Cinnabar?

[kjavanb123]

Hi

Since the social distancing I took a hike in an old gold mining district and found this interesting quartz with iron oxide limonite.

Does it look if it has Mercury as the color resembles the Cinnabar I saw on Wikipedia.



Thanks
KJ

 

[butcher]

Looks like it, can you smell the sulfur when you break it open?
Have you tried a streak test for a violet color?
Hardness test, and specific gravity?

Try powdering a small piece mix with a few drops of HCl and rub onto a clean oil-free copper penny, a positive for mercury would coat the penny in silvery color.

 

[kjavanb123]

Thanks butcher will give it a try and post the result.

 

[Lino1406]

Can be many things

 

[kjavanb123]

Thanks Lino, I will follow butcher advise to make sure what I have, busy with another project but once I test this spiceman I will post result.

 

[Rick & Carrie]

Hi

Since the social distancing I took a hike in an old gold mining district and found this interesting quartz with iron oxide limonite.

Does it look if it has Mercury as the color resembles the Cinnabar I saw on Wikipedia.

View attachment 43471

Thanks
KJ

The bottom of the sample is Hematite; an Iron Oxide that commonly contains gold.

The top half appears to be Orpiment or Realgar, both of which are arsenic minerals.

So with Iron and Arsenic as metals within the sample, I can easily say that piece of material represents what the primary ore of that region looks like, and that it was being mined for its gold content.

Here are a couple of videos that we created on the topic of gold ores.

We hope that they are helpful and informative.

 

[kjavanb123]

The bottom of the sample is Hematite; an Iron Oxide that commonly contains gold.

The top half appears to be Orpiment or Realgar, both of which are arsenic minerals.

So with Iron and Arsenic as metals within the sample, I can easily say that piece of material represents what the primary ore of that region looks like, and that it was being mined for its gold content.

Here are a couple of videos that we created on the topic of gold ores.

We hope that they are helpful and informative.

Thanks Rick. It is good to see you back on the forum.

One thing I noticed in dried river beds in that region, or anywhere around it, there is gold in them, I haven't done large sampling yet.

Will report my finding soon.

 

[Rick & Carrie]

Thanks Rick. It is good to see you back on the forum.

One thing I noticed in dried river beds in that region, or anywhere around it, there is gold in them, I haven't done large sampling yet.

Will report my finding soon.

You're welcome, and Thanks.
I am glad to be back too.

Have your sluice or drywash box cons assayed when you get them.

I once assayed drywash cons from a Greenhorn in Arizona who ran some dessert sand through a drywasher.

It was almost all Black Sand with no visible Gold.

It assayed 8 oz per ton Gold.

... He asked if that was good.

 

[kjavanb123]

You're welcome, and Thanks.
I am glad to be back too.

Have your sluice or drywash box cons assayed when you get them.

I once assayed drywash cons from a Greenhorn in Arizona who ran some dessert sand through a drywasher.

It was almost all Black Sand with no visible Gold.

It assayed 8 oz per ton Gold.

... He asked if that was good.

I have started a threat about this called '' placer rhodium". I was looking for PGM nuggets in the dried River bed merging from ophiolite mountains with lots of chromite mines.


I took a very small sample from an inch of the surface in the middle of the dried bed not even at the bend or places where PMs are most likely found.


I did an AR assay on the sifted sample and to my surprise got purple.


I repeated the same sampling and assay from any other dried river in the area and got positive for gold but no traces of PGMs.


So I am going to take a larger sample, maybe 15kg or more, sift it into coarse and fine sizes, run them in my DIY blue bowl, and lead smelt follow by cupel the concentrates.


But based on the purple result from such a small amount of fine, I am guessing 10 or 15ppm even more is not out of reach.


As you mentioned the cons also black sand and no visible nuggets.


Thanks

 

[Rick & Carrie]

I have started a threat about this called '' placer rhodium". I was looking for PGM nuggets in the dried River bed merging from ophiolite mountains with lots of chromite mines.


I took a very small sample from an inch of the surface in the middle of the dried bed not even at the bend or places where PMs are most likely found.


I did an AR assay on the sifted sample and to my surprise got purple.


I repeated the same sampling and assay from any other dried river in the area and got positive for gold but no traces of PGMs.


So I am going to take a larger sample, maybe 15kg or more, sift it into coarse and fine sizes, run them in my DIY blue bowl, and lead smelt follow by cupel the concentrates.


But based on the purple result from such a small amount of fine, I am guessing 10 or 15ppm even more is not out of reach.


As you mentioned the cons also black sand and no visible nuggets.


Thanks

Nice.

I would like to see the bead when you are done with your smelt.

Take note of the weight of the amount of cons smelted, as well as the weight of the bead produced from the smelt.

Divide the concentrate weight by 29.16gm.

Cons weight ÷ 29.16gm = assay tons smelted.

Bead weight in milligrams ÷ assay tons smelted = amount of gold/silver per ton.

Each milligram of bead weight equals one oz per ton.

If you drop the bead in a hot solution of 9 parts water to 1 part nitric acid and let me know what color it turns, I can calculate its purity for an exact amount of gold and silver per ton of river sand concentrate.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Nice.

I would like to see the bead when you are done with your smelt.

Take note of the weight of the amount of cons smelted, as well as the weight of the bead produced from the smelt.

Divide the concentrate weight by 29.16gm.

Cons weight ÷ 29.16gm = assay tons smelted.

Bead weight in milligrams ÷ assay tons smelted = amount of gold/silver per ton.

Each milligram of bead weight equals one oz per ton.

If you drop the bead in a hot solution of 9 parts water to 1 part nitric acid and let me know what color it turns, I can calculate its purity for an exact amount of gold and silver per ton of river sand concentrate.

Is that some imperial measurement, or a thing from experience, taking into account what happens during smelting and assaying?

 

[Rick & Carrie]

Is that some imperial measurement, or a thing from experience, taking into account what happens during smelting and assaying?

I am an assayer.
If the instructions are followed, we can calculate the amount of recoverable gold and silver.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I am an assayer.
If the instructions are followed, we can calculate the amount of recoverable gold and silver.

You did not answer my question, but I guess it is not metric.

 

[kjavanb123]

Nice.

I would like to see the bead when you are done with your smelt.

Take note of the weight of the amount of cons smelted, as well as the weight of the bead produced from the smelt.

Divide the concentrate weight by 29.16gm.

Cons weight ÷ 29.16gm = assay tons smelted.

Bead weight in milligrams ÷ assay tons smelted = amount of gold/silver per ton.

Each milligram of bead weight equals one oz per ton.

If you drop the bead in a hot solution of 9 parts water to 1 part nitric acid and let me know what color it turns, I can calculate its purity for an exact amount of gold and silver per ton of river sand concentrate.

Thanks Rick. I was planning to do just that.

I will have some pictures of the process and the field.

 

[Rick & Carrie]

You did not answer my question, but I guess it is not metric.

Then I guess I am not understanding what you are asking.

 

[Rick & Carrie]

Thanks Rick. I was planning to do just that.

I will have some pictures of the process and the field.

Way cool. Looking forward to them.

 

[goldshark]

29.16 grams is the Avordupois conversion for assaying. It goes like this; 2000 lbs. = 1 ton. 16 ozs. = 1 lb. 16 x 2000 = 32,000 ozs per ton. 29.16 grams per oz. . 32000 x 29.16 =933,120, or for ***** sake, call it one million grams per ton. By assaying 1 assay ton (29.16 grams), for every milligram in your bead, is one ounce per ton material. Very precise scales are used for weighing, or for smaller beads, a set of spreaders (basically a micrometer), or a graduated lens will tell the quantity by size of bead.

 

[Rick & Carrie]

29.16 grams is the Avordupois conversion for assaying. It goes like this; 2000 lbs. = 1 ton. 16 ozs. = 1 lb. 16 x 2000 = 32,000 ozs per ton. 29.16 grams per oz. . 32000 x 29.16 =933,120, or for ***** sake, call it one million grams per ton. By assaying 1 assay ton (29.16 grams), for every milligram in your bead, is one ounce per ton material. Very precise scales are used for weighing, or for smaller beads, a set of spreaders (basically a micrometer), or a graduated lens will tell the quantity by size of bead.

Thanks for the explanation and for covering the math.

 

[jobinyt]

Except, if I'm not mistaken, you should us 14 ounces per pound - not 16 with precious metals.

 

[campbellj46]

Except, if I'm not mistaken, you should us 14 ounces per pound - not 16 with precious metals.

The Troy oz, lb, tonne is used as an industry standard for buying and selling pure precious metals.

The Troy standard isn't used for assaying ore samples. Once it's mined, smelted, and made into pure bars, rounds, ingots, etc, then it follows the Troy standard for buying and selling to the markets.