Back yard Prospecting

[Southfork]

Parts arrived for my chain mill I'm up and running again I had this big piece of vein material waiting. I single jacked into small pieces then into the jaw crusher it made short work of this sample. The chain mill made powder out of the run real nice made sluicing really easy. I recovered a pinch of Gold. along with some pyrite mixed in black / white sands. The black gangue in the sample could be graphite crushes easy and feels greasy other mines in the area had deposits of graphite.

 

[Southfork]

I found this information on the net about graphite In veins found in high grade metamorphic rocks, graphite often attains 99% purity. A variety of metals are found to accumulate in the graphite, mainly at the margin of these veins. Gold, in particular, becomes concentrated at vein margins, suggesting a hydrothermal transport mechanism and accumulation by carbon. It has been postulated that graphite becomes activated at the vein margins under high temperature conditions and it is this activation that provides sites for the accumulation of metals. Graphite has been reported from hydrothermal vents in the sea floor and these are associated with sulfides, particularly those of antimony. Even though the origin of graphite is still being debated, a deep-seated carbon source and metal-rich solutions appear to play a major role in the accumulation of metals in vein graphite. The ore sample had no visible free gold even after breaking into small pieces. But after processing a good amount of gold showed.

 

[goldshark]

Gold solutions like Carbon. That is why Cyanide solution is adsorbed onto activated carbon. Also why some solutions precipitate into Gold in shales and carbonaceous shales.

 

[Southfork]

I ran the tailings in the Blue Bowl and was surprised by the amount of micro gold. That is now amalgam added to the jar for cleanup. Great hobby for an old guy learn something new on this site every day.

 

[Southfork]

Cold snow on the ground working in the barn on my ribbed sluice added a vibration motor. I hope this will help drop the gold out of the heavy slurries quicker maybe feed faster. My son was crushing a piece of quartz with a mortar and pestle he found metal detecting this week. Old school methods with great results.

 

[Southfork]

Weight after drying today 13.5 grams rich piece of ore my son is back out there today trying to beat the rain / snow .

 

[jobinyt]

I doubt the vibrator increases recovery but if it does I increases recovery you are feeding your sluice to fast - overloading your riffels - and you are under liquifying/washing the infeed. In any event, the fact you think recovery can be improved indicates your sluice/feed need tuned.

 

[Southfork]

I doubt the vibrator increases recovery but if it does I increases recovery you are feeding your sluice to fast - overloading your riffels - and you are under liquifying/washing the infeed. In any event, the fact you think recovery can be improved indicates your sluice/feed need tuned.

I don't have riffles just a ribbed mat this is a clean up sluice the material we run is super fine and heavy. The infeed is already a slurry we have no problem with recovery just trying to speed things up. If the vibrator becomes a problem I can unplug it. Also I'm spoon feeding material into the sluice if I go any slower I'll fall asleep.

 

[AlaskaLes]

That is some awesome ore you guys are picking through!

I'm just starting to dig the mining equipment out of the 4ft snow bank. Can't wait for the season to start.
We're planning to haul a dredge up to our claims and see what's in the creek.

I was testing a couple of different vibe motors this past season. One was like yours and sits below a 1/2" punch plate below the ball mill screen where the balls get rinsed and recollected to feed back into the mill. That motor needed a 110v speed controller to slow it down and mellow the vibe out a little bit. I can imagine that shaking the crap out of that little sluice.

 

[Southfork]

That is some awesome ore you guys are picking through!

I'm just starting to dig the mining equipment out of the 4ft snow bank. Can't wait for the season to start.
We're planning to haul a dredge up to our claims and see what's in the creek.

I was testing a couple of different vibe motors this past season. One was like yours and sits below a 1/2" punch plate below the ball mill screen where the balls get rinsed and recollected to feed back into the mill. That motor needed a 110v speed controller to slow it down and mellow the vibe out a little bit. I can imagine that shaking the crap out of that little sluice.

It needs the speed controller for sure it was advertised for a miller table. I thought it was smaller I was thinking on the lines of an electric toothbrush taped to the bottom. I may need to build a miller table to handle all these rocks their hauling home.

 

[Southfork]

That is some awesome ore you guys are picking through!

I'm just starting to dig the mining equipment out of the 4ft snow bank. Can't wait for the season to start.
We're planning to haul a dredge up to our claims and see what's in the creek.

I was testing a couple of different vibe motors this past season. One was like yours and sits below a 1/2" punch plate below the ball mill screen where the balls get rinsed and recollected to feed back into the mill. That motor needed a 110v speed controller to slow it down and mellow the vibe out a little bit. I can imagine that shaking the crap out of that little sluice.

Not picking through Ore this is float finds with a metal detector on our place . My son found a new patch this is yesterday evening after about two hours in the brush. Crushing by hand indoors today it's snowing again.

 

[Southfork]

Weather has been a little rough so working indoors on a melt. We placed all the panned concentrates into a small graphite crucible and melted in the propane furnace for an hour. The resulting button had some slag / impurities basically it was ugly crushing by hand with a mortar and pestle rolled some black sands into the gold. We remelted the button on top of a graphite bar mold with the oxygen / acetylene torch and drove the slag off the end. Our first small gold bar 29 grams from backyard gold.

 

[jobinyt]

Nice - congratulations.

 

[jobinyt]

Spoon feeding a sluice is slow and BORING. I doubt you'll much speed things up. BUT, if you put that vibrator on an infeed device and carefully adjusted, you may be able to automate the infeed!

 

[Southfork]

Spoon feeding a sluice is slow and BORING. I doubt you'll much speed things up. BUT, if you put that vibrator on an infeed device and carefully adjusted, you may be able to automate the infeed!

I don't find it boring at all I like watching the values buildup. When we have enough material to run we have several operations going at the same time. I have a speed controller mounted seems to work I need a sunny day to try out even if it fails it beats panning.

 

[jobinyt]

Ah - yes - the joys of a mindless task for the hardworking.

 

[Southfork]

Another storm on the way but still a nice day decided to try the retort. I need a small pump to recirculate the cooling fluid or make an expansion tank. Today I filled it with antifreeze and clamped the hose's sprayed graphite inside the pipe cap added the amalgam and fired it up. Worked perfect almost the clear plastic cooling hose sprung a pinhole leak from heat and pressure and lost a little antifreeze. Great return on the mercury and the gold sponge was clean and popped right out no visible mercury but a little black sand 15-gram sponge. The burner is from our little furnace perfect for this operation was bubbling in minutes. Whoops phone camera was in video mode. Happy Mining

 

[stoneware]

I notice you have yet to read Hoke's book, if you had you would have known not to submerge the discharge hose.

Read Hoke's book to find out why.

 

[BlackLabel]

@Southfork
To make it short, the answer is:

"DO NOT let the IRON tube dip into the water - only the bottom edge of the cloth cuff. Remember that when the retort cools, water may suck back into the hot iron pipe and cause it to explode. The cloth cuff tends to prevent this sucking-back, since it is not airtight. But, after you once start to heat, keep the heat going steadily, and remove the water before stopping the heat. This is important."


It may blow out everything off your catch container.

Please read the FULL part about retorting page 188 to 190.

 

[Southfork]

Looks like both of you need to look closer that's a rubber tube in the water no blow back and better cooling. Read my post before criticizing when finished the two lines recirculate the water with the pump or a tank. And it worked fine the way it is did not suck water back as it cooled. Look at the jar it's still full of water.