Flour gold..

[Dbrh]

Hi all! Question - in dealing with fine gold particles, instead of trying to pan it out, (which I am horrible at,) has anyone tried using a torch to make the pieces melt together, therefore bigger, first?
(I'm assuming this can be done successfully without flux..?)
It seems plausible, quite helpful & seperates the pyrite also!
Just an observation of the frustrations people have with flour & fine gold tecovery

 

[Dbrh]

As fine gold melts at a lower temp.

 

[Martijn]

Welcome to the forum.
Sounds plausible. Give it a try?
It may also occur while roasting concentrates.
Indeed no flux, this will only make a mess.
It will fume from burning the black sands so don't breathe that.

Martijn.

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

How much material are you trying to separate? If a small amount that’s easier than if you have large amounts.

Flour gold is a bear to separate from other partials. Your best bet is to classify into several sizes. The weight of the partials is a much larger factor when they are all of the same general size.

Small gold is a tricky one. If you had a ball kill you could crush into a powder. Then the majority of the sands and other waste could be floated off.

 

[eaglekeeper]

If you do decide to melt this material, make sure you do it with a mask in a well ventilated area. This type a material can have all kinds of nasty stuff associated with it that can make you very sick.

 

[DaddyD]

I have never had any problems with that it just takes a lot of practice don't give up one day it will become natural to you

 

[Yggdrasil]

As fine gold melts at a lower temp.

All gold melt at the same "temperature", but fine particles don't need the same heat so small fractions of a flame can periodically transfer enough heat along with the temperature to melt small particles into prills.

 

[GoldTJ]

Borax is available at very very low cost in hardware store. 5-6 $. See some youtube video, it is not that hard. It melt and form a thick glue that prevent gold to stick to your crucible

Try to avoid boric acid, it work too, but buble alot in the process(this is the only one ive try yet)

 

[goldshark]

I hate to be the odd man out, but it is still hard to beat amalgamation for fine clean Au collection, or the knowledge to make it work with the sulfides. Without the knowledge of amalgamation done safely, he is doing something which could be even worse via his proposed technique.