# new to mineing



## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

hi i just inherited a mine my grand father was trying to develope he taught me alot of things but not how to refine the ore 
all of his equipment was stolen after he died so im just doing it on a small basis and i just need some help coming up with a way to extract the gold at home any help would be apreciated thank u


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

ps its been assayed and things it comes out to 2 to 3 ounces per ton


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## Harold_V (Jan 4, 2010)

mattmcbenge said:


> ps its been assayed and things it comes out to 2 to 3 ounces per ton


That's a rather broad spread for an assay. Are you suggesting that several samples indicate that kind of spread, or is the report on a single assay 2-3 ounces?

As far as extracting the values, until we know more about the ore, there's no way in hell anyone can give you any guidance. Many factors influence the process that will yield results, so to take a guess is not doing you any favors. 

Can you tell us how the ore has been assayed? 

We have an ore (mineral) expert on this board. If you can post a picture of the ore, he can give you a considerable amount of information in regards to what you might be dealing with. Maybe then someone can make a recommendation. 

Do keep one thing in mind. Processing a ton of ore by hand is going to be less than a fun project. If the gold is finely divided, you may not be able to extract it by methods within your means (it might require cyanide, for example). Don't get your hopes up. There's probably a real good reason why your granddad didn't produce any metal. 

Harold


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

the few assays i have look like this

au ag 
oz/t oz/t 
coarse(bulk heads) 3.034 4.71
duplicate 3.08 4.76
medium 2.820 4.45
fine 4.332 6.71
flot tails 0.668 1.17
flot con 1 15.412 21.38
flot con 2 5.744 12.80
flot con 3 3.676 8.31

i hope this helps so maybe u can help me thank u very much


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

sorry my cam suxxx


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## Oz (Jan 4, 2010)

If you had a better picture I am sure Richard36 would love to give you insights as to your ore.


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## Palladium (Jan 4, 2010)

Is that Copper Sulfate ?


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

i hope u can c this one better


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## Oz (Jan 4, 2010)

I had no clue on the first pic but the second looks like it may be quartz with black metallics.


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

its quartz zinc copper lead nickel silver and gold heavy stuff lol


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

at least thats all i can remember he said hope he was right lol


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## pinman (Jan 4, 2010)

Bornite possibly? 

Does it look like any of the Google image results?


http://www.google.com/m/search?oe=UTF-8&client=safari&q=bornite&hl=en&site=images&ct=title&oi=image_result_group&sa=X&ei=QSxCS4CdIKSOrgOH64W2Aw&cd=1&resnum=1


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

yes it kinda has some of those features its really pretty ore depending on what pit i get the rock from some looks like coal or something and the other pit has more chrystal stuff im sorry im new to all this iv just been trying to decipher my grand fathers writings he was pretty secretive bout things lol


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## manorman (Jan 4, 2010)

What state or you in, it might help.
dont give exact location but a general area, if you have ore at 2 to 3 oz per ton that's rich ore.


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 4, 2010)

i live in southern idaho


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## butcher (Jan 5, 2010)

if you burn it with a torch do you smell a sulfur smell (SO2gas)? if so it would be a sulfide ore. blue or green rock usually indicates copper, and gold will usually be associated with copper and iron pyrites or sulfate ore. once you find out the ore type finding ways to deal with it should be fairly easy.
what about sending a sample to rock man? or maybe GSP can assay, I am not sure if he test ore?


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## markqf1 (Jan 5, 2010)

Looks like Bornite to me, which is a copper iron sulfide.
Some people refer to it as "peacock ore".
With very much weathering it will become chalcocite.
It's mostly formed in hydrothermal veins but can also form in some silica-poor intrusives.
I haven't ever processed any but, as with any sulfide, grinding and a good roast and a pretreatment with h2so4 are probably in order here, before leaching attempts are made.
I'm sure "the rock man" will have some good info on it.

Mark


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 8, 2010)

thank u guys very much how would i get ahold of rock man thanks


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## jimdoc (Jan 8, 2010)

His info is on any of his posts, or ask him a question in this topic;
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5588&start=20
(Richard36)

Jim


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## Anonymous (Jan 8, 2010)

mattmcbenge said:


> ps its been assayed and things it comes out to 2 to 3 ounces per ton



Frozen in Canada and wondering why we're all trying to guess what the rock is when it's already been assayed. Ouch!

Reminds me of when the wife asked my what that fellow wanted who drove into the yard and we spoke for half an hour and accomplished nothing. When no sale was made I told her nothing and She said OH! " Kicking stones and spitting".


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## Richard36 (Jan 9, 2010)

Hello mattmcbenge,

Sorry that it has taken me so long to make a reply.

As for mineral content, your ore looks like it is combination of minerals, mostly Pyrite (iron), Chalcopyrite (Copper), and Sphalerite (Lead and Zinc).

Your ore came from a high grade vein system, undoubtably.
It came out of an area that has underwent the processes of hydrothermal alteration, and concentrated the the metals within the overlying rock strata, of which is of Dolomite, or Carbonatite in composition, and thereby some grade of Skarn.
The Quartz content suggests it was formed in close association with Granite.

I suppose that you allready have some of the equipment that you need considering you mentioned floatation concentrates.

Those concentrates will need to be roasted to drive off the sulfur, and convert them into Oxides of the metals contained within the ore. These oxides can then be leached from your ore with any of the common leaching methods, quite possibly with the Muriatic acid/clorox bleach method found on this forum. Note that this will strip all metals from the ore into solution, not just the gold. (The silver will remain within the ore gange from this process, and can be recovered by leaching the remaining material with Ammonium Hydroxide to recover the Silver Chloride formed from the reaction of the silver with the clorine.The Silver Chloride can then be recovered from the Amonium Hydroxide by reacidifing it with Muriatic acid, and filtering the solution.) The method of gold recovery from solution at this point is up to you. I personaly would use the acid/clorox mix as my leach for the oxides, untill the solution was no longer reactive, or just to the point of being no longer reactive, Then take a sample of the leach solution, and test it for gold content with stanouss chloride solution. If it contained enough gold to react, I would add Sodium Meta Bisulfite to precipitate the gold as a brown powder, or bubble sulfur dioxide gass through the solution to precipitate the gold as a brown gold sulfide. This brown powder can then be recovered, dried and melted with a mix of 1prt sodium nitrate, 2prts borax, to 1 prt gold precipitate. The gold thus produced will be sellable at this point, but will not be pure. It will have to be refined with the methods found on this forum, or fire refined with a flux to remove base metal contamination, which it will have.

The second option is to have a filter canister filled with mossy zinc in an all plasitic recirculation system for your leach solution to pass through, as it is recirculated over your ore in your leaching system, or in a seperate system for gold recovery.

The zinc will collect the gold from solution as it passes through it. The zinc filter material can be dissolved in sulfuric or Muriatic acid to disolve the bulk of the zinc as well as any other base metals that bonded to the zinc, and leave the gold as fine to coarse material that can be recovered, dried, melted, and sold, or refined with the methods on this forum.

I have heard of an electrolytic method of recovering gold, and other values from a leaching solution by passing a DC current through it, causing the metals within the solution to be deposited on the electrode, and anode, but I am not sure of the specifics of this process.

I hope that this has been helpful.

Sincerely; Rick "The Rock Man".


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 9, 2010)

i am a young single father of three so im trying to learn and figure out what my grand fathers writings mean i was just coming on here for some help i dont have alot of time to just play around but i would like to thats why im here


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 9, 2010)

thank u very much rock man u seem really awesome im going to go and try to do this thank u again


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## Richard36 (Jan 9, 2010)

mattmcbenge said:


> i am a young single father of three so im trying to learn and figure out what my grand fathers writings mean i was just coming on here for some help i dont have alot of time to just play around but i would like to thats why im here. thank u very much rock man u seem really awesome im going to go and try to do this thank u again



Glad to have you here.

If you ask the questions, I will do my best to answer them.
Hopefully I have gave you some useful information.

Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Sincerely; Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 9, 2010)

oh yes the info is way better then i have been able to get locally im going to try what u said out over the nex little while and ill let u know how it turns out thank u so much its nice to get good knowledge from someone who knows what their talkn bout rather then just listening to anyone that has something to say all u ppl on this forum are really helpful thanks again to u rock man and everyone else too


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## Richard36 (Jan 9, 2010)

mattmcbenge said:


> oh yes the info is way better then i have been able to get locally im going to try what u said out over the nex little while and ill let u know how it turns out thank u so much its nice to get good knowledge from someone who knows what their talkn bout rather then just listening to anyone that has something to say all u ppl on this forum are really helpful thanks again to u rock man and everyone else too



Thanks.

I am glad to know that my Rock and Mineral Knowledge has been of use to you.

If you would do so, I would like a Chicken egg sized chunck of that ore to add to my ore collection. It would be a nice addition to it. 
I will send you my mailing address in a private message if you would be willing to send me a sample.

Sincerely; Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## mattmcbenge (Jan 9, 2010)

sounds great rock man ill send u however much u want lol its pretty just let me know ok


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## Richard36 (Jan 9, 2010)

mattmcbenge said:


> sounds great rock man ill send u however much u want lol its pretty just let me know ok



Thanks mattmcbenge,

I would greatly appreciate a couple of chuncks the size of a chicken egg, (or a single baseball sized chunck.) 
I would prefer a sample, or samples with good crystal structure for each of the minerals that your ore contains.

I will give you a more in depth report on what minerals your ore contains, and the geologic conditions that were necessary for it to have formed after I have recieved the samples.

Thanks again, 
If I can be of any further assistance to you, let me know.

Sincerely; Rick. "The Rock Man".


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## aflacglobal (Jan 10, 2010)

Very cool of you Rock Man. 8)


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