REDNECK ORE SAMPLING (DARK SANDSTONE)
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Martijn
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yellow solution does not mean gold, it can also be iron.
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As per the old reply, I have not seen Gold precipitated geologically, in Limestone, that has visible Au. If you do some research into the occurrences of the large Carlin type deposits, you will see that the Au rarely occurs in microscope recognizable sizes. Takes an electron microscope to see the individual atoms, and clusters of atoms. It is a very dilute ore, mined on a massive scale. Usually on the .03 ounce per ton level. I don't know how much you run for testing, but would think that even with a 20 kg. test, the amount of Au would not color the AR to the degree it is turning.
Darkthirty
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Put your ore samples in HCL, if you have the same result, you can determine it to be iron and NOT PMs. Edit was an addition
Starting to see that in the, what I call, sand stones... eroded limestone, compiled into soft sand stone I guess. Sample was 75g.. the largest of all samples to date. On to quartz pebbles and white rocks that I think are Calcite... Gotta collect some first, maybe a week or two before I can break free from honey do list and go hounding for a few hours in no gold creek ... cheers ! Oh, thought about running some of the rocks in goldbay's 1oz deal through crusher and sampling too.. might do that in between now and next creek trip just for fun. I've heard they are supposed to be collected from gold bearing creek.... humm.....
I am roasting and then putting in HCL for 24 hrs before ore goes into AR. Now, I don't always completely rinse the ore after HCL bath... so I guess some dirty HCL may have been left behind. The roast for this batch got pretty hot too... Accidentally put an osage orange log in there with the hackberry... it cracked the bottom of one of the cast iron skillets. Upshot.... the shale sample and this dark sandstone sample got pretty dang hot.
Anyway, will a bit of iron in the AR screw it all up ? Solution ? (multiple HCL baths).. and rinse the heck out of sample before AR ? (if a bit of iron does indeed screw up AR process)
The iron do not screw up the AR, it dissolves, unless it is oxides.
Some oxides do not dissolve well.
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Please remind me again, why you are roasting your rocks. Did you find some sulfides in them?
Will it then precipitate when SMB is added, or stay behind in solution ? Iron will dissolve into solution before gold, I've heard that.... So if it doesn't precipitate and co-inhabits AR with gold, then no big deal so long as the iron doesn't consume all the AR before the AR can get to the gold. If that is the case, then I think the HCL bath should be removing most of the iron, with only some remaining behind.
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I figured it was an easy to do and a benign process milestone/step that didn't hurt anything, and could only benefit the process by removing 'potential' sulfides. There is a LOT of sulfur around here... so much so that I think some of it precipitates on the rocks in no gold creek as yellow squishy heavy substance... Thought it was gold first time I saw it... heck, it maybe gold for all I know.. wonder if gold in water would collect on limestone.. humm... GOLD !!!!
Attached an image of some dried out... Sulfur is a natural yellow substance... know of any others that would collect on the limestone bedrock in no gold creek ? Figured if it was in the water, it was probably in the rocks that I collect from in the water... and so figured a good smoking could only help the process..
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Judging from all the posts you have applied here, I would recommend you take some geology courses before you try any more experiments with acids. Despite some very good advice on how to test, identify, refine, etc., you keep going full circle, back to " I know there is Gold here somewhere". Until you can start helping yourself, I feel there is nothing left for me to add, nor anyone else on the forum. I appreciate the enthusiasm you bring. There is a time for the momma bird to make the chick fly from the nest, and maybe now is the time for you to fly from this nest, on to an education in geology. It is fun and exciting to find new knowledge, and hope you bring that excitement to whatever geology people you hook up with. Please feel free to revisit with something along the lines of actual refining.
haha.. Momma Shark... When you see my stuff in DRAMATIC BOLD BIG WORDS... I am being sarcastic.
Trying to make that evident with "BIG WORKS", dramatic overt statements, etc. Having a bit of fun...
Also, I am not refining, I am prospecting in "no gold creek", using small amount of acids on very small ore samples to identify potential traces or indications of gold... then employing the results to guide the rock hounding hobby (which is Primary)... finding gold (even a fly spec) is a fun secondary aside.
Have worked in tech for decades ... I am familiar with E-waste, and would not touch it. The knowns in it scare me far more than the unknowns in a creek pebble. (not diminishing the flags thrown alerting and warning of toxic and dangers of putting rocks in acid ... do appreciate that and have taken all precautions advised to date by the forum.. .. well .. most of them that is)
I have posted in this section with the intent to stay away from refining and e-waste discussions.
This section is titled "prospecting and mining.. etc..." >>>>>>> "prospecting" <> (does not equal) "actual refining"... SO THERE !! <said loudly with 12 yo enthusiasm>
Enjoy your comments and hope you continue to sling the snot, but understand if the thread does not align with your interest.
I do take your opines seriously, and I know I have a lot to learn, and am enjoying the ride in the new hobby of rock hounding, prospecting, and drinking a few beers in the creek while just digging around .. finding artifacts, and cool rocks with potential GOLD IN THEM !! LOTS OF GOLD !!!!! BILLIONS !!!!!
... or just cool rocks.
Have been looking to Carlin deposits, and sat through a few utube sessions..... It left me wondering. Where is the east coast version of the Carlin Trend ?.. to wit, me thinks, its must be in the limestone in no gold creek !!
Gotta test that !!... now 3 ore types to go:
1 - creek quartz pebbles
2 - calcite
3 - lime stone (the hard variety, taken with hammer and broken off the lower side of the exposure above no gold creek)
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Darkthirty
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At16:30 of the above video
Other than the quick quip regarding how the application mountains were formed, I didn't hear anything about geothermal or goechem processes that occurred on east coast. I am somewhat familiar with the geological aspects of the area, but not of the thermal and chemical. The geological aspects of middle TN basin and Nevada Carlin area do present some similarities. Both were shallow oceans, both sank down due to plate techtonics,... but for different reasons (Nevada got stretched ... sliding over the plate... Nashville basin was crumpled, like crumple zones on a car with some areas pushed up and other pushed down (middle TN basis, pushed down but with many smaller crumples within the basin as well)). Each has a major fault like to it's west (Carlin the San Andreas and Nashville Basin the New Madrid) they are approx the same distance from these fault lines (I would assume this would mean each has traversed over a magma vent at some point in its history and given the approx distance, likely around the same time in history)... Heck, 600 million years ago TN was a hot spot for volcanic activity, and there are still activity today (lil' know fact).. After a recent rumbling, geologists looked into the source and found Mount Leconte, which is in Tennessee, had a huge chamber filled with magma beneath it. It is now classified as an active volcano (neat, huh?). Gotta be gold in no gold creek (matches up with CARLIN deposit area !!,, got heat, volcanos, magma, sulfur.... gold... Gold !..... GOLD I TELL YA !!!! ; )
I took a class as a freshman called Semimicro Qualitative Analysis. For the lab final, we were each given three unknown mineral pulps and we had to identify the cations and anions of each. There is a systematic approach to doing this and makes subsequent concentration, smelting and refining much easier. If you look at the reference at the top of this board, some of the test procedures are listed.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
