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Post by donnybrook on Oct 22, 2013 15:23:43 GMT 10
Lee, there is a book by a Mr Bugbee. Its hard cover and expensive. He starts out technical but then softens his approach. I lent mine to someone and never got it back. I have been involved with gold since age 7. After being ripped off I decided to teach myself how to furnace and refine. I also had a mineral lease. Stay away from mercury and spuds. Dangerous. There are simpler methods when using mercury. 10% nitric acid to take up your mercury coating your gold. Then use copper plate to get your mercury back. All done outside. The only things feathers are good for is to make someone laugh. donny
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Post by rc62burke on Oct 22, 2013 22:15:21 GMT 10
Lee, there is a book by a Mr Bugbee. Its hard cover and expensive. He starts out technical but then softens his approach. I lent mine to someone and never got it back. I have been involved with gold since age 7. After being ripped off I decided to teach myself how to furnace and refine. I also had a mineral lease. Stay away from mercury and spuds. Dangerous. There are simpler methods when using mercury. 10% nitric acid to take up your mercury coating your gold. Then use copper plate to get your mercury back. All done outside. The only things feathers are good for is to make someone laugh. donny Hey Donny Thanks mate, Yeah I worked that out with the feather LOL, it actually works to seperate the fines, but soooo time consuming, i just stock pile the black sands & don't waste time on it, that is for a time when I have enough & the time & equipment. Would be great to be in your neck of the woods to have a chat & see your methods. Keep up the informative posts here, I realy take note of what you post, cheers mate. Lee
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exhail
Panner
chassing the gold out west from Townsville.
Posts: 24
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Post by exhail on Nov 22, 2013 15:09:23 GMT 10
Thanks to everyone for their in put. I have just made up a mini which has cut the amount time to process the black sand, I made it fairly long to help catch the ultra fines which seems to be recovering close to 98% of the ultra fine gold. Donnybrook I have read pages and pages of forum posts on gold recovery from so many different sources. The area that I am working has a big history of gold reefs and gold in quartz. A lot of my research has indicated that after the old timers exhausted the alluvial gold that after the first reefs started to be discovered that they were just picking up quartz up off the ground and crushing it for good returns. My question is whats the best way to tell if quartz has any gold value, as a lot of the area hasn't seen any mining in over 100 years and I have found several quartz caps that look like they could be the tops of reefs. their are also lots of quartz veins running through areas of bedrock through out the river, so I think it might be worth having a look.
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Post by donnybrook on Jan 8, 2014 14:21:42 GMT 10
Its a shame you could not furnace. I use a cradle in areas that have a lot of black sand. I then re-pass this over my cradle( several times if need be). Silver and tin can be in the form of an oxide . So you must use flour (carbon) to bring it to a metallic form. Also as you would know gold can be black, brown or mustard in colour. I currently work black sands with my cradle. I also recover tin. The tin makes it easy to furnace. donny
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exhail
Panner
chassing the gold out west from Townsville.
Posts: 24
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Post by exhail on Jan 27, 2014 1:00:08 GMT 10
donnybrook I am very interested in your use of a furnace and would like to know more about this method. I think that there may be a small amount of silver mixed in with the black sand and gold, and I am always keen to try something new.
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Post by jeffu on Jan 27, 2014 17:50:01 GMT 10
Unfortunately I don't have the equipment that Donny has. If I decided to get a furnace and all the other associated gear, my missus would divorce me. I am sure she already thinks I have too much prospecting gear WTF, how can you ever have toooooo much gear. Anyway, my method for dealing with black sand is quite simple. All the concentrate from the highbankers is put through a gold wheel, this removes just about everything except most of the black sand and gold. That super concentrate is then run over a Miller table, presto, black sand gone and only clean gold left. Because the gold at Oallen is very fine, setting up the table is very critical, the table is 480mm long and if any fine gold is seen more than 100mm down the table then either the water flow or the angle needs to be adjusted. When I get home from a trip to Oallen, I usually have about 20 kg of conc., running it down to only gold takes about 2 hours. Best thing is, no dangerous mercury or other chemicals. Jeff
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Post by donnybrook on Jan 29, 2014 10:30:38 GMT 10
exhail, Jeff, I did send some plans to build a furnace to a few of the forum members to build. Unfortunately the computer I had them on died. Someone may possibly still have a copy of these plans. Simple to make. Its called a Cooper first mentioned by Sir Henry Parkes a long time ago. You have to be able to purchase the castable. If in Sydney "Field Furnace". They are near Minchinbury. You need a 1600 Centigrade + castable (about two bags).In Melbourne (Vic)look for a crucible supplier(Morganite ??). I am sure they are out at a place named Dandenong, anyway at the end of the rail line. frenzies on the forum was able to purchase this and I went down and helped him build two. I think he made one for Nugget? The dearest aspect of this is the burner or inspirator. You need an inch and a half Carmichael. Carmichael build stoves. They are in Sydney near Merrylands and are also on the net in Victoria. You need a small cylinder. Perhaps you can find this info in past threads. I once worked black sands. Could not see the gold. The silver was an oxide which needed flour in the flux. In any case I was getting 26 parts of gold per thousand on the black sands. Sorry I don't know how to put photos up on the forum. I was out in the bush a couple of days ago and came across an old mining camp which had a lot of white fireclay furnace bricks. You can also make a cubic furnace or downdraft. Rule of thumb the height should not exceed the width or length and depth. Example it can be 11 1/2 inches high and 12 inches wide. It can also be 36 inches long,wide,or deep. As I said the height cannot be greater than the latter. The bricks (white fire clay),are bonded with fire clay like ordinary mortar which you buy at a rural produce store. This is used to seal dams on properties. Its best to put this in an angle iron frame. You can then put a door that pivots at the front. The burner is played into the bottom at the furnace roof. It sounds complicated but its quite simple to build. Some people don't even worry about the door. They use ceramic fibre (1600) as a gasket and simply pull the front brick back. That's the way the old timers made them. You then need tongs, and a mould which you make out of 2 inch angle iron. That is the simplest recovery mould. You can also make a mould out of a 300 x 300 mm x 6 mm plate. The plate is cut into four from corner to corner. This is then welded to form a pyramidical gold mould. Legs are welded to this in four places. Your furnace or downdraft furnace must be slowly cured before use. Also whenever you are smelting you heat your tongs and your mould. You can use sump oil or candle wax as a release agent in your heated mould. Gloves and a facemask. I would purchase two A6 Rapid Crucibles for general work and an A1 which I only use for fine gold work. donny
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Post by rc62burke on Jan 30, 2014 11:35:25 GMT 10
Hi Donny I still have a copy of the plans you sent to me, I have not built one yet but I will. I will send you the plans via email, that way you can pass them out or on as you see fit as they are yours, cheers & thanks for them mate. Lee
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Post by donnybrook on Jan 31, 2014 11:38:20 GMT 10
Thanks Lee, If anyone wants them I will forward them on. donny
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Post by Flying Scott on Feb 1, 2014 20:30:29 GMT 10
you are right about the time factor, I have used many methods and yes all are time consuming. I have used an artists camel hair paint brush with 90% of the hairs removed
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exhail
Panner
chassing the gold out west from Townsville.
Posts: 24
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Post by exhail on Mar 21, 2014 23:16:09 GMT 10
Hey thanks to all the replies. And sorry for my slow response and thanks, I lost my phone and internet with the cyclone 2 months ago and have only just got it back.
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exhail
Panner
chassing the gold out west from Townsville.
Posts: 24
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Post by exhail on Mar 27, 2014 21:52:12 GMT 10
Hey Donny I would love a copy of those plans if I could.
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Post by donnybrook on Mar 30, 2014 19:48:21 GMT 10
Send me your email address and I will send them on. donny
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Post by 360search on Jun 22, 2014 11:06:52 GMT 10
Exhail! I have an opposite prolem the black sand its almost a gravel. My suggestion is get some super strong magnets and place them across your hopper everywhere and even some in the sluice, this will catch most of you black sand and let the gold run free into you ripples. With les black sand running through your banker you should be able to slow the water speed a little to give your fine gold time to fall.
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