Using the M7 Micron Mill Wave Table

What is the mesh of your cons. I know with all the wave tables that you need to make several runs of material when dealing with a large quantity of black sands that is less than 100 mesh. So say if you are running 200 mesh you will get a lot of packing of the black sands and then you will need to manual remove the blockage. When I was running a wave table I would use it only for rough cons of about 40 to 100 mesh size. Then I would use a finishing jig for the heavies. I was not to happy with my M8 and finally got rid of it for a Gemini table.

If you are getting clogging of the jets you are not running a settling pond with a feed filter. This is a must when you are processing a large amount of ore that, I assume, has not been pre-concentrated to remove the remaining clays. Another way to do this is to use a mud box prior to running the material through the table. This will remove a lot of the clays and lighter material.

What is the matrix of your black sand? If you are dealing with Hematite you can treat it with strong acids, bases, Clorox, etc. It is not as chemically resistant as Magnetite. If you are using Magnetite you can use a strong acid but this is a very slow process. Best thing for Magnetite is a magnet and water. You never smelt black sand. As you found out all you end up with is a very expensive piece of slag. Also, what are you trying to float that you are using lead? I use just Sodium Nitrate for the oxidizing agent and just stander cheap crystal and borax to remove the Copper Nitrate for the dore bar.

Let me know what you are using for a leach and I will help you with that later.

-Tim-


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Dear Tim,
    Missed the first question, I use a jaw crusher and Gibson ball mill prior to the wave table.I also use ribbed rubber matting in a gutter section below the ball mill discharge which catches a goodly amount of fine gold before the remaining goes into a bucket.This material is then run on the table.I will have to check the mesh with sieves but it is about like beach sand. Keep in mind, I am not really running cons, I am crushing 100 year old tailings from a Historic underground mine.

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Ok, on the lead I know what you are doing. Litharge as a flux is used when dealing with very silicious ores.

Try this as an experiment (just a note, using litharge as a flux is somewhat difficult to make and requires considerable skill to obtain accurate results) -
Charge: 500 grains (32.4 grammes) of ore, 1300 grains (84.4 grammes) of red lead, and 35 grains (2.33 grammes) of charcoal are thoroughly mixed and placed in a crucible. Place in a "cold fire" and raise the temperature very gradually until the charge is throughly fluxed and uniform in color. After pouring and detaching slag, the resulting lead button is cupelled in the usual manner. If the crucible is placed in a hot fire at first, the lead will be reduced without fluxing the ore which will remain intact.

What might work better for you is known as "sweepings", and is is a lot eaiser to do -

50 grammes of ore, 70 grammes of dry sodium carbonate, 100 to 120 grammes of litharge (or a corresponding quantity of white lead), and 6 to 8 parts of powdered charcoal. The ore, litharge, and charcoal are first mixed together, and then with the fluxing agent; and, in case sulphur should be present, a small piece of iron wire is added. The charge is placed in a smooth French clay crucible and fused for half an hour at an intence heat in the furnace. It is the poured out, after which the crucible can be used several times more.

-Tim-

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A mud box is a pre-soak of the material that you are going to process. We use it in the southwest to remove clays so the finishing equipment does not clog. All you do is on a recerc system is have a box where you place the ore, and then you skim off the top layer of water while at the same time you are agitating the ore in the bottom of the box. After about 10 min you will start to see your water clear up and most of the clays are either broken up or floated off with the water stream.

-Tim-

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Dear Tim,
    1000 Thanks,
   Now I guess its time for me to get back to mining
Bill

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