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Post by cassilis on Feb 23, 2017 16:01:28 GMT 10
Took the boat across Blue Rock Lake today to a creek in the old Tanjil goldfields. First pan returned 4 nice little pieces. So, then filled two 9L buckets with material using my hand suction pump from there to pan at home with a beer in one hand and pan in the other. The 4 pieces were bigger than any found up Omeo way. Will classify the material down to 1/4" and run it through my little Eldorado sluice when it arrives in a couple of weeks (on back order). Then I'll clean up with my homemade green bowl. First time I've managed to get in to the creek - only accessible from this end by boat and been waiting for lake to drop. Think I'm coming down gold fever !!
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Post by marked on Feb 25, 2017 6:52:54 GMT 10
Don't be surprised if you decide to head back there and a plethora of people have followed your lead and your hard to access spot has been turned over; It doesn't take much information for the gold forum lurkers to smell a potential good thing and ruin someone's well-thought out idea. Good Luck.
My suggestion would also be to be filling your bucket through a seive; Garret do a plastic 1/4" that fits a bucket and works well with hand suction pumps - this will allow you to get potentially more gold bearing material in a bucket and helps with the rule of not removing anything but concentrates from the field for off-site processing. (Many people seem to overlook this latter point as part of the prospecting laws ...)
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Post by cassilis on Feb 27, 2017 11:53:53 GMT 10
G'day Marked...I think I'm the latest in a long queue of panners in the creeks around this goldfield. There's a heap of them only easily accessible from the lake, and I've only checked out a handful so far. Thanks for the tip on the gold cons - shall follow your advice there. Mick
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Post by mushmouse on Mar 5, 2017 0:18:48 GMT 10
Can anyone advise please on what to do with the liquid mercury when out at the creek? Just had a day out at the Snowy this week and I disturbed some mercury that was contained in a crevice I was working. I think it was in amongst some compressed grass and wood. It ended up in my pan and take home cons and amalgamated half my takings. Is a snuffer bottle safe to use to suck up this annoying contaminant? What the best way to store it at home? I don't want to leave this stuff at the creek.
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Post by snowygold on Mar 6, 2017 16:02:21 GMT 10
Can anyone advise please on what to do with the liquid mercury when out at the creek? Just had a day out at the Snowy this week and I disturbed some mercury that was contained in a crevice I was working. I think it was in amongst some compressed grass and wood. It ended up in my pan and take home cons and amalgamated half my takings. Is a snuffer bottle safe to use to suck up this annoying contaminant? What the best way to store it at home? I don't want to leave this stuff at the creek.
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Post by snowygold on Mar 6, 2017 16:02:57 GMT 10
Can anyone advise please on what to do with the liquid mercury when out at the creek? Just had a day out at the Snowy this week and I disturbed some mercury that was contained in a crevice I was working. I think it was in amongst some compressed grass and wood. It ended up in my pan and take home cons and amalgamated half my takings. Is a snuffer bottle safe to use to suck up this annoying contaminant? What the best way to store it at home? I don't want to leave this stuff at the creek.
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Post by snowygold on Mar 6, 2017 16:05:50 GMT 10
How r u mush mouse
That Mercury u found, was that out of the big snowy or small one, I do a heap in the snowy Dalgety area, I haven't found any this end Cheers snowy gold
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Post by mushmouse on Mar 6, 2017 22:49:14 GMT 10
How r u mush mouse That Mercury u found, was that out of the big snowy or small one, I do a heap in the snowy Dalgety area, I haven't found any this end Cheers snowy gold Hi Snowy Gold - It was the big snowy but at the Mitta Mitta end. I was a bit surprised to come across it myself as the river seems so healthy but there was a bit of hydro sluicing around in the old days. What the gold like up at Dalgety? I got rellos up there and would like to one day wet a pan up that way.. cheers A
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Post by snowygold on Mar 9, 2017 10:45:30 GMT 10
Yes it's there a lot of fine stuff, seems to be patchy, a shame I wasn't around before the dam was put in, would have been a great place to explore
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Post by shivan on Mar 9, 2017 18:56:25 GMT 10
G'day MM, a snuffer bottle is fine to pick up the mercury and amalgam, suction tweezers is another way. Storing it in a bottle or vial with water covering it in a cool place is the safest way to keep it.
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Post by The Hatter on Apr 9, 2017 21:46:14 GMT 10
Looking for education on mercury presence in creeks. Panned a creek in the old Tanjil goldfields of West Gippsland recently and found what appeared to be tiny droplets of mercury in my pan. The creek was panned during the gold rush days and there are extensive diggings in the vicinity of the creek. Wondering if the mercury is a result of gold extraction processes at the site, or if its naturally found in waterways, or if its dragged up and out of the ground by mining activities ? The nearby Blue Rock Dam (which flooded much of the Tanjil goldfields when constructed in the 1980's) has a health warning re. possible contamination of trout by mercury. Any help most appreciated. Pockets of Cinnibar (mercury ore) occur naturally in the Tanjil watershed, it's not widespread and back then not considered to be in commercial quantities...
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Post by cassilis on Apr 25, 2017 11:41:05 GMT 10
Thanks Hatter...
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Post by blocker on Jun 7, 2017 19:03:29 GMT 10
Mercury as we know is a poison and handling it needs care. It forms an amalgam with gold so any mercury found may also contain gold. Recovering the gold needs great care. Old timers would clean their gold away from black sand etc using mercury,and some commercial operations would run their fines over copper plates coated with mercury which would amalgamate the gold, then distill it off.
Old timers often would cut a raw potato in half scoop out a hole big enough to contain the amalgam, tie the potato back with wire and put it in a fire. The mercury would evaporate (supposedly) into the potato leaving a bead of gold in hole. They would then pulverize the potato to recover the mercury. I doubt if this is a safe method. A closed distillation process with no evaporated gases escaping should be safe. Where you get one I would not know.
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Post by shivan on Jun 7, 2017 19:18:47 GMT 10
Retorts for mercury can be brought online or from some prospecting shops, but can also be easily made. Retorts are the safest ways to burn the mercury off the gold and re-capture the mercury without letting it escape into the atmosphere. But unless you have a reasonable amount of amalgam it is just better off to keep it in a separate glass jar/vial under water.
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nuggethill
God of the Goldfields
A 4 1/2 oz find at Kingower by a friend
Posts: 519
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Post by nuggethill on Jun 7, 2017 20:06:01 GMT 10
I worked with a bloke called Kevin for many years he told me he came from Nundle and his uncles use to run a sluice on the Peel his uncles used the mercury to trap the gold and got him to squeeze the mercury out through a hanky to recover the gold they never knew that the mercury was so dangerous and all that was in the late 50's early 60's others use to boil the mercury off in the open and that again dangerous so the best way is condensing the mercury by boil it off in a sealed condenser and collect it for the next run of gold cheers Harry
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