How To Recover Flour Gold???

[luisvl]

We have this potential site to mine but when I checked the material yesterday, about 95% of the supposed gold is flour like material. It even floats on water if it is not soapy.

I already check if it is pyrite or other gold color metals but it really is the real yellow stuff. However, the problem is with the recovery of those very fine gold. The material is composed of about 60% clay and the rest is sandy.

Using a blue bowl concentrator, I was able to get some very fine flakes but the flour gold just flushes down the catch pail. For experienced miners out there, how do you get the flour gold if we are like cleaning 20 to 50 yards of material per day???

Kind regards and hope we'll get all our gold whether it is mined or taken from the loot of the Japs.

Luis

[admin]

Huh? Did you say the gold was FLOATING on WATER?? No way.. even the finest 'gold dust' will never float on water. Real Gold is very heavy (19.3 x heavier than water) so it will NEVER float.

Good luck!
TW

[luisvl]

Sir... it does float. The surface tension of the water needs to be broken by placing liquid soap or any other equivalent. The surface tension of the water is so strong that "some" gold dust will really sit on top of the water. Please don't get me wrong sir because I have extracted gold from scrap electronic gadgets and now trying venture to gold ore mining.

any miners out there who'd like to share some ideas how to catch micron sized gold dust??? is cyanide leeching the only solution? we can't do cyanide leeching at the moment because of it's relative cost so please suggest an alternative. Thanks guys!!!

go get your gold!!!

[yamideo]

A friend gave me a big bottle of sake wine and i recall some very thin gold flakes were floating inside when you shake the bottle. I have no way to find out if it is real gold. . Hic.. The bottle is already empty. Hic. .

[yamideo]

A friend gave me a big bottle of sake wine and i recall some very thin gold flakes were floating inside when you shake the bottle. I have no way to find out if it is real gold. . Hic.. The bottle is already empty. Hic. .

Those flakes are real gold. They actually ad 18 to 24 K gold flakes.

[ZOBEX]

Flour Gold is a real pain in the ass to recover.  The worst case is if it is in a clay material.  The problem is the clay when dissolved is the same size as the gold dust or smaller than dust.  Yes it is a water surface tension problem but on that small of a scale shear gravity separation is very difficult.  That is why for that past history of gold mining, these kinds of deposits have been ignored.  Pit leaching or heap leaching is about the only way to handle it and clay slows down the mechanical movement of the leaching solution.  In the USA we have used basically the first heavy separation and let the clay slurry and tiny gold pass through.  Then run through a series of classifiers and see at what stage the most of the gold drops out.  Then leach that portion.  Cyanide is the cheapest.  Other chemical leaches work but cost a great deal more.  To process 50 yards a day takes a very large operation and the profit return is very small.

Been there and done all of that almost 30 years ago.  That is why I am in the PH.  When you can find them, the gold nuggets weigh 6.25 kilos each, or more !!!  And you can see them with eyes open.

Z

[luisvl]

Thanks Sir Zobex,

Yes the material is sandy-clay and it is very difficult to separate or settle the gold flour. The concentration is really very high that when you place a scoop of material in a black pail, the water will really glisten. I tried using a blue bowl but the cloud of clay interferes with the cleanup and gets a very small yield. I am thinking of cyanide leaching in the future.

As for now, we will be moving to the next location and leave it temporarily. The new location has "good" deposit as we've found .5 to 3 grams gold nuggets in our text pit. We just don't know at the moment how long the pay streak is. Although the stretch of the river is producing placer gold (about 4 km), we just hope the motherlode is near our site as there is a bend and forked part of the river.

Sir Zobex, since we don't have the proper tool/equipment/connections when doing TH, we are setting it aside for a moment (perhaps forever? lol). And the group that I just left about two months ago were arrested yesterday and filed a case. Worse, they are digging in one of the member's land. That freaks me out a lot as my very close friend (weird that I am 31 years old but got many friends who are at least 55 and even older) was arrested some years ago when trying to haul a 8+ ton granite slab encased cement vault. General Ruiz had an arrangement with him but he wasn't "man enough" to fulfill his promises. If you know about that case (the case is temporarily dismissed due to the loss of the said "evidence"), then I should assume you know who I am referring to (the TH that I am learning from as of today - he only use a compass, paper, and some strings to measure distances). He is now old but many people still come to him seeking for advice and help.

If you are so kind enough to let me see some of your operations in Negros, I would be very glad to come, observe, and do my own business doing hard labor in mining - lol (wink!). As of now, my concentration is on mining. I'm just here visiting from time to time to see "real" recoveries or on going operations. I hope you can come by in Negros or have an operation here to see "REAL" recovery operation - because I NEVER saw an actual recovery ever.

[admin]

Luisvl are you gold mining somewhere there in Agusan? We're also planning to come there to do some gold mining later this year.
TW

[zeeker]

this might help: http://coloradogoldcamp.com/tutorials-articles/floating-gold/

[admin]

this might help: http://coloradogoldcamp.com/tutorials-articles/floating-gold/

Wow.. in all my years I would have never believed gold could float unless I saw that video! Now I do understand how and why it happens.
Thanks!
TW

[luisvl]

Does anyone here makes a DIY blue bowl??? I think there is something wrong with the blue bowl that I am making.

[luisvl]

Sir TW,

Not at Agusan at the moment. If you are planning to mine at Agusan, I'd suggest you check out the Guthrie palm plantation. The areas near that plant has "AWESOME" deposit. If you have just the right connection at that place and the money, then it will never be a hindrance to work in that area.

We will be going to Leyte early this month.