Back yard Prospecting

[orvi]

We used it extensively to remove oxide stains after welding stainless steels.
The one we used was a white paste and if you got something on your skin it went yellow in a short time.
It was very dilute though.

Yeah, oxalic acid isn´t meant to be used as skin lotion harsh stuff on skin, not very dangerous I would say, but just dangerous, if smeared on skin or ingested.
If the acid or base is just a tiny bit lipophilic, then it is much stronger iritant and it is much more corrosive to the tissue, as it can quickly penetrate it. That is why HCl is relatively slow on attacking your skin, and if you wash it off your hands in dozen of seconds, not that much will happen. But if this misfortune will happen to you with acetic acid (concentrated pure stuff, not vinegar), that would be bad... Even tho HCl is in order of 12 magnitudes more strong acid than acetic acid.

 

[Southfork]

I let this button of gold soak for a couple of days in Whink to brighten it up a little.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Yeah, oxalic acid isn´t meant to be used as skin lotion harsh stuff on skin, not very dangerous I would say, but just dangerous, if smeared on skin or ingested.
If the acid or base is just a tiny bit lipophilic, then it is much stronger iritant and it is much more corrosive to the tissue, as it can quickly penetrate it. That is why HCl is relatively slow on attacking your skin, and if you wash it off your hands in dozen of seconds, not that much will happen. But if this misfortune will happen to you with acetic acid (concentrated pure stuff, not vinegar), that would be bad... Even tho HCl is in order of 12 magnitudes more strong acid than acetic acid.

I was talking about HF

 

[orvi]

I was talking about HF

Even "better" yeah, I messed it up, my apologies

 

[kurtak]

The MSD sheet for Whink

http://apps.mnc.umn.edu/pub/msds/whink-rust-stain-remover.pdf
Kurt

 

[Yggdrasil]

The MSD sheet for Whink

http://apps.mnc.umn.edu/pub/msds/whink-rust-stain-remover.pdf
Kurt

Now I can see that what we used was different, it was a white paste with some other acids and about half the HF content.
The paste consistency was to ensure it was kept in position while it did its thing.
After 15-30 minutes it was washed off with high pressure washer.
It was not entirely effective so sometimes we had to polish or grind it further if a certain finish was required.

 

[Southfork]

After several days in the Whink solution the concentrates were covered in red oxides. Panned the sample again leaving nothing but light colored ultra fine sands and small amount of fine gold. There was a small amount of black sand but no magnetics and what looks like balled up dirty gold that we picked out interesting ore worth a trip back to Nevada.

 

[Southfork]

After several days in the Whink solution the concentrates were covered in red oxides. Panned the sample again leaving nothing but light colored ultra fine sands and small amount of fine gold. There was a small amount of black sand but no magnetics and what looks like balled up dirty gold that we picked out interesting ore worth a trip back to Nevada.

A pinch of the Nevada concentrates a pinch of Borax and Washing Soda a lot of heat equals a BB sized button of gold. Still hot sitting on clean green glassy slag. Need to make a trip to Nevada. About thirty minutes in the furnace looks real clean.

 

[Southfork]

Metal detector find next to a small pile of quartz a small prospect maybe a wheelbarrow load. My son has found a number of small specimen pieces the last few days off of scattered piles old digs. These little bits are always covered with clay or hard earth, but the gold is unable to hide from a metal detector Gold and quartz a little dirty soaking in Whink cleaner now. 4 grams dirty.

 

[Southfork]

Metal detector find next to a small pile of quartz a small prospect maybe a wheelbarrow load. My son has found a number of small specimen pieces the last few days off of scattered piles old digs. These little bits are always covered with clay or hard earth, but the gold is unable to hide from a metal detector Gold and quartz a little dirty soaking in Whink cleaner now. 4 grams dirty.

After a good soak in Whink it makes a nice little specimen.

 

[Southfork]

My son Seth brought me some samples that sounded off on the detectors my old GMT was squawking on it also. Got out the loupe nothing showing maybe a couple of flyspecks. A quick crush and hidden treasure the mills made little dirty gold balls. Still have more to pan the concentrates are very heavy red sands hard to drop the micro gold. Maybe dry and melt so easy to crush but loaded with the red mud that I've been sluicing. The rock spilt off in layers so I could have a good look no gold showing but all's well that ends well with gold in pan. Real soft host rock with veinlets of quartz from some old gold rush prospects on our place.

 

[Southfork]

All small pieces of quartz and host rock containing gold metal detector finds. From here in Northern California.

 

[Golddigger76]

Those are very nice, do you sell them as specimens, collect them, or crush them ?
Wish I had that kind of gold in my area but there's not much more than dust and flakes and still have a 45 minute drive or more to find that.

 

[BlackLabel]

Those are very nice, do you sell them as specimens, collect them, or crush them ?
Wish I had that kind of gold in my area but there's not much more than dust and flakes and still have a 45 minute drive or more to find that.

I thought exact the same!
"Sell me one!" was my first impression.
Here in Germany, specimens are very rare and flypoop-seized.
I also have to drive hours for gold prospecting.

 

[kurtak]

All small pieces of quartz and host rock containing gold metal detector finds. From here in Northern California.

VERY nice !!!

Kurt

 

[Southfork]

Metal Detector find not much showing but heavy in comparison to size. A good long soak in Whink cleaner and the gold is starting to show.

 

[kurtak]

Metal Detector find not much showing but heavy in comparison to size. A good long soak in Whink cleaner and the gold is starting to show.

Awesome

And thanks for the update - it has been awhile since we have heard from you

Kurt

 

[Southfork]

Started with about 5" 1/2 grams of concentrates from crushing a metal detector find. A two weeklong soak in Whink then poured off the dirty solution into another pan. recovered 2" 1/2 grams of gold added some dish soap to the saved dirty solution and recovered more micro gold with the help of mercury. The scratches in the bottom of the black plastic pan was loaded with micro gold. I think some of the micro gold was in suspension and dish soap dropped it. A very slow process but trying to recover a good amount of the micro gold slow but cheap. with a loupe I could see gold encapsulated in the sands this over-the-counter cleaning product dissolved most of the black and red sands must be great on your hands. This was a sample off our place a lot of different host rock this is not from the sample in my last post but looked like the same structure. I know not very scientific but good results Happy Mining

 

[minero74]

Awesome pictures
Only Vitamin Au can cure gold fever .

I clean my concentrate with HCl
it dissolve the black sand and start showing more gold.

I don’t heat it and there was no fumes release.

first one with the black sand ,second one show the gold.
that was a test with an small amount of concentrate i use for the test.

 

[Southfork]

I'm working on a homemade vibrating shaker table to speedup washing slurry wood deck for testing. Mechanicals work need to finish plumbing and electrical and a collection trough for the concentrates made with some junk pile parts.