Gold nuggets/treasure detecting: partnership

b79;

The black sand weighs so much because it is about 75% iron and iron is heavy!

Shiny specks could be gold or platinum and platinum is worth more than gold!

You did not say how many pans it took to get that cup of black sand, but on one river, here, it only takes about 2 pans, but the gold is very fine, on another river, it takes about 3 pans (these are about 38 or 40 cm pans,) but there is twice as much gold in the river that takes 3 pans, so it is not really relevant on how much black sand there is.

Are you using a steel pan or a plastic pan??

Find an old speaker with a big magnet and carefully take the magnet off, once you have the magnet , to use, put the black sand in a plastic gold pan (just a little one is good,) put about two tablespoons of concentrate into the plastic pan, add a cup of water.... then rub the magnet, on the outside bottom of the pan, in circular motions.  You will see the black sand clump and follow the magnet.

Now set the magnet down and give the pan a shake (lightly,) the black sand should clump in tiny, almost balls about 2 to 4 mm. These, you can carefully wash out, but use something like a tub, so you do not lose anything. Just keep adding concentrate a couple spoons at a time, until it is all processed.

Eventually you can wash all  the black sand out, you may have to use the magnet a couple more times.

When you get enough black sand out, you can see if there is any gold.

I need to make a video, of how to refine concentrate and how to further refine, until there is only gold (and platinum, if it is there too.) and post it on the forum, because it is hard to describe, accurately.

goldigger

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		Quote:			Posted by b79
	goldigger, thanks for the helpful tip. just got back from another prospecting trip in one of our rivers about 7km form the city proper. i got very excited as look down from the bridge because i saw lots of shinning colors like flakes. it was just sitting at the top of the sandbar. there was a heavy flow of water the night before....but it turn out to be pyrite. however, there were lots of black sand just lying at the top of the sand bar at the inside bend of the river. i was able to scrape about two gallons and there were more. i have to stop because its getting dark. ill be going back today and take some pics to post it here. also some shinning specks trap within a clay bar....it were green-gray clay...will post some pics when i get back...

Pyrite, yes, but SOMETIMES pyrite has gold bound in it, chemically, I suppose. You can only tell by an assay of the pyrite make-up.

If you are finding sand, it is too fine,  look for the heavy, dark green rocks, at the upstream end of the bars, this is where the gold will drop, whether fine or coarse. If you find pieces of iron scrap or iron rock, you have found the place to dig. If there is boulders there, it is even better!

Finding the right place is tricky, it takes some experience, but once you find gold, you will know what to look for, next time.

Something else, if you dig where there are big rocks, take a tub, put some water in it and wash every rock you remove... gold tends to stick to things, wet it and it drops into the tub. Also, do not dig deep unless you are finding lots and lots of gold... the new stuff will be on the surface, mostly, in 15 to 20 cm of the surface..... this is called "bar skimming." Gold will collect around the big rocks because they slow the water flow, enough for the gold to drop.

There is a river about 160 miles (256 km) west of "home." When I first saw it, the sand bars were green! So, I had to find out why, it was simple, a back eddy current washed lots of black sand, in with the normally yellow sand, and made it LOOK green. All the pot holes have blue coloured sand in them and one type of fish, called Grayling, are adapted to the pools so  they are irridescent, deep blue, on their backs.

Grayling, when you cook  them, smell like squid! I love squid, but I do not like grayling. WE have another fish called dolly varden that are delicious!

What I am saying, aside from delicious fish, is watch the colour of the backs of the fish. REALLY! Dark backs can occur where there is lots of black sand. It may sound silly but it is true, but not always 100 percent.

The black sand that you scraped up is not likely to have gold, or it will be super-fine, too fine to save, look for the rocks at the upstream end of the bars. Wash out the black sand, do not take my word that it has no gold, because it might, and it is good experience.

goldigger





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hi everyone,
we're digging for a month now and its 48-50 feet deep but all we found was a black sand. stone markers continue to appear while digging depply but I have doubts because machines are not working for checking. I'll post the stones next week. First we digg- the natural sand then yellow sand the another sign appear it's a yellow stone 3sided-pyramid then dig the 2 meters sand then we found another sign a sun with 8 arms then a very small chamber appear then 3 big stones and many other stone markers. stressful. What's the best scanner to use?

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