# Silver & gold ore of a lifetime! Need help!



## Toddntucson7 (Apr 19, 2016)

I went out to a new area and this ore looks to be pretty good the first picture is what it looks like after the tour h touches it for less than a minute, there is gold all over the rocks as well. My next step what do I do? I don't have a rock crusher but I could buy one? This sample took me 15 minutes to collect. There is hundreds more tons of it where I'm located. I could only sink maybe two grand to start an operation so I guess the 100 dollar question of the day experts (because I'm a newbie) What would you do? Help I really could use the money to, that would be a Godsend.


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## rickbb (Apr 19, 2016)

Pretty rocks, first thing is to get a fire assay before you do anything else.


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 19, 2016)

The thing you are asking what is that on the rock. I'm assuming is the greenish white crap that is in the 6th pic. Is dried out lichen.
Starting anywhere, having a couple assays done by a couple labs would help in not jumping in blind. A couple so you can compare. Really not that expensive when comparing it to starting out and throwing thousands into something your not sure of what the outcome may be. Giving a location might help so some members can give you more of an accredited company name closer by.

Andrew


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 19, 2016)

I agree with Rick and Andrew. Get your material assayed.

Dave


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 19, 2016)

Delete please


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 19, 2016)

I'm still getting all my chem set together but until then maybe someone knows what this is. It has blue kinda green in the pours. Very heavy, non magnetic but sets off a metal detector like crazy.other rock thru in there possible meteorite, passed the scratch on porcelain test, magnet, gravity weight test and others. Being so large it throws me off because I have found a lot of meteorites and am friends with two if the best in the world Mark and Geoff here in Tucson. They had a TV series.


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 19, 2016)

Todd, take a breath! 

I tried my best, but I just couldn't make it through your long, one paragraph post. You may get better answers if you don't ask quite so many questions at a time, and break your thoughts up into paragraphs. 

I'm not a miner, but I know there are better ways to recover your metals than mercury.

Dave


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 19, 2016)

Just out of curiosity you thought this was silver and that's why you scanned it? Under 10 seconds with a torch old dried out plant matter can still bleed out oil. Which would make sense of why it was yellow.


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 19, 2016)

Todd,

That long post of yours is totally unreadable. Next time, a post that long should be broken down into about 10 paragraphs. Otherwise, people won't read it. I know I certainly won't read it. I don't have a half hour to wade through it.

I'm moving this thread to where it should have been posted to start with - *Prospecting, Mining, Ore Concentrated & Geochemical*. That's the only place mining stuff can be posted. The rest of the forum is for precious metals scrap.

I also don't care much for that ridiculous poll either.


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## Deano (Apr 20, 2016)

Take a representative couple of pieces of the rock, smaller is better in that you can get more pieces for the same weight and have a lab carry out a milling and aqua regia digest with an ICP-MS finish.

This will tell you not only the precious metals present but also any base metals.

Keep in mind that you will only be getting answers which are indicative for metals in the rock pieces assayed, not values which are for the whole deposit.

If the results show values then you can plan any further work.

Deano


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 27, 2016)

Trying to get a pic of the flour gold in pan of a rock about size of matchbox hot wheels car crushed and panned. 90 day intent is on land with claim and property going thru to secure. Posted this weekend was busy looking at other stuff in area. But will be LEGAL and working soon. Will give more pics of area and land once everything has finished. Only thing working so close to Mexico is all the ice cold beer! Hope I get the work done, have a lopsided mine shaft.


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 27, 2016)

Hard to catch load gold in pic, I saw someone circle that lichen on the rock, yes it went up in a flame looked like something else at first, ended up being at bottom of bucket until I could see it again. It was a rare strain of moss silver only found by newbies.


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 27, 2016)

Sorry about the poll. I got stuck on it and couldn't figure how to back out. I didn't like the poll either. I was just trying to get the message sent. I'm sure the answered could have been better or just not at all. I'm sure the post will be more to mining the ore if there will be further post and updates. Happy refining.


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 27, 2016)

Sorry one more post. I'm going to have the ore sent to a refinery. Maybe someday in future I would or could start a full time mining operation. Too close to Mexico and being out at night isn't a great idea. There are a lot more clandestine things happing at night out there and I wouldn't want to present a threat. Also leaving equipment overnight not being secured would be an issue. Hopefully the refinery will take ore as is. I'm going to high grade as much as possible to get some equipment needed at first probably bringing in a ton or two every couple days. After that I have located other areas North for placer gold. What would be the least processing to do? I'm thinking a rock ore crusher mounted on back of quad to fill drums. I hope they don't want anything further like roasting. What's a good price? Assay is going to be high grade and I don't think 50 oz a ton would be out of the question hand picking first couple months taking gold back. Thank you for the third party assay info a member gave me, it was helpful.


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## artart47 (Apr 27, 2016)

You aren't listening to what everyone is telling you!
Don't do anything! Get an assay!


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 28, 2016)

I had a private assay done and a member gave me a third party for my records. I'm going strait to refine. It's high grade and I have a breakdown of my ore and roughly is CU, AG, PB, AU, MN, MO etc. If it's a local oxidized in a carbonate limestone host with quartz. I started testing some methods, another form as well tonight I added 50-50 nitric started leaching. What order do you pull elements? I don't want the worthless elements just AG and AU mostly. I'm sure the platinum groups will stay of corse. but Its high grade consitrates at almost ^40 AG ton, grade of 684 g/mt with AG and PB being primary and gold a strong runner minor after @ 2.5 oz/ton. When I called its funny even the person in minerals I called from another state said watch out for claim jumpers on your claim with larger acreage you might end up in court. I know once sent to refiner and of corse after a 250 limit of casual miner he will ask location and paperwork will take place but that's why I'm trying to find a method I can do. And just keep reporting and paperwork to BLM. And legal. 
Do you leach, then cement your silver with copper, then PH with sodium hydroxide to a neutral 7 and pull your AU with stump out? Or is there an order if your pulling elements? Do I have to cement the CU first with tin then pull my AU? Do I do all this at hot temps or cold? My rock has major AG with good PB and minor CU I would rather dump the low grade CU element, pull the groups I want if I can, and smelt. Im thinking the lead is so high I can just add the zinc powder and bar. Maybe gift out in bars and family member later send to refinery to separate the AG/AU and platinum groups when they want. Doesnt have to be now. Even throw a little .999 silver in towards their college fund and also make the atomic stamp not yell out here's were my mine is so much. I don't know but I was even met pulling ore out and a person wanting a sample when I was staking, of corse I said no I was legal at that point. Just being carful.


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 28, 2016)

I wasn't paranoid until BLM and mining was telling me they I could get over ran and then have to fight in court at my cost when someone finds out rich ore and stakes a new claim off reports near mine and says sorry we didn't know we were on your claim. She said happens everyday, it's up to me to insure security. Proof and document everything. Trail cameras and being there. Attorneys can run high and years. I was kinda thrown back by her attitude of having a legal claim protects me at all. Kinda ruined my excitement.


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## Lou (Apr 28, 2016)

Can you post up the fire assay results?


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## rickbb (Apr 28, 2016)

Toddntucson7 said:


> I wasn't paranoid until BLM and mining was telling me they I could get over ran and then have to fight in court at my cost when someone finds out rich ore and stakes a new claim off reports near mine and says sorry we didn't know we were on your claim. She said happens everyday, it's up to me to insure security. Proof and document everything. Trail cameras and being there. Attorneys can run high and years. I was kinda thrown back by her attitude of having a legal claim protects me at all. Kinda ruined my excitement.



Now you know why lawyers make more money than gold miners.


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## Toddntucson7 (Apr 28, 2016)

I would say the ore speaks for itself


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## Lou (Apr 28, 2016)

Colored rocks does not a precious metal bearing ore make!!!!!
Post up the assay! You're putting the cart well before the horse! If you intend to do this, at least put your budget into a fire assay oven and some consumables, and LEARN!



I feel that we really need a discussion in the Library section to end all of this mining craziness--I wish Deano could get on board with me and perhaps a few others that have seen this material. Everyone's (thinks they have) got the best material/concentrates/etc. with oodles of value and unassailable precious metals and so on and so forth. It's just simply not often the case. 

Having had over 100 mining people come to me with materials, only 3 of those individuals actually had something (and they are all quite well off). The rest of them, were, unfortunately, gravely disappointed even though some of the material did have value, it just wasn't the 7/70/700 ounces/ton. 


There's an old expression...hope in one hand, **** in the other, see which fills up first


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## butcher (Apr 28, 2016)

Toddntucson7,
Gold fever? 
You can have a very rich mine, and it could cost a fortune to get a few pennies out of it.
You can have a poor mine and spend a fortune dumping money into the endless pit.
You can have a rich mine but if you do not know how to recover values it is worthless.

Miners are notorious for their afflictions with gold fever, they see gold even if there is little there to be had, they can work themselves to death chasing dreams, and never see they are going to the poor house in their chase of that golden cloud. They will also rebuke reason or common sense, as the golden clouds covers their eyes and ears and fogs their mind.

Knowledge and common sense, are helpful for the symptoms of gold fever, better to err on the side of caution, and prove facts before chasing dream clouds of gold into deep endless money pits. 

Look at the gold fever, you have been given good advice, do not let your gold fever cloud that common sense.

Educate yourself. Come back to earth, get your head out of the clouds. Listen to the voice of reason, get assay's, finding not only the values or metals the ore contains but also the other elements, that may pose dangers, that may need special procedures to recover values, or can make extraction difficult in some types of procedure or chemistry.

After you have assay of the elements. Can you extract the ore economically. Can you excavate, transport, ball mill, roast, concentrate, float, or other pre-process the ore economically? Can you recover the values, what methods may be needed? What experimentation of the different methods may be needed, smelting, pre-chemistry extraction, leaching, or other process? What complication with each of the method choices, will you have to change or overcome? would it be better to sell the ore, or try and process it, would it be better to concentrate and ship out, there are a hundred other things to consider even before digging, there is much you need to understand and learn before you dump money and acids on a pile of rock....


The mountains, valleys and rivers are full of rocks with values, that does not mean they would be worth mining, or could be mined economically.
Many a mine full of gold was abandoned, not because it lacked gold but that it was too difficult or cost to much to recover...

Rocks are different, and not all rock can be mined and the values extracted and recovered the same way, what may work for one type of ore will not work at all for another type... 
First thing is get over the gold fever, as long as you have that disease your not going to get anywhere with your mining operation.

Gold fever made more miners poor than all of the few miners that made a living or the few that hit some gold lottery. miners with gold fever are not only a danger to themselves, they are also easy targets for crooks.

I say the first task is to find a cure for the gold fever before you consider digging and dumping tons of rocks into acid.


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## acpeacemaker (Apr 28, 2016)

Butcher that's words of wisdom. The mine I work for in Cripple Creek can spend easily in a day over a million just to make a million and break even. Just like the bits for drilling can cost a quarter million and they can go through 2-3 in a day. People that come here don't realize this huge massive mountain is one massive mine dump. The lay of the land here always changes. Mainly because they move so much ground. There's pretty rocks all over but where the values are a lot of people wouldn't have a clue. (Of course we have sulphides here) If money was in all of them I think our population would be a little higher than 1100. 
Andrew


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## solarsmith (May 1, 2016)

what was your fire assay? gold? silver?
was the 2.5 oz gold?
if so thats $3,125.00 in gold alone. add in the silver and your up to $4.000.00 a ton. you can put 20 tons on a truck and ship it to a smelter thats $80.000.00 a truck.
cost of the shipping about $3.000.00 to get it to loardsburg in newmexico. they can do the concentration and send it to the smelter. after all cost you get $70.000.00
a truck full. now you can aford to buy lots of acid so you can soak your ore and then spend $40.000 to treat the waste from your acid leaching . ever wonder why no mine is acid leaching ore any more. want to know how much it cost to set up arsenic leaching. (millions) but you cant do that because you have cu in your ore.

If it was me. id bury it and all traces of the ore so that you are the only one that can find it. gps locate the spot so you can find it again. get all permits for a small miner operation blm and state. then dig it up one 20 ton load at a time and ship it to loardsburg in new mexico. now then please report what your fire assay was in a way that makes sense. Bryan in Denver Colorado


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