Hello again , i am uploading a few recent photos of some of the type of ore that we process from our area , a sort of collage lol , and also a few questions regarding some processes we would like your opinion on? Thanks All... OK, 4 , 5 , and 9 are samples that are from approximately 800 feet below ground in one of the local mines ,, Photos 7 , 8 and 11 are self explanatory.
Here are a few facts and questions for you all , the first three photos are pretty much the chalkopyrite ore found in this area , and the last three photos are just pics of what my buddy and me do to process the ore. At this time the ore we are processing is from this same area but a different type, meaning it is mostly quartz or sands collected from bedrock areas and there is not much black sand , sulphide ore to process , heat , demagnitize... we smelt in a propane type furnace/stove , lined with ceramic fiber wool , and use a 1.5 Kg silicon carbide graphite crucible and a flux with a composition of Borax 40% , Sodium Carbonate 40% , Flour 4 or 5 % , Manganese dioxide 10% and silica sand 4 or 5 % ,,,, also a collector , either a lead solid usually around 28 to 32 grams OR a gold pellet of 5 to 7 grams. These are just a bit of background info ,
Over the past 2 years we have collected all our hardened flux residue from all our cone pours and decided to process/ re melt all this glass to see what we can get out of it, because a lot of the fine gold we work with always seemed to stay in the hardened flux no matter what collector we used. The photo 11 jpeg. is from our pour last weekend of some of the accumulated hardened flux from the cone pours where there were no visible significant prills/ buttons ,
this one we used a 32 gram solid chunk of lead as collector and after a 3 hour smelting period and pour into our cone mold, recoved a button/prill weighing 67.48 grams. we will upload a photo this weekend as we only work one day a week on this and also a photo of the same button after we cuppel it to purify it a bit.
We usually process the quartz and other ore bearing rocks in our cement mixer / river rock crusher then classify to a flour size powder which is then sifted through a 200 mesh screen pan and our recovery rate is usually a 5 to 6 gram button to every 6 or 7 pounds of ore/material smelted and poured. I would assume that this would be an extremely high return for the amount of ore/rock processed? I guess the main question we have is , is it better to re- process / melt the hardened borax/flux residue that we collect, OR crush it all in the cement mixer to a 200 mesh classification then treat this residue in a heated sulfuric acid solution .Thanks for your attention.
Here are a few facts and questions for you all , the first three photos are pretty much the chalkopyrite ore found in this area , and the last three photos are just pics of what my buddy and me do to process the ore. At this time the ore we are processing is from this same area but a different type, meaning it is mostly quartz or sands collected from bedrock areas and there is not much black sand , sulphide ore to process , heat , demagnitize... we smelt in a propane type furnace/stove , lined with ceramic fiber wool , and use a 1.5 Kg silicon carbide graphite crucible and a flux with a composition of Borax 40% , Sodium Carbonate 40% , Flour 4 or 5 % , Manganese dioxide 10% and silica sand 4 or 5 % ,,,, also a collector , either a lead solid usually around 28 to 32 grams OR a gold pellet of 5 to 7 grams. These are just a bit of background info ,
Over the past 2 years we have collected all our hardened flux residue from all our cone pours and decided to process/ re melt all this glass to see what we can get out of it, because a lot of the fine gold we work with always seemed to stay in the hardened flux no matter what collector we used. The photo 11 jpeg. is from our pour last weekend of some of the accumulated hardened flux from the cone pours where there were no visible significant prills/ buttons ,
this one we used a 32 gram solid chunk of lead as collector and after a 3 hour smelting period and pour into our cone mold, recoved a button/prill weighing 67.48 grams. we will upload a photo this weekend as we only work one day a week on this and also a photo of the same button after we cuppel it to purify it a bit.
We usually process the quartz and other ore bearing rocks in our cement mixer / river rock crusher then classify to a flour size powder which is then sifted through a 200 mesh screen pan and our recovery rate is usually a 5 to 6 gram button to every 6 or 7 pounds of ore/material smelted and poured. I would assume that this would be an extremely high return for the amount of ore/rock processed? I guess the main question we have is , is it better to re- process / melt the hardened borax/flux residue that we collect, OR crush it all in the cement mixer to a 200 mesh classification then treat this residue in a heated sulfuric acid solution .Thanks for your attention.
