What do you do with your black sand? |
Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums > Prospecting, Mineral Collecting and Treasure Hunting Forums > Prospectors and Rockhounding Field WorkWhat do you do with your black sand? |
 May 8 2009, 02:26 PM
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Shovel Buster!  Group: Members Posts: 112 Joined: 20-September 08 Member No.: 6,591  |
How much micron gold is usually in black sand? How much sand do you need to be worth looking into separating this stuff? Is there anyone that buys it? I was going to run mine through screens and put it in the blue bowl next winter just to see if I missed anything. Do both mag and non mag sand contain gold? I hear that it makes great soil mix for rose gardens too.
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May 8 2009, 05:12 PM
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 Rock Bar! Group: Members Posts: 613 Joined: 16-October 08 From: Central Colorado Member No.: 6,813 |
I have a stereo microscope and a couple of years ago I used it to study a concentrated black sands sample that I had collected from the Arkansas River near Salida. There was quite a bit of fine gold mixed into that sand that wasn't visible to the naked eye!
In the "old days", placer miners used mercury to collect the fine gold without too much effort. Of course today, mercury is a very highly controlled substance that isn't readily available. The particles I observed were clean free gold and would have readily been picked up by mercury. I don't encourage anyone to attempt fine gold recovery with mercury as the dangers outweigh the gains, in my opinion.There was a Gold Fever show a few years ago that featured a guy in California recovering very fine gold. He did quite well but had a lot of experience and some specialized equipment. If you can find someone that knows that process, that might be worth pursuing. ASTROBLEME -------------------- Annual Dues Paying Member Since 2008
Tonko Mining Company "Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA |
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May 11 2009, 03:52 PM
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Diggin' In! Group: Members Posts: 14 Joined: 1-April 09 Member No.: 6,868 |
QUOTE (ASTROBLEME @ May 8 2009, 05:12 PM)  In the "old days", placer miners used mercury to collect the fine gold without too much effort. Of course today, mercury is a very highly controlled substance that isn't readily available. The particles I observed were clean free gold and would have readily been picked up by mercury. I don't encourage anyone to attempt fine gold recovery with mercury as the dangers outweigh the gains, in my opinion.There was a Gold Fever show a few years ago that featured a guy in California recovering very fine gold. He did quite well but had a lot of experience and some specialized equipment. If you can find someone that knows that process, that might be worth pursuing. ASTROBLEME http://cgi.ebay.com/AMALGAMATE-GOLD-3-OUNC...93%3A1|294%3A50 this is a gold amalgamate that is suppose to work like mercury but is advertised to be 100% non toxic I have not tried it yet but it would be worth a try. |
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rich on western slope What do you do with your black sand? May 8 2009, 02:26 PM
russau i crush my blacksands the blue bowl it. May 9 2009, 06:59 AM ColoradoProspector Good info guys, thanks.
I agree with Astrobleme t... May 9 2009, 09:50 AM rich on western slope Great info! Will save it up then. Russ, how do... May 9 2009, 11:37 AM
russau i got ahold of a peice 4 inch stainless steel pipe... May 10 2009, 05:15 AM rich on western slope Could you use a rock tumbler with steel shot in it... May 11 2009, 08:57 AM russau QUOTE (rich on western slope @ May 11 2009, 0... May 12 2009, 04:40 AM Coalbunny Mercury is toxic, but not AS toxic as everyone thi... May 18 2009, 01:57 AM |
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