lol!
I hope that this has been helpful, and to hear back from you soon.
Sincerely; Rick. "The Rock Man".
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