The only real way to "test" your black sands is to have a fire assay done on them - in order for the fire assay to be reliable you have to make sure the sampling its self is done properly - in other words you can't just pull a sample off the top of a bucket of black sands send it in for assay (&/or fire assay your self) & expect it to actually represent what's in the whole bucket(s)
That's because the bucket(s) of sands will have "rich spots" & "less" rich spots so if you just pull a sample off the top of a bucket you may get a rich spot - or a less rich spot --- so ALL the black sands you want tested need to FIRST be prepared for taking your samples
That is a process of mixing all the sands such that the gold in the sands are "evenly" distributed though out the entire lot of the sand
Then you need to take several samples for assay (at least 3) from different portions of the whole of the well mixed sands
This (sampling) is currently being discussed here
:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&p=267182#p266995
The reason for fire assaying several samples of the same lot of sands is so you can compare the assay results of each sample assay - if each sample assay is close to the same then it is a "close" representation of what you can expect from the whole lot of the sands --- if the assay samples are not close - then you did not do the mixing & sampling right & it does NOT represent what you can expect from the whole of the lot of sands & you have to "redo" the mixing/sampling --- in other words you can't just average the assay samples that are "not" close & expect it to actually represent the whole lot of the sands
As far as actually recovering/refining the sands for the gold your self you basically have three choices
1) you can do a acid leach - but - though this method can be used it is NOT recommended & the LAST choice for gold recovery from black sand &/or ore
2) or you can do cyanide leaching - this is the "preferred" method - BUT - you MUST know what you are doing - though safe when done right - mistakes in this method can/will KILL YOU
3) or you go with a smelting process - smelting is more preferred then acid leaching but not as preferred as cyanide leaching
Or you can send the sands out to someone that processes sands & get paid by them for the gold
Regardless of the method used to recover/refine the gold from the sands - the more you concentrate it the better
Here are a couple of links where both acid leaching & cyanide leaching are discussed
:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=21526#p222215
:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=22978
& here is a link to discussion about smelting
:arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=23680&hilit=smelting#p249793
Kurt
