Post by cronicbadger on Oct 26, 2016 14:28:14 GMT 10
I was walking on a beach near Newcastle a few days ago and spotted some unusual sand in a small channel. Judging from the surrounding area I guessed it was part of an eroding lens of heavier material so grabbed a handful to take home to practice separating fine-grained silica from heavy mineral sand. BTW, it wasn't a National Park or SCA.
Today I found some time to try it out, and, rather unexpectedly, ended up with a small amount of extremely fine gold.
Alas! I soon realised there may have been contamination from when I had panned some concentrates a month ago. Since then, my sampling pan and water tub had both sat dry in the garage until this morning when I banged them on the ground and brushed them by hand to sweep away some dry dirt.
I now suspect fine gold had still been stuck in some of the numerous scratches in the inside lining of either or both the tub and sampling pan, and subsequently floated out to mix with the beach sand while I was panning.
So, to satisfy my curiosity, I have to go back for more sand, scrub the tub and pan until they're absolutely clean, and ensure I don't come into contact with any of my other equipment that may have loose "paydirt" attached...
EDITED To ADD:
A day later. Contamination confirmed. No gold found in subsequent samplings. Case closed.
Today I found some time to try it out, and, rather unexpectedly, ended up with a small amount of extremely fine gold.
Alas! I soon realised there may have been contamination from when I had panned some concentrates a month ago. Since then, my sampling pan and water tub had both sat dry in the garage until this morning when I banged them on the ground and brushed them by hand to sweep away some dry dirt.
I now suspect fine gold had still been stuck in some of the numerous scratches in the inside lining of either or both the tub and sampling pan, and subsequently floated out to mix with the beach sand while I was panning.
So, to satisfy my curiosity, I have to go back for more sand, scrub the tub and pan until they're absolutely clean, and ensure I don't come into contact with any of my other equipment that may have loose "paydirt" attached...
EDITED To ADD:
A day later. Contamination confirmed. No gold found in subsequent samplings. Case closed.